ã€ŠBlood Elf Monarchã€‹


 Chapter 1 - The War

    "In the grim darkness of the universe, there is only war"

    ~~~

    Somewhere in the endless and mysterious universe, a Prometheus ss space cruiser could be seen arriving above a yellow. Inside the small recon ship, a squad of men wearing oversized armor could be seen standing around the ship''s main control, reading information on a screen.

    8753 - ss L]

    [Elves Lower realm]

    [Mission Objectives]

    [Priority One: capture Cursaac, the Goblin Scientist, Dead or Alive.]

    There were 8 men in this squad. They were all part of the elite force known as the space knights. A troop of chosen individuals, from countless different human worlds. They had been tempered through the finest and cruelest training regime, equipped with the best technology avable, all in order to act as humanity''s strongest fighting forces.

    Seeing the information on the screen, one of the men eximed.

    "Goblin scientist! That''s a very rare finding, captain" He said, while looking at the squad''s leader.

    The captain was a burly man, wearing the same oversized armor as the others, but when he wore it, the armor had a different nuance to it. Across his face, one could see quite a severe scar, showing that this man was the real deal and wasn''t someone you wanted to mess with.

    Rubbing his chin, the burly man muttered with a low hum: "A goblin scientist¡­ A creature that has one out of a million chance to appear and has even greater intelligence than a dwarf master. A truly rare target, indeed".

    "I didn''t know that there was such a rare mission in this deste corner of the gxy", said another man, surprised by the findings.

    Hearing his subordinate words, the captain turned his head to his sergeant.

    "What are we going to find down there, Sergeant?"

    The sergeant calmly ced his finger on the bridge of his nose, as if there were sses there. He then opened his mouth.

    "Based on our earlier scan, there are half dozenelf collectives, orc tribes and human kingdoms. But most of them are primitive-level civilization, Captain."

    "I see.. The goblins have been using this for their hidden experiment then."

    The captain walked over to the helm, turned to his men and said.

    "Attention!"

    The soldiers immediately straightened their bodies as they stood there awaiting their captain''s orders.

    "Just like the usual, my brothers. We will jump in and bring hell upon all these creatures." the captain sternly said as his gaze swept across his men. "For the Empire!"

    "For the Empire!"

    The space cruiser made an entry into the atmosphere of the yellow and swiftly headed towards the intended target. The captain and his men were in the middle of preparation for the battle when suddenly an rm rang off loudly, startling all of them. Right after the rm went off, the ship shook violently as loud sounds could be heard outside.

    Turning towards the sergeant, the captain said.

    "What''s going on, Sergeant?"

    Hastily checking the situation, the sergeant''s face turned pale as he looked at the information on the screen.

    "I-I am sorry, Captain. It seemed that the target had a hidden weapon aimed at our spaceship."

    "Weapon? What kind of weapon?" the captain asked calmly despite their current precarious situation.

    "It''s a high-energy beam cannon," the sergeant said. "The spaceship shield won''t be able to withstand a few more shots, Captain! What''s your order?"

    The captain was silent for a moment, and his arms crossed over his chest as he tried to think of a solution.

    "Stay on our course, Sergeant. We''ll crash the ship to the target if we have to," the captain said with a ruthless glint in his eye.

    As soon as he finished speaking, another shot hit the ship.

    BOOM!

    "It''s dangerous, Captain! The ship could not hold on any longer," said the sergeant when he saw that the main thruster of the spaceship was hit by that shot.

    The captain turned around, staring at his men, "I guess we are diving into mes, brothers!" he said while revealing a fearless smile.

    Then he put on his helmet, grabbed his guns and sword as he walked over to the drop cabin. Checking his equipment onest time, he nced behind, seeing his squad ready to join him. Letting out a faint smirk, he then roared through them, "Let''s go!"

    He mmed his fist at the drop cabin''s gate button as the gate quickly opened. He then chose his target and jumped out of the ship, followed by the rest of the squad.

    8 figures in power suits flew out of the burning spaceship, while the said spaceship continued to descend to the''s surface. The 8 dots were seen diving in the atmosphere, speedly approaching the ground head first, while trails of fire began toe out due to their speed of descent. If one could see from the surface of the yellow, there were 8 shining lines moving across the sky like shooting stars.

    When the space knights were about to reach the ground, the backpack on their suit immediately blew up as rocket thrusters started to run, enabling them to stop their momentum and fly in the air.

    After ensuring that all his men were there, the captain directly led the squad to a dome-like facility seen in the distance. Using the scanner on his helmet, the captain quickly decided where he wanted tond. But as theynded on the facility ground, they were shocked when they realized what was filling the ground they were standing on.

    A sea of blood filled by mutted human corpses.

    "What the hell is happening here? What a gruesome sight!"

    "What are they experimenting with here?"

    Upon hearing the reaction of his men, the captain saw something in the corner of his eye.

    "Everybody, alert! We gotpany."

    Multiple huge doors on the dome wall opened as hundreds of dark green skinned humanoid creatures came out and quickly surrounded them.

    Eyeing those creatures, the captain informed his men through them.

    "Those aren''t normal orcs. Everyone, be careful."

    [Identify Target]

    [Uruk]

    [Battle Power 80]

    "Damn¡­ those are serious muscles they have here," chirped the sergeant, when he saw how muscr these creatures were.

    *GROWL* *GROWL* *GROWL*

    ncing at his sergeant, the captain sneered. "Let''s hope that they are not smarter than you, sergeant."

    "Captain!"

    Ignoring his exmation, the captain immediately ordered.

    "Here theye. Light them up, boys!"

    Each space knight fighter had their own specialized heavy weaponry equipped on their power armor. Some had dual machine guns in their arms, some were equipped with methrowers, and some had gatling guns that could fire hundreds of energy bullets, while some had long rifles that shot bullets that could easily pierce several orcs at once.

    Rain of energy bullets immediately appeared as the squad began to unleash their heavy weaponry at the uruks. The Uruk has a harder skinpared to normal orcs but by the endless rain of piercing bullets from the squad, several of them fall each second. However, the hordes of uruk still managed to move closer to them, albeit slowly.

    When the hordes of uruk began to close over to them, half of the space knights immediately took another of their guns out, while the other half took out their closebat weapons as they quickly charged towards the horde. Sword, spear, axe, and hammer could be seen in those 4 space knights'' hands as they swiftly killed the approaching uruks. Each of these weapons had spirit power that could easily sh, puncture and destroy the opponent''s armor.

    Seeing the situation, the captain gave an order to one of his men, who had slightly slender armor, A female space acolyte. Within a moment, the woman''s eyes turned white, while from her two hands appeared sparks of lightning.

    [Greater Chain Lightning - Tier 5 Lightning Spell]

    As the spasmodic sparks of lightning leaped towards the hordes of uruk, dozens of them within the 20 meter radius instantly burned to a crisp.

    Although there were only 8 of them in this battle, these space knights never wavered as they fought against the uruks. They were standing in a circle formation, covering each other''s backs as they continued to ughter the iing waves of uruks.

    "We can do this all day long, hahaha! Bring it on!" shouted the sergeant excitedly. While on the other hand, the captain remained calm and continued to look around, waiting for what woulde next.

    Suddenly, a loud horn sounded from somewhere, echoing through the air. The uruk horde suddenly stopped advancing and took a few steps back, confusing the space knights.

    They then noticed a figure walking out of the huge door in front of them, a little green skinned creature wearing sses. It was their target, the Goblin Scientist, Cursaac.

    "Dear honorable space knights, I wee you to my humble abode. I apologize for my bad reception earlier!" said the goblin, opening its hands wide.

    "I knew that these filthy orcs were not a match for you! So please¡­ please¡­! Have a taste of my greatest champion!"

    A group of goblins could be seen pushing arge ss tube filled with blood into the dome area. Within it, the squad could vaguely see a male figure, a white haired elf. A momentter, the blood in the tube was drained and the tube opened like a door.

    The figure''s eyes slowly opened.

    [System - Functional]

    [Tristan - 21 years old]

    [Battle power - 100]

    [Spirit Aptitude - S]

    [Fire Element proficiency found]

    [Spirit force - Non existence]

    [Innate Skill - Blood Elf Monarch]

    While the space knights were wary and surprised by the unknown variable, Tristan himself had only awakened after going through days of bizarre experience. "How could it suddenly lead to this?"

 Chapter 2 - Tristan

    "When life gives you lemons... Don''t bother, you sure as hell aren''t ever going to see any lemonade."

    ~~~

    For a boy named Tristan, he didn''t even get half a lemon, as his life has been ridden full with a word: misery.

    The hero story began with the ssic Orphan boy. The child nobody wanted. For Tristan, the only real memory the word ''home'' could be associated with was the big red door of the orphanage and the name Tristan on a slip of paper.

    Growing up in an orphanage was like being in a lottery. It was very rare for a kid ever to find a home. And even if some did, almost all of them would end up in a family who only took them in for the monthly paycheck that came with adopting. In fact, that was exactly what happened to Tristan.

    Barely fed or given a proper ce to sleep, asionally beaten up whenever his new parent had a bad day; those were the kind of things he had gone through. The worst thing was that his adopted father was in fact a police officer, a man whose job was supposed to be to protect and serve.

    In such a story, the hero would at least have a friend, but still no lemon in that department. A malnourished kid who came to school with bruises? Everyone could smell bad news from Tristan''s a mile away.

    Fortunately, Tristan was at least born with an above average intellect. Therefore, he always knew how not to find himself in even deeper trouble.

    No caring teacher, no friends, not even a fake pretending one; people just didn''t want to have anything to do with Tristan. The only friends in his life were probably those stray cats and dogs in the back of the school cafeteria, who apanied him whenever he enjoyed his stale sandwich.

    And a certain girl named Le.

    There was always a girl in a hero''s life, but this one was not that kind of girl. She was his step sister or to be exact, another orphan who was adopted to the same family.

    Le was the first person who taught him the meaning of kindness. As for her, despite being in the same situation, she was always full of life. They grew up very close and Tristan tried his best to be a good brother and protector to her.

    Time passed by and Tristan always tried his best to endure. He studied, worked multiple part time jobs, and hid some of his earnings for his future.

    He only needed another year before he could finally live free by himself, as an adult. But before he could do so, a tragedy struck.

    One night, his adopted father was drunk, and this time he tried to hurt La and force himself to her. Tristan snapped, he couldn''t take it anymore and identally ended up killing his adoptive father and burned the house.

    It was both a strange and magical feeling for him. He was looking at the burning and raging me. Tristan didn''t feel any regret, instead, as he saw the thing he hated the most turned to ashes, Tristan felt fulfilled.

    As an underage, Tristan was supposed to get into a juvenile prison with a minimum prison sentence, but unfortunately things never went his way. His adoptive father cop buddies were able to pull some strings and, once again, justice failed him.

    Tristan was locked up in a high security prison with the worst of humanity had to offer. It was a miracle for a 17 years old boy to be able to survive 4 years there.

    Abandoned since birth, mistreated, exploited, betrayed and hurt. This was all society had offered him. Except for Le. She was the only good thing in his life.

    Thest thing he heard before going behind bars was Le being taken by a good family. Tristan smiled, knowing she was lucky enough to finally be able to win the lottery. Ever since then, he never wished to bother her. He didn''t want her to be involved in his mess.

    Fortunately, that was not the end of the hero story.

    Today, Tristan, 21 years old, was finally released, after being locked up for 4 years in the State of Florida Prison.

    A long electric bell rang as the huge steel gate opened, Tristan walked outside to see an angel was already waiting for him. A woman with dark brown hair and deep-blue eyes.

    It had been 4 years since Tristanst spoke to her. He was silent as he didn''t know what to say. But the first sentence that came out from that pretty face still surprised him.

    "What the fuck Tris! You never reply to my letters or epting my call!.. You force me toe to get you in this shithole."

    Tristan almost forgot about his sister''s talent in vulgar speech. All these years, she still hid her big heart behind her tough attitude.

    "I see you haven''t changed, sis.."

    "Haven''t changed? Seriously, Tris? I am a grown-up girl, now!"

    Tristan unconsciously scanned his sister from head to toe. She did grow into a fine-looking girl with an alluring body.

    "Eyes up, Tris! I know you have been locked up for four years and never seen girls, but don''t start falling for your sister now.. That''s just so twisted!"

    Her jokes always made him run out of words. But thanks to that, she was able to disperse the awkwardness between them. After all, thest time they were this close in distance was the night Tristan murdered their father.

    "Le, you really shouldn''te here."

    "Huh! Tris, I know you very well. The moment you were released you were nning on ghosting me, weren''t you?! I will not let that happen, you areing with me."

    It clearly appeared that thest 4 years didn''t change her a bit. She was always forceful and for her sake, Tristan would just do whatever she wanted. She was his weakness, after all.

    The two of them then rode the car Le brought, with Tristan kept quiet while Le was telling him everything she had been doing for the past years.

    After driving for a while, Tristan realized that his sister was taking him to the airport.

    "Where are we actually going?"

    "We are going home, Tris. I am taking you with me to San Francisco. You would have known about this if you fucking read my letters."

    "I¡­" Tristan was not sure what to say as he never opened those letters. He did that because he never actually nned to involve himself in La''s life anymore.

    "You are not going to disappear and leave me again, okay? Can you promise me that, Tris?"

    "..." Tristan was silent, but Le seemed able to read his mind.

    "I''ll consider your silence as a ''yes'' then."

    ¡­

    They soon arrived at the Florida airport. It was New Year''s day and the airport was very crowded with the passengers. Many people swarmed the airport and Le was afraid they wouldn''t be able to catch their ne.

    While waiting, Tristan watched the news on the TV. They were mostly news about the New Year Celebration. But there was also a report about a lunatic who was talking about Judgment Day.

    "Can you believe it? They even considered stopping the flight because of such a crazy rumor." Le whispered to Tristan as she saw the news.

    Before Tristan could say anything, an announcement resounded.

    "Flight number B738 to San Francisco, we are now ready to board!"

    The siblings swiftly got inside the airne, waiting for the flight to take off shortly.

    Tristan noticed Le was tense, her hands trembling slightly. It appeared that she was still afraid of flying. Tristan then did what he always did when they were little, he held his sister''s hand tightly.

    Le was smiling when Tristan held her hand, secondster Tristan suddenly said: "Yes."

    "Yes? What do you mean?"

    "Yes, I promise you that I will not disappear, I will take care of you." Tristan said to Le.

    Tristan saw how happy Le looked when she heard that, But in a matter of seconds, her face suddenly turned worried as she stare outside the small window of the airne.

    "Tristan, look outside the window!¡­What is happening!?"

    The sky outside had turned ck, with purplish storms jolting all around the ne.

    The ne shook wildly and every passenger started screaming.

    Tristan had only time to nce at Le''s terrified face as she held his hand tighter than ever.

    "Brother-!"

    The light suddenly off, followed by a ringing sound exploded in his head. In an instant, there was only total darkness.

    The next thing Tristan knew, he was surrounded by a pool of blood.

 Chapter 3 - Where Are We?

    "That which is unknown and unseenmands the greatest fear"

    ~~~

    There was ckness, a total ckout. Did the airne crash? That was the first thing that came to Tristan''s mind. There were sounds of people echoing, but he couldn''t make out what they were saying. His head was still spinning and he didn''t even feel fully awake.

    While stillying, Tristan forced his eyes to open and saw what was around him. He was staring at the night sky from some kind of a huge dome.

    Two huge white circles were shining brightly in the night sky.

    "Two moons? What the hell.."

    Tristan felt like he was still hearing some sort of cry and scream in the distance. But then, he just realized that he wasying on something soft and wet.

    As he stood up, Tristan nced at the ground he was standing on, and was quickly shocked by what he saw. He wasying on top of a pile of human bodies within a pool of blood. Throwing his gaze around, the expression on Tristan''s face grew worse.

    There must have been thousands of bodies all around him. Most of them already rot, probably because they had already been left for days. This was the scariest sight he had ever seen in his life. The sight made him both lose his breath and want to throw up.

    "Did we crash?" Quickly, his mind went to another terrifying thought.

    "Leaa!! Lea!!"

    Tristan quickly shouted on the top of his lung, while scanning through the dead bodies, hoping not to find his sister among them.

    As he shouted, Tristan saw a few figures approaching him. They were all people with strange bloody clothes.

    Not knowing who they were, Tristan tried to keep a distance. But soon, he realized more and more wereing towards him.

    "Truart skoona tesuo!"

    Tristan couldn''t understand a word of what they were saying. His instincts were saying that these people were as clueless as him. They were in the same condition, but he''d rather they kept the distance.

    Despite the extremely crazy condition, the pool of blood, the two moons, Tristan tried to calm himself down. He started walking around, seeing if there was anything he could recognize. He walked, careful not to stumble on the bodies. He started shouting again. "Can anyone here understand me?"

    The dome was actuallyrger than he thought. It was at least half the size of a ser stadium. With huge ck stones about ten meter tall with an indecipherable engraving and arge symbol that looked like a bird.

    After a few minutes of walking around through the horror, Tristan finally heard something he recognized.

    "Here! We are here!"

    Tristan quickly ran toward the sound, passing all the unrecognized people, until he saw a group of about a dozen people, who looked terrified. This time he could recognize their clothing. One of them wearing a pilot costume. Tristan finally noticed another figure at the back and quickly jumped towards it.

    "Le!"

    "Bro..therr" Tristan quickly hugged Le''s shaking body.

    "What is happening?¡­ Where are we Tris¡­?"

    "I don''t know Le¡­ don''t worry I''ll¡­ I''ll figure it out"

    The pile of bodies on the ground and the pool blood would make any person go insane, Tristan already had his share of blood and death, but nothing to this extent. He could only imagine how his sister felt right now.

    As if it couldn''t get any scarier, a sudden loud voice was heard from above. A light came out from one side of the dome, which was just 50 meter from him, and a balcony of sorts appeared. The figure that came through the light was definitely not a man.

    It had dark greenish skin and was thrice the size of men. It was a monster with a muscr body and tusksing up from its mouth. There were actually several of them. It was followed by a dozen of much smaller greenish creatures only half the size of a man. All of them were staring down at the people on the ground giving out pressure towards them.

    The gruesome figures and the surroundings were all that could only have been seen in fantasy stories until then. The pressure made Tristan''s body tremble, but when his sister''s arm tightened around him, Tristan found his courage back.

    Another half human sized creature came out from the light. But Tristan could tell this particr one was different. It had white hair on its side and it wore some sort of weird equipment on its bodies.

    The particr creature then shouted a words, Even though Tristan found thenguage was alien, his mind strangely could understand it.

    "Wee to you all."

    These were gleeful words, said in a joyful manner, but Tristan could feel his heartbeat race much more than before.

    "I wonder..kekeke.. how many of you are potentials candidate this time."

    The white hair creature took out a staff with a huge red gem on the top of it, and suddenly, dozens of blinking wisp came out of it and floating in the air moving around the crowds

    "Let the search begin!" The shout was followed by the screams of all the creatures around the dome. The wisp then flew around the hundreds of humans, making the already scared peoplepletely fell into discord; some ran, some fell, and some just frozen still,pletely overwhelmed by what was happening.

    Tristan saw the blinking wisp stop on top of a few people. A door suddenly opened from the dome and a few dark grey skinned monsters walked out towards the people approached by the strange wisp and quickly took them away, without any of them being able to resist at all.

    People started to panic even more, as they began screaming and shouting in iprehensiblenguage. Even though Tristan still didn''t understand even a bit of them, a scream was a universalnguage of horror.

    A momentter, a wisp flew toward Tristan and his group, followed by a few of the monstrous creatures walking in their direction. The wisp flew around the group and slowly came closer. When the wisp stopped right on top of her, Tristan moved in front of Le, trying to protect her.

    "Triss.." cried Le scared.

    As expected, the creatures were walking towards them. Tristan was trying to stop the monster from taking his sister but the monsters'' hands grabbed his shoulders and limbs. Tristan could feel the simple grab cracked his shoulder bone.

    "Tristan!" Screamed Le, as the huge monster brought her body

    Tristan could only watch as the monster grabbed his sister away from him. He gathered strength to rise and chased the creature before realising another blinking wisp also stopped above him.

    In an instant, Tristan was also being grabbed and dragged by the grey creature towards the door, and the next thing he saw made him stop resisting.

    Tristan heard the white hair creature give amand and in the next moment, the grey creatures drew their weapon and started a killing spree towards the people left behind. It was a bloodbath.

    Thest image Tristan saw before the door closing in on him was the pilot being split in half.

 Chapter 4 - Captive

    Tristan, who still did not understand the situation he was in, could only stare around him in bewilderment. What ce is this? Various thoughts swirled through Tristan''s mind as he tried to make sense of the crazy things that were happening.

    Everything that happened earlier felt like it hade straight out of those fantasy books or movies he used to watch. However, Tristan knew enough and was not that naive to think these things were mere fantasy.

    The intense pain he felt from his shoulder, which the grip of the giant monster had crushed convinced him that this was not a dream. Tristan firmly believed that if he acted wrong, death woulde for him in the blink of an eye.

    Tristan was then thrown into a dark basement-like room together with all the others who were also dragged. They were like 40 of them and most have such a terrified face while the others were just an utter shock.

    The moment Tristan spotted Le, he quickly ran towards her.

    "Tristan.. that damn monster!! They.. they kill everyone.." said Le frantically.

    "Yes. I know. Calm down Le. Calm down."

    In fact, Tristan himself also found it really difficult to calm in such a situation. However, he truly needed to keep his bearing together, especially in front of Le.

    A momentter, a group of creatures came with the one with white hair.

    "Alright.. Let me see who among you will be the lucky one." the white-haired creature said while ying with its fingers.

    "You, and you!"

    The big creatures beside it immediately went inside the cage and took the two people who were picked. They then locked the cage again before leaving.

    "What are they doing? What do they want with us?"

    Tristan was trying to be calm and think about his current situation. He realized among the 40 inside the cage, other than him and Le, there were a few more people who wore clothing he could recognize.

    Tristan then decided to approach one of them. "You.. Do you understand me?"

    A man in his forties who looked like a businessman with his ties and zer and a beautiful woman in her thirties both nodded their heads.

    "Do any of you understand what''s happening here?"

    "No.. no.. We don''t know anything"

    Tristan shook his head. The two of them clearly looked terrified, thus unable to cooperate.

    Not long after, the group heard screams. The people''s faces turned paler than before as they all could guess it came from the previously taken people.

    Several minutes after the shrieking screams, the group of green creatures came back again. But this time without their leader.

    When they went inside the room, most of the people inside already understood they came to take more people for god know what. The remaining forty people became even more terrified, as most of them ran to the corner of the room.

    Surprisingly, Tristan noticed there was one young man around his age standing in front. As expected, the creature quickly took him as the one they chose. After that, the creature walked deeper to the room, trying to take more people. Unfortunately, they were walking toward Tristan and the group from the airne.

    Tristan quickly stepped in closer to Le to protect her. However, when the creature was a few steps in front of them, he was surprised that someone pushed him from the back. ncing to the back, Tristan saw the middle aged businessman pull his hand back.

    The green creature quickly weed Tristan with a strong grip and could only see his sister crying out calling him, but unable to do anything.

    Tristan and the previous young man then being dragged away and brought to a different room. Tristan''s eyes continued to look around as he was dragged into a room. He could faintly see the ce looked like aboratory. It was filled with strange machines and giant tubes filled with a red fluid.

    ''Is that blood?'' though Tristan as he looked at the giant tubes.

    He was put into a metal cage in the corner of the room along with the other men who were taken with him. As Tristan was still angry for being pushed by the middle aged man, he quickly became perturbed when he noticed the other man approached him. The man was scanning Tristan''s body from toe to head as if trying to judge him.

    The man then whispered to Tristan, "You, you can understand me right?"

    Upon hearing that, Tristan turned his head and looked at the man. Although he was quite relieved that the man could speak hisnguage, Tristan quickly became suspicious as the men wore a unique ck clothing that looked like a uniform.

    The instinct honed from his time in the prison told him that this man was not from the airne. Probably not even from Earth.

    "Who are you? How could you speak mynguage?" asked Tristan.

    The man showed a strange circle symbol in his left hand. But when the man noticed Tristan''s weird look, he quickly exined, "It''s a magic symbol. It can help me trante my words to anynguage."

    "Magic!" Tristan could only take the man''s word for it. After such a crazy, bizarre event happening earlier. Magic probably one of the new realities he needs to cope with.

    The man then continued "Tell me. Did you see a purple storm before you arrived here?"

    Tristan remembered the purple storm happening in the sky, the one he saw from across the airne''s window before he was in this ce.

    "Yes, I actually did. Do you know what that was?"

    "It must be one of the greatest forbidden spells. Their leader there surely is not an ordinary goblin." muttered the man.

    Tristan was confused as he heard the man''s words. It was because he couldn''t understand more than half of what the man said.

    "Goblin?" asked Tristan, puzzled by the unfamiliar word.

    Goblins were creatures that were only mentioned in fantasy books or in Hollywood movies. Also, if hepared this creature in front of him with the ''goblins'' he knew, even though they had roughly the same shape, they had different skin color and different faces.

    Seeing the puzzled expression on Tristan''s face, the man suddenly pped his head in realization. "You must have been taken from a lower world." the man said casually. He didn''t realize how puzzled Tristan was when he heard this.

    Before Tristan could ask what he meant with ''lower world'', the man continued speaking. "You know nothing about the war between the human race and the elves, don''t you? Those goblins and orcs were creatures created by the elves, to act as a force against humans."

    Tristan''s expression turned more disturbed the more he heard from this man.

    Not caring about Tristan''s state, the man asked. "Can you fight? Can you wield a weapon? You have to be at least able to fight if you want to survive."

    Still shocked by the discovery that orcs and elves were real, Tristan answered, albeit dyed. "Yes, I can."

    "Great." the man said. "Later, you need to follow my lead and we might be able to survive this. By the way, call me Desmond."

    Tristan was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth.

    "I am Tristan," he answered.

    "Ok Tristan, you will help me breaking out of this hell hole"

 Chapter 5 - Compatibility

    Right now, there were half a dozen orcs and goblins, busy operating the equipment in the room under the orders of the white haired goblin.

    Tristan also saw a few corpses near the equipment, and recognized one who was taken before him. Lifeless and being left on the floor like a garbage.

    Before long, the white haired goblin turned its head to look at the metal cage. A deep unpleasant sound could be heard as the goblin opened its mouth.

    "The time hase. Let''s see if you guys are what I''m looking for."

    Hearing the order, one of the orcs immediately walked over and opened the cage door. Tristan and Desmond were pulled out of the cage to face the white haired goblin. When Tristan was face to face with it, he realized the goblin was standing on a floating mechanical object. The goblin flew closer and pressed Tristan''s crushed shoulder with his staff.

    ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!

    Tristan immediately roared in pain, as he swung his body left and right to try to move the area that was pressed by the red gem staff.

    "Ah... the human race, they have such fragile bodies." said the goblin as he pressed his staff even harder, making Tristan''s scream even louder. "God is so cruel to give such excellent brains to such useless vessels" continued the goblin, while using his staff to tap Tristan''s forehead.

    A momentter, a bright light appeared from the red gem seen on top of the staff, and Tristan immediately felt as if his whole body was being electrocuted. In the next second, the goblin became so excited

    "Kekeke!! 88%patibility.. This one is the highestpatibility in weeks"

    The goblin used the staff to lift Tristan''s head, stared at him and said "I really like this one! Hopefully you are the one..!"

    The goblin then moved closer to Desmond, "What about this one.. I feel really lucky today" Quickly after, the goblin tapped Desmond''s forehead with its staff too.

    "82%patibility.. Not bad, not bad at all. You both have a very good chance to be my greatest champion."

    What appeared to be great news for the goblin, seemed to make it lower his guard down. When the goblin looked the other way, Desmond suddenly made his move. A small ck light appeared before Desmond''s as he drew something metallic from within, a sword.

    Seeing the sudden act, the goblin rapidly flew backwards while shouting.

    "Spatial Dimension Spell! A darkness element magus!"

    Desmond fiercely swung the sword directly at the goblin''s while casting the spell [Dark de]. However, the sword stopped an inch in front of the goblin''s head, as if it had hit a wall. Electric sparks could be seen flying around.

    Tristan caught a glimpse of the barrier, which was shaped like a sphere around the goblin, blocking Desmond''s attack. Immediately, Desmond bounced back a few steps.

    "Damn it! A shield barrier!" Desmond cursed.

    Tristan saw what was happening in front of him in disbelief. This was a battle that he only saw in movies or fantasy books, a magic fight.

    The goblin immediately shouted, "Capture him!"

    Instead of being anxious, an expression of confidence appeared on Desmond''s face as he casted another spell.

    [Darkness Spell - Dark Vapor]

    In an instant, the area around Desmond turned ck, as a dense smoke swiftly spreaded around, as if someone had sshed vantack ink all over the ce. Tristan felt as if he had lost his ability to see when the spell took effect. Suddenly, he felt someone put an object in his hand as he heard a whisper, "Hold this."

    Dozens of orcs tried to find Desmond, who was hiding somewhere in the ck fog. When the smoke finally dissipated and the orcs could see clearly again, Tristan could see that Desmond was seen standing 2 meter behind the white haired goblin, forming a ck sphere with his two hands.

    [Darkness spell - Dark Matter]

    A sphere of darkness swiftly formed on top of Desmond''s hand. Tristan felt shiver running down his back as he saw the revolving sphere.

    "Eat this!" shouted Desmond as he threw the ck sphere towards the floating goblin.

    The ck sphere quickly flew towards the white haired green creature. When the sphere hit the goblin''s shield, an explosion instantly urred. The shield barrier was broken down while the momentum blew the goblin forward, sending it crashing exactly two feet in front of Tristan.

    "Tristan! This is your chance!" shouted Desmond.

    Tristan saw Desmond being surrounded by several orcs, resisting the orcs attack with his sword skill. While just in front of Tristan, the white haired goblin was trying hard to stand up.

    "You damn filthy human! Cut both of his hands and feet!" shouted the goblin furiously as it ordered the orcs. But the next moment it was aware of its surroundings, a de was already pointing towards his back.

    "STOP!! Nobody moves!" shouted Tristan.

    The orcs in the room immediately froze on the spot when they saw Tristan had taken their leader captive.

 Chapter 6 - Choices

    The orcs who were about to beat Desmond instantly froze for a split second when they saw their leader being held hostage. When Tristan saw they were about to charge towards him, he immediately pushed the sword in his hand closer to the goblin''s neck, until it could feel something pricking its skin.

    Feeling the sharp object, the white haired goblin leader frantically shouted at the orcs, using a strangenguage that Tristan did not understand. Hearing the goblin''s panicked orders, the orcs hesitated for a split second, before finally stopping their attack.

    When the situation seemed to be under Tristan''s control, Desmond then slowly got up from the ground.

    "Good work, Tristan." said Desmond with a slight pain in his voice.

    Desmond walked out of the now barely visible ck smoke, letting Tristan see the man clearly. However, he could see blood flowing from the man''s shoulder. "Are you okay?" asked Tristan.

    "It''s alright." Desmond calmly replied. But Tristan could tell that the man''s expression showed the exact opposite of what he was saying.

    When he was trying to think of a way to ease Desmond''s pain, Tristan felt the goblin leader''s body he was holding onto violently shaking. To his surprise, Tristan could hearughter escaping from the goblin''s mouth.

    "You foolish humans." said the goblin leader with a chuckle. "You two are captured and detained in this ce. What do you think you can do here?"

    It then turned its head slowly, looking Tristan out of the corner of its eye. "Let me go and I will forget what you just did."

    Desmond limped over to them. "Don''t listen to him, Tristan. That was a High tier Reunite Sword. I am sure that goblin knows he is in deep trouble right now. He''s just trying to act tough." scoffed Desmond.

    The goblin then replied with scorn "Huh! Even if you dared to kill me, the two of you won''t be able to escape from this ce."

    Desmond walked over to the devices in the room, while casting his gaze around. "That''s not exactly true," said Desmond, as he ran his finger across a piece of equipment. "I just need some time to figure the way out."

    "Is that ''time'' before or after you bleed to death from your wounds?" asked the goblin with a tone of mockery.

    This time, Desmond didn''t reply to its words and continued to inspect the equipment. Seeing that, the goblin continued to say.

    "With the current rate of blood flowing out of your wounds, I can tell you only have an hour at most, before you lose consciousness."

    Hearing this Tristan could not help but shoot a worried look at Desmond. Feeling Tristan''s gaze on his back, Desmond turned his body around and saw Tristan''s concerned gaze. "Don''t worry about me, Tristan. I''ll be fine." he said, smiling faintly.

    The goblinughed loudly "Ha ha ha! You both don''t know what you''re going to miss." the goblin said as he stared at a tube filled with blood with a body floating inside. He then shook his head while sighing. "It is truly a shame."

    "After dozens of years of research, I have finally found the perfect vessel, the Blood Elf''s body. Why do the two of you refuse a gift like that?" asked the goblin, a tone of ridicule in its voice.

    The goblin then turned its head towards Tristan who was still keeping his sword near its neck.

    "Hey, listen, young human. You look like a smart person, so you don''t have to listen to what he says." said the goblin, trying to persuade Tristan. "Listen to me and you will not regret it."

    Just when Tristan was about to chastise the goblin to stop it from talking, Desmond cursed loudly, "Damnit!"

    Desmond quickly turned around and stared at the white haired goblin with a gaze filled with anger.

    "You fucker! How were you able to transport us so far away? We are so far deep!"

    "What does it mean?" asked Tristan, confused.

    "It means¡­ it would be very unlikely for anyone to find us. Therefore, we have to find a way to get out of this ourselves."

    The goblins immediatelyughed as if mocking the two humans'' futile attempt to escape. "kekekeke! As I said, there is nothing you can do but submit to me." said the goblin smugly. "So, just drop your sword and submit! I promise you both that I will not kill you. After all, I need you for my experiment."

    "Don''t listen to him, Tristan. Keep him tight and let''s get out of this hell hole. We will have a much better chance of survival outside." said Desmond.

    The goblin looked at Desmond for a moment before starting tough again. "That man is so badly injured that he can''t get out without your help. It looks like the decision is in your hands."

    With the de still on the goblin neck, Tristan remembered about the day he went to the prison. The time where making the wrong choice inside a high security prison with a violent inmate could easily lead to death.

    He currently had a decision to make, helping Desmond escape or taking his chances with the goblin. It appeared to be an easy choice, but at the moment it wasn''t his life he was worried about.

    "I don''t care about what will happen to me. But, what about my sister?" asked Tristan.

    Desmond turned pale at Tristan''s words.

    Smiling widely, the goblin said. "Kekeke, your sister is in our captive? Of course I can help, I will naturally treat her well. I can even send her back to your world if you want. After all, you''re the one that I need."

    Desmond started to look panicked when he heard the goblin''s words. "Don''t listen to that creature, Tristan. That creature can''t be trusted, and you have to believe me!"

    Tristan looked at Desmond and said, "Why should I believe you?"

    "Tristan! I am a human just like you!"

 Chapter 7 - Decision

    Tristan wouldn''t have even survived this far if he naively believed everyone''s words in his entire bleak life. Lies and deceit were human nature, especially when their lives were at stake.

    Even though it was possible somebody''s heart and intention was true, most people spew countless empty words that, even if they were willing, they couldn''t realize that easily.

    Just like what Desmond just said to him: ''Believe in me''. How could Tristan believe him that easily when he didn''t really know the man at all. They had just met a moment ago.

    Desmond was currently in a situation where he was surrounded by monsters that could kill him at any moment. Not only was he hurt, but he also didn''t even have a way to escape from this mess. In these circumstances, any person would say anything to save one''s life.

    Even if Tristan could decide to trust him with his life, there was still his sister that he needed to worry about.

    The only reason Desmond gave Tristan to believe him was that they were both part of the same race, they were both humans. This was something that he could not ept. Tristan clearly knew that, despite humans may look more eptable than these monsters, people''s hearts could be worse than the devil itself.

    At the moment, Tristan was faced with two options, with both sides could not be trusted. Calcting his chances, Tristan decided to ignore the pleading gaze he received from Desmond, as hey down his sword and then knelt saying respectfully, "Please, you can do what you want with me. But, please, spare my sister"

    Seeing Tristan''s decision, the goblinughed loudly. "Kekekekeke! I knew that you are smarter than that man over there." the goblin then immediately shouted words towards the orcs using that strangenguage again.

    With just one word, the orcs swiftly dashed toward Desmond. Tristan could only stare in awe seeing that powerful human being torn apart by the huge green monsters. He could hear Desmond screaming in agony as all his limbs were separated from his body.

    Watching Desmond being butchered because of his selfish desire didn''t bother Tristan that much. His life experiences had led him to this decision. Being a 17 years old teenager in a high-security prison full of violent inmates was like being a goldfish swimming in a shark tank. Prison had not been kind to him.

    The prison guardsid down one set of rules for you, expecting you to adhere to them to thest letter.Simultaneously, your ''homy'' inmates were telling you apletely different set of rules.

    You would then learn that if you broke the guards'' rules, you would lose all mere privileges you have, while if you broke the inmates'' rules, you could lose your life. The exact representation of being caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    That was why the first step one must take to survive in prison was to always learn to choose the right side, find which group he fit into and fit within the mass. When you are asked to do something, even to stab and kill someone, you just do it. You don''t even ask why.

    Now, if you asked Tristan if he could believe the goblin''s promise, he would definitely say he didn''t have to. Because like all the things happening in life, you were always at the mercy of the strong. Therefore, your choices were always limited, unless you had sufficient strength to fight for them.

    In this situation, it was clear there wasn''t much Desmond could do for him or his sister. So, the choice was pretty simple. He needed to submit, for his life, and more importantly, his sister''s well-being.

    The goblin leader turned around and stared at the kneeling Tristan.

    "Please what about my sister?"

    "Human.. kekeke.. Do you think I am one who care which one your sister is?"

    This sentence probably shocked many others in the same situation, but not Tristan, He had somehow mastered his emotion of being betrayed and hurt before. He knew the meaning of obedience in the face of the strong.

    The goblin realized this andughed hard again "Kekekeke I really like this one.. I tell you what, it''s not like you have no chance at all.."

    The moment he heard that, Tristan lifted his head as he stared at the goblin with a glimpse of hope.

    "It''s true that you have one of the highestpatibility among the hundreds before you.. You see.. All I need is one sessful subject. If you can achieve it, that means I have no use to hurt your sister or all the other prisoners, am I? Do you understand now? The only way to save your sister is to survive the experiment. Kekekekeke."

    Tristan understood that was the only way for his and his sister'' being. Therefore, he epted his fate. Walking towards the ce the goblin pointed at, Tristany himself on top of the stone table.

    "Your time hase."

    Thest thing Tristan remembered was being surrounded on every side by the goblin''s mechanical equipment. He then fell unconscious and could only see darkness.

    ¡­

    "Ca.n.. youu¡­ hearrr.. mme?"

    Those were the first words Tristan heard after spending his time in the darkness.

    "The first stage is a sess! Kekeke"

    Not sure how long he passed out, Tristan felt the next sensation was as if he was inside a pool of water. However, Tristan felt his whole body somehow strange to him. He could feel slowly countless electrical currents flowing through his body, electrocuting him.

    At first, it was tingling like being bit by ants. However, the pain gradually grew until it became too painful for Tristan to bear.

    The continuous, searing pain that went through his body consumed Tristan''s will. The only reason he managed to hold on was the hope that his sister would not suffer the same fate.

    After an unspecified amount of time, Tristan could feel a surge of power streaming over his whole body. He started to hear things. Inside the darkness, he could hear a peculiar sound.

    "It is a sess!! Sess!!"

    [System is functional...]

    [Vessel synchronization]

    [97%.. 98%..]

    Afterwards, Tristan heard the goblin''s voice again.

    "Okay. It''s time for the final step. Soul purification."

    ''Soul purification?'' thought Tristan.

    However, a loud siren interrupted the goblin, immediately after the goblin''s panicked voice yelled.

    "Grw.. We are under attack!"

    "Damn!! Who is it?"

    "Sensor detected a ship. Its space knight"

    "Shoot them down dont let themnded"

    "Eight of the space knights.. they are breaking into the facility!"

    "Send out the uruk!.. Dammit, why did theye at such crucial timing!"

    "Prepare to release the subject."

 Chapter 8 - Blood Elf

    Afternding, facing the orcs and being surrounded by the hordes, Captain Siegfried was unafraid. He and his men had undergone hundreds of different missions in all kinds of scenarios, making their squad one of the elite troops of the space knights. Not even once did they ever feel afraid.

    Even in the most desperate of situations, where uncertainty engulfed them and all hope seemed lost, they always remained clear headed and focused.

    However, this time, in this ce, the captain felt a terrible premonition when he saw the elf''s body slowly stepping out of the tube filled with blood. The feeling rapidly submerged him, letting him know the figure in front of them was very dangerous.

    He was very confident in his instincts that had saved him countless times.

    The elf had long and lustrous white hair that reached its back and a slender frame, but beneath the tight ck clothes he was wearing, one could clearly see that his entire body was filled withpact muscles.

    A group of goblins were seen approaching the elf, while carrying a giant sword. This was followed by a hystericalugh from Cursaac, the Goblin Scientist.

    "Kekeke! This will be a very entertaining spectacle!" shouted Cursaac. He then shifted his gaze towards the space knights and said, "Blood elf! Brandish your sword and ughter them all! Grace yourself with the blood of those humans!"

    Hearing the goblin''s order, the figure slowly took the giant sword from the goblins'' hands, then walked forward, approaching Captain Siegfried and his men.

    "Get ready!"

    The soldiers quickly arranged themselves when they heard the instruction. The captain raised his hand and pointed to one of his soldiers. Seeing the signal, the chosen soldier immediately fired his weapon.

    BANG!

    An electromaic-augmented energy bullet immediately zoomed towards the elf and hit its chest.

    BOOM!

    The elf was pushed back a step and paused for a moment when he received the shot, but after a moment, he continued forward, dragging the giant sword behind him as if nothing had happened.

    Seeing the unbelievable sight, where the figure continued to advance, unharmed by the energy bullet, another shot was immediately fired. But this time, the elf suddenly moved and avoided the shot with a simple sidestep.

    "Heed my orders, soldiers! For the empire!" Captain Siegfried shouted, immediately deploying all seven of his soldiers to simultaneously attack the elf, since one person was unable to do the job.

    A shower of bullets quickly appeared and submerged the elf, but he did not stay still. It moved quickly, dodging most of the shots with quick movements and parried the remaining bullets with the giant sword.

    One of the soldiers couldn''t help but curse loudly when he saw it move left and right like an apparition , dodging and blocking bullets with ease, "Damn it! It''s moving too fast!"

    Seeing the creature getting closer and closer, Captain Siegfried shouted, "Sergeant!"

    The sergeant, who was busy firing his weapon, immediately took out a giant weapon from his ring as soon as he heard the captain call him. Eyeing the figure, Captain Siegfried said, "Aim!"

    When the giant weapon had locked its target, the captain immediately said, "Fire!"

    BOOM! *whizz*

    A one meter long missile sliced through the air towards the lean figure. The elf tried to move and dodge the missile as did with the bullets. Unfortunately for him, the missile followed its movement and chased its figure.

    KABOOM!!!.

    The elf was flung back several feet as the missilended on its body. The figure rolled several meters on the ground, before it stopped andy t on the ground, motionless. Due to the huge explosion, smoke enveloped the area and dust scattered in all directions, obscuring the view.

    "Yeah!!! It hit!" eximed one of the soldiers.

    The four squad members, who used melee weapons, approached the body, while the other three proceeded to cast their gazes on the orcs, who were still surrounding them in the distance.

    When the four people entered the smoke and got closer, they could see the white-haired elf waspletely covered in wounds and blood. His body staggered as the elf was trying to stand up.

    "He is still alive!? Impossible!"

    "You should just stay dead!" said one of the fighters as he raised his javelin and darted towards the elf.

    The space knight rushed forward and thrust his javelin towards the elf, who was still staggering. The javelin pierced straight through the elf''s shoulder and froze its movement. Seeing that, the soldier smiled and said, "I got him."

    As soon as the soldier turned his head and let his guard down slightly to disy his sessful attack, the elf grabbed the javelin. Surprised by the sudden movement, the soldier turned back and was shocked by the sight in front of him.

    A giant sword was descending towards him.

    The man could only watch as his body, which was dded in power armor, was sliced in half by the sword.

    Spattt!!

    "FUCK! That thing killed Private Ruski!"

    The sight of their friend''s body being split in two and his blood sttering violently on the ground shocked the other three.

    "What is that thing?!"

    "How is it not dead yet?!"

    The other three space knights rushed in and simultaneously attacked the elf. One of them approached him and then fired his handguns, while the other two swung their des at the elf''s head.

    nk! nk!

    Loud sounds resounded as the elf parried and counterattacked the soldiers'' blow by blow using his giant sword.

    The elf swung the heavy-looking sword around with ease, as if it was a feather instead of arge piece of metal. On the other hand, the three soldiers struggled tond a strike even though it was a three against one situation.

    The impact of their weapons shing caused the smoke and dust that had enveloped the area to disperse, allowing Captain Siegfried and the rest to observe a seemingly bnced battle.

    Looking at Ruski''s body, which wasying in blood of blood cleanly sliced in two, Siegfried''s expression turned ugly. However, behind his resentment and hatred over Private Ruski''s death, Siegfried still felt worried about the presence of an elf he had never heard about.

    Next to him, a female space knight dded in slimmer armor, a space acolyte, found something from her wristband and showed it to the captain.

    [Blood Elf]

    [An extremely dangerous branch of the ancient elf]

    [Automatic Alpha-level Priority]

    [Report Sent]

    [New main objective]

    [Disable and captured the specimen]

    The information Captain Siegfried saw made him even more uneasy. Never in his life he saw a system to give such notification.

    Simultaneously as he finished reading the information, a scream came from one of the space knights, who was cut by the giant sword.

    Seeing the dire situation, the space knight beside Captain Siegfried asked, "Captain, what is your order?"

    After thinking for a moment, he said, "Nothing changed, let''s destroy all these bastards!"

    After saying that, the captain took off his helmet and brought out a giant mechanical hammer as he charged forward without thinking twice.

 Chapter 9 - Defeat

    The power armors used by the space knights were capable of releasing power well beyond the limits of the human physical bodies, tremendously increasing the wearer''s strength several fold. With his Captain rank, Siegfried was not only given the power armor Mk. 2, which gave an even greater boost to his strength, but also the tier 4 hammer he was holding right now.

    Right when the other two knights were about to be shed in half by the elf''s sword, Siegfried intervened, saving their lives. When he reached his two men, Siegfried immediately swung his hammer down, shing with the elf''s sideways sh. As a result, the elf''s sword was mmed to the ground and caught by the hammer.

    Seeing the situation he was in, the elf quickly took several steps back as he dragged the sword with him, freeing it from the hammer. Eyeing the new enemy, the fight suddenly turned into a duel, as the other two wounded soldiers retreated back and watched the fight.

    On the podium, the white-haired goblin didn''t look happy even though the elf had killed two of the space knights.

    "What is going on?! Was there something wrong? Howe he doesn''t show his real strength!" The goblin scientist then hurriedly took the control device and began to operate it in anger.

    While still fighting, Siegfried suddenly discovered the elf''s movements were bing extremely bizarre and ghastly. One time, he had managed to push the elf into a corner, but in a split second, the situation reversed and the elf suddenly swung its sword in an unexpected manner, sessfully injuring one of the soldiers.

    There were also moments when the elf would abruptly stop moving right when he had the chance to kill his men. Thus, Captain Siegfried knew something must have been wrong with his opponent, so he decided to finish the fight quickly, taking the opportunity before his opponent sorted out his problems.

    Raising his tier 4 hammer, Captain Siegfried carefully watched the elf, who was still swaying around. He then activated his tier 4 limited-use weapon ability, [Thunder Strike].

    Erratic electric charges appeared on top of the hammer and were slowly being pressured inward, until they formed a crackling ball of lightning. Siegfried stood there firmly, waiting for the perfect moment tounch his attack. When he saw the elf standing motionless once again, Captain Siegfried quickly struck his hammer.

    BANG!

    KABOOM!

    [Thunder Strike], Captain Siegfried always kept this trump card as ast resort, using it only in situations where there was no other choice. The ability was so powerful that even though he had his Mk. 2 armor, he was sure it wouldn''t be enough to receive the attack directly and escape unscathed.

    When the elf was smashed by the powerful attack, its body was thrown backwards once again and it rolled on the ground several times beforeing to a stop.

    Watching the elf copse, Captain Siegfried quickly dashed and approached the elf''s fallen body. He then immediately swung and bashed his huge hammer towards him, over and over again, without giving the elf any chance of respite.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Loud sounds continued to reverberate in the air as the elf''s body was being continuously crushed by Siegfried''s hammer, making those who heard it feel chill go down their spine. The ground beneath the elf gradually sank, creating a small crater, due to the force of the repeated impacts from the hammer.

    The captain stood next to the heavily injured elf, eyeing this creature coldly. When he was about tond thest blow, killing the elf, the space acolyte suddenly said something that stopped his actions

    "Captain, remember the mission objective!"

    Thinking for a while, Captain Siegfried said, "It only says to recover the specimen. Nothing about it needs to be alive!"

    When the captain was about to send the killing blow, his man once again said. "Captain, the sensor also said that the elf is part human."

    "..."

    BAM!

    The ground shook and dust flew around as Siegfried mmed his hammer into the ground beside the battered elf, missing itpletely.

    "ARGHH!!!"

    Roars of anger echoed inside the dome-like structure as the captain was still angry for the death of his men. But he knew that what his subordinate had said was true. So he could only hold back his anger and not kill this abomination

    However, what he had to do and what he wanted to do were two different things, therefore, he pointed his finger at the goblin on the podium and shouted, channelling all the rage within him.

    "What else have you got for me, you fucker?!!"

    Hearing the ring provocation, the goblin''s face turned ugly.

    "Y-You... ARGGHH!!! My creation!!!"

    While its hands were trembling, the goblin continued, "If only I had more time with him¡­ ARGH!!!

    The goblin looked at the orcs beneath it, then shouted angrily, "KILL ALL THOSE HUMANS!"

    Hearing the order, all the remaining Uruk restarted their charge and began to attack the soldiers wildly. The remaining space knights, who had been watching the orcs from the start, immediately fired their weapons.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Explosions appeared around them, as the orcs were slowly being annihted by the heavy barrage from the space knights. An hourter, the battle ended with the death of more than a hundred of Uruk, while two space knights were heavily injured.

    The goblin scientist, who saw the situation turning bad, tried to escape but was captured in the process.

    "Goblin Scientist, Cursaac, you are now under arrest! The Empire will decide what your fate will be."

    Hearing that, the goblin scoffed, "Huh! I will not submit to any human authority. Just kill me!"

    "I don''t care about what you will or will not do. My job is to catch you and send you back to the Empire."

    The goblin, previously full of anger, suddenlyughed hysterically as its gaze fixed elsewhere. When Captain Siegfried followed its gaze, his eyes narrowed, as he saw a sight that shouldn''t be possible.

    In the middle of the small crater, the figure that should have been crushed pastmon sense, was rising, covered in blood.

    "kekekekek! You are all doomed now. DOOMED!"

 Chapter 10 - Host

    Right after Tristan surrendered, he waspletely at the mercy of the mad goblin.

    Whatever the goblin did to him, the first thing he saw when he awakened was the sight of a group of eight people, armed to the teeth, who showed aggression towards him. All of them were wearing some kind of metallic suit.

    Tristan felt like his whole body was different from how he remembered. He could feel all his fingers and toes, but he knew for certain it was different from the one he had before, and the worst part, it seemed that he was unable to control his body at all.

    Suddenly, a notification appeared in Tristan''s mind

    [Kill the opponents in front of you]

    [Eight targets located]

    "What...! Kill? Kill who? Those things? What the fuck!"

    Tristan helplessly watched as his hand moved towards the huge sword and grabbed it. He could feel his fingers slowly gripping the hilt of the sword. However, he was still not in control of his body.

    "That damn goblin! What did you do to me!"

    [You are using ymore]

    As soon as Tristan heard that, a blue panel filled with words appeared in front of his eyes.

    [ymore - Meteurite - Tier 4 Weapon]

    [Length 2.2 meters, weight 42 kilograms]

    "What the hell!! 42 kilograms? Howe it feels so light"

    Seemingly understanding his question, the system gave him an answer.

    [Analyzing host body...]

    [Battle Power 100]:

    [Strength 145]

    [Speed 80]

    [Defense 75]

    Seeing the game-like statistics, Tristan felt like he was in some kind of a game, not reality. This made him want to believe all of this was just a dream. If it was probably him sleeping on the ne flying to Los Angeles.

    [Battle power is a number derived from your average physical measure, from muscle strength and muscle flexibility, to bone and skin density and toughness]

    "Yes! That''s excellent information, but can I please control my body now?!"

    While Tristan wasmenting all this, something suddenly pierced his shoulder and blood sttered. The sudden ssh of blood started him, knocking Tristan out of his reverie.

    "Arghh!! Did I just get shot?! ...Huh? It doesn''t really hurt, though."

    He then realized a rain of bullets was only a meter away of him. Seeing that, Tristan wanted to hide, but his body move against his will as it dodged the bullets perfectly

    "??!! I am ridiculously fast!"

    Tristan was shocked when he saw his body dashed to the side in an instant, easily dodging the rain of bullets. Not only was his speed fast, he could also clearly see the bullets that should have rapidly traveled through the air, moving slowly in his vision.

    This time, Tristan swung the giant sword towards the approaching bullets. The swing managed to block the bullets, with not a single bullet passing. Seeing that, Tristan smirked as his body continued to dodge and parry every bullet the metal bastards fired at him.

    Although he hated being unable to move his body, he was somehow mesmerized by his own strength. That was indeed the case, until Tristan spotted a different projectile approaching him.

    "It''s moving slower? ...! Did my eyes fail me? Is that a homing missile?!"

    The body tried to avoid the missile, moving and shifting his position left and right. s, the next thing he knew a loud explosion took ce, followed by a sight of thend and sky turning upside down. Before Tristan knew it, he had already fallen to the ground, pain all over his body.

    "Argghh¡­ this is very painful. It seems I''m not dead yet.."

    Surprisingly, he was greeted by another wave of notification

    [WARNING! WARNING! Malfunction detected]

    "Wait, what? what happened?"

    [System Shutdown]

    A few momentster, unexpectedly it actually meant that he was able to control his body again. The missile probably damaged whatever was controlling his body.

    "Finally!"

    Tristan was just able to raise his body on his own when a spear suddenly pierced his body.

    "Arrgghh!!"

    And as if it was an automatic defensive mechanism, he grasped the giant sword and swung it downward, easily splitting that figure in armor like slicing through a watermelon.

    Sttt!! "Damn I am sorry! that''s an ident really i didn''t mean that!"

    Seeing the split figure behind the armor, Tristan realized the opponent he was facing was a human like him and having the blood sttered towards him. Surprisingly, he didn''t feel a thing. No remorse or shock. Nothing.

    His first victory seems cut short as an opponent in metal armor dashed at him and a huge hammer with an electrical charge smashed right at him.

    BAMMM!!!

    Tristan felt an electrical shock running all over his body. He then dropped still on the ground.

    He wished to shout and exin his situation. But it was apparent that there were no words that coulde from his mouth.

    BAMMM!! BAAMM!!

    The hammer just came smashing at him simultaneously and on top of all of the pain, he started to lose his consciousness again.

    Laying there with just an ounce of life left, Tristan again thought about the crazy few days. Just up until Le''s face came to his mind¡­ "This can''t possibly be just a dream.. Le.. what happened to her.. I cannot justy here.. I need to get up.. get up!" Tristan frantically shouted in his mind as he ordered his battered body to move.

    To his surprise, something unexinable suddenly happened . It was like he suddenly moved to another ce. Another pool of blood stretching to the horizon like ake. The sky was crimson red with seven bright sun shining towards theke.

    Suddenly the bloodke in front of him rippled and a figure made out of blood slowly emerged.

    The figure spoke to his mind .

    "Human.. I can feel your determination.. You probably are worthy of my legacy.. We will see.."

    "Who¡­ what are you?!"

    s, the blood figure ignored him and slowly returned into the crimsonke.

    Tristan suddenly awakened, stillying on the ground among hundreds of lifeless corpses. He was confused, until he felt something within him suddenly awaken. The same system seemed to react to the phenomenon again.

    [Blood Elf innate ability activated]

    [Blood Extraction]

 Chapter 11 - Innate Ability

    At the moment, Tristan felt his entire body churn, as if it was undergoing a reboot.

    [Blood Elf Monarch Innate Ability Activated]

    [Stage One Skill - Blood Extraction]

    Currently, Tristan couldn''t believe what was happening in his surroundings. He saw with his own two eyes that the blood of the human and orc corpses several meters around him was slowly flowing closer to him, as if something pulled them over.

    ncing down at his body, Tristan noticed that his entire body was absorbing the nearby blood on the ground. In addition, blobs of blood beganing out from the slowly approaching corpses, and floated towards him before his body absorbed them.

    The phenomenon continued for a while and Tristan saw a notification in his head.

    [3000...]

    [4000...]

    [5000¡­]

    [A mix of 5000 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [2000 Blood Essence gained]

    [Tristan Crimson - 21 years old]

    [Battle Power - 100]

    [Spirit Aptitude - S]

    [Spirit force - Non Existence]

    [New source of power was found - Blood Essence]

    [Blood Elf Monarch - First Stage - 0/1000]

    [Blood Essence - 2000]

    [500 Blood Essence would be used for automatic health restoration]

    Multiple notifications barraged into Tristan''s mind, utterly overwhelming him. Each notification caused more questions to appear inside his head. Having no answer, Tristan decided to focus on what was going on with his body.

    Just like what he had seen in the movies, Tristan could see and feel his snapped bones being reattached, severe wounds all over his body closed up, and his missing limbs regenerated.

    In the end, all the fatigue, wounds, and exhaustion Tristan felt was gone, reced by a powerful deluge of energy coursing through his body.

    [Health fully restored!]

    [Blood Essence - 1500]

    Tristan slowly awakened from his half-conscious state, still in disbelief as he scanned his entire body. He realized that his previously battered body was already returned to its normal state, perfectly fine as if nothing was happening.

    Unlike before, this time, as Tristan tried to feel his healed body, he unexpectedly found out that he hadplete control over each of its tiny movements. Feeling the fingers curling on hismand, Tristan let out a small smile inwardly.

    s, Tristan''s glee was destroyed as he heard the annoying sounding from the white haired goblin, "Kekekekeke¡­"

    "You are all now doomed!!"

    Unconsciously, Tristan proceeded to pick the heavy ymore lying on the ground. He then walked towards the remaining space knights and orcs, while dragging the massive sword behind. At the moment, Tristan''s demeanor truly looked intimidating.

    Without a doubt, Captain Siegfried was extremely shocked to see the elf manage to get up and walk in his direction. After all, there was no way that elf could move from the beatings he received. Even if the elf didn''t die by his previous ferocious blows, Captain Siegfried was sure that he would at least be crippled.

    However, the sight before him was real and couldn''t possibly fake. The elf, who was walking towards him, waspletely healed. If its body wasn''tpletely covered by blood, Captain Siegfried would believe that the elf unscathed by his attacks.

    "Blood Elf! My champion! Kill all those humans!" The goblin screeched as it pointed its finger towards Captain Siegfried and his men.

    Other than Captain Siegfried, there were only 2 more space knights who were fit to fight and could be deployed. The other two were heavily wounded by Tristan''s previous attacks. Currently, they were being treated by the female space knights who wore lean power armor.

    Seeing Tristan was walking closer to him, Captain Siegfried gripped his hammer tightly. "If the first time was not enough to end you, I am ready to smash you the second time!" said Captain Siegfried as he dashed towards Tristan.

    When the distance between the two of them was only a few meters, Captain Siegfried quickly leaped to the air while raising his hammer over his head. Swinging his hammer downward, electric sparks materialized over the hammer as Captain Siegfried delivered a heavy blow augmented by the force of gravity.

    Noticing the descending meteor-like hammer, Tristan swiftly positioned the ymore above his head to block the blow.

    BAAANNGG!!!

    The momentum the hammer carried was so immense that it made Tristan knelt on the ground. In addition, the ground beneath his feet was cracked by the impact received from the attack.

    While Tristan was feeling pain on his shoulder, courtesy of the hammer strike, another notification suddenly appeared in his mind.

    [You have 1500 Blood Essence]

    [Enough amount to advance into the second stage of Blood Elf Monarch]

    [Will you proceed?]

    While blocking another strikeing from his right, Tristan shouted in his mind, "Yes!"

    [1000 Blood Essence was used]

    [Blood Elf Monarch advancing to its second stage]

    [....]

    [Advancementpleted]

    [Received Blood Elf Monarch second stage''s Innate Skill]

    [Stage Two Innate Skill - Blood Seal]

    [Advancement affected the host''s physical body]

    [Battle Power increased significantly!]

    [Tristan Crimson - 21 years old]

    [Battle Power - 150]

    [Blood Elf Monarch - Second Stage - 0/2000]

    [Blood Essence - 500]

    Leaving the news about the second skill aside, Tristan was shocked to see his battle power was increased by half of his previous amount. Even though he didn''t know how strong he was now, Tristan could refer to how much strength he gained from his previous prowess. And clearly, the fifty percent increase was massive.

    While he was still shocked by the number, Tristan felt his whole body contracting before a refreshing sensation flowing through his body. Surprisingly, Tristan began to feel the hammer strokes were lighterpared to before.

    Simultaneously, as Tristan finished his advancement, the two other space knights were also already near him,unching their attacks towards him. Tristan suddenly let go of the ymore and immediately proceeded to grab the hammer with both of his hands.

    Next, Tristan channeled the strength in his body to swing the hammer around. As a result, Captain Siegfried whose hands tightly gripped the hammer hilt was pulled and yanked off the ground.

    Captain Siegfried suddenly turned into Tristan''s shield and weapon, as his body was flying on the trajectory of the iing attacks.

    BRACKK!!

    All three space knights were flung back and knocked down to the ground. Tristan swiftly grabbed the ymore again, and dashed forward. Not towards the copsed space knights, but towards Cursaac.

    Thanks to the advancement, Tristan ran at breakneck speed, and was already in front of the white haired goblin within a few seconds.

    The goblin was startled, before it began tosh out, "You?! Why did youe here? Kill those bastards!"

    However, looking closely at Tristan''s eyes and expression, Cursaac realized that his champion no longer followed hismand. As he knew the real strength of the blood elf, he was immediately shaking in fear.

    Tristan swiftly grabbed Cursaac''s neck, and lifted the goblin to the air.

    "Y-Your sister!! Yes, your sister!!"

    As if it was the right password, Tristan instantly released his grasp over the goblin the moment he heard that.

    Inhaling the air roughly, Cursaac continued his words, "Your sister and everyone else is with me. If you don''t follow mymand again, my orcs will kill them all with a mere gesture from me. Kekekeke."

    "What do you want?!" Tristan said sternly as he heard the goblin threaten his sister again.

    "Are you deaf? Those space knights! Kill them all and you can have your sister back."

 Chapter 12 - My Choice

    It is inhumane to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. All are just tones of grey

    ~~~

    Tristan once again faced two options; kill the group of humans d in armor for the damned goblin or let the humans do whatever they want with the goblin.

    Seeing that Tristan was silent, unresponsive to his order, Cursaac shouted again, "What are you doing? Why are you still standing around? KILL THEM ALL!"

    At the moment, all the bizarre things that had happened to Tristan would surely overwhelm a normal human, causing them to be at a loss. But for him, he just needed to focus on his priorities.

    Tristan lowered his head and stared at the goblin with piercing eyes, "How do I know that my sister is still alive?!"

    Upon hearing Tristan''s inquisition, Cursaac grabbed his almost nonexistent hair and shouted, "ARGGHH!!! Those chips must be broken for you to keep questioning me!"

    After a while, the goblin finally relented, "Fine! I was too busy with you, okay? Naturally, I have no time to care about the others who were picked. They are still in the captive room where you were earlier!"

    Exhaling a hard breath, Cursaac continued, "Now, kill those humans if you want to see your sister again."

    Tristan threw his gaze towards the group of armor-dded humans. Looking at their fearsome firearms and weaponry, much to hisplete surprise, Tristan didn''t even feel a tiny bit of fear. In fact, he somehow felt that he had no qualms about killing these people, especially after what they did to him, hurting and attacking until he almost stepped into the underworld.

    However, Tristan would not let the goblin take advantage of him that easily, not when he was currently in the dominant position and had the bargaining power.

    Tristan scanned his surroundings as his eyes checked all around the dome. There were probably only around a dozen or two orcs left remaining, and a few number of goblins. Of course, it was possible that there were still some orcs somewhere inside the facility, but Tristan was doubtful that there were still orcs on standby guarding the harmless humans when their leader was threatened.

    Tristan fell silent as he calcted the risks and rewards of the two options. Momentster, he finally came to a decision. Between helping Cursaac kill the humans or letting the humans kill the damned goblin, Tristan wisely chose the third option, one that he made himself.

    Tristan stretched his hand towards the white haired goblin. Cursaac couldn''t even react as Tristan choked him in the neck. After that, Tristan tugged the suffocating goblin from the mechanical flying tform he was on, separating the two of them.

    "You will take me to see them first. After I make sure my sister is safe, I will then help you. That is how we will do this!"

    Shocked expression filled Cursaac''s face before fury reced it, "Aargggh!!! How dare you human! Your sister will die with one word from me! Release me this instant!"

    When he heard that, Tristan pulled the goblin closer to his face, causing their eyes to stare at each other directly, "As long as my sister is safe, I will definitely protect you from those people. Do you agree?"

    The goblin began gasping for air as Tristan didn''t go easy with his hand, "Eeergghh¡­ How can I trust you?!"

    "I am a man of my word, unlike you!"

    Right after he said that, Tristan eyed his next target; the massive door where he was taken before, which would lead to the room where all the captives were at. Making up his mind, Tristan quickly dashed towards the door, with the goblin still in his hand.

    However, before Tristan coulde near the door, the female space acolytes, the one who could use magic, stopped in front of him and blocked the way.

    "You can not pass! Stop right now or I...!" eximed the space acolytes. Hence, he quickly snarled at the woman, "Move away!"

    Realizing Tristan would not stop his dash, the mage swiftly cast her spells. Multiple bolts of lightning swiftly materialized out of thin air, before they zoomed towards Tristan.

    [Thunder Bolt]

    Unfortunately for the mage, Tristan was able to deflect the spell using the ymore in his hand. Thanks to his advancement, Tristan was able to swing the massive sword with only one hand easily.

    "Don''t say that I didn''t warn you, woman." said Tristan as he swung his sword towards the mage. Coupled with his newfound power, the de created piercing sounds as it travelled through the air.

    *swish*

    BANG!!!

    A loud sound was heard as the swordnded on the mage. However, it appeared that the sh was hitting some kind of energy barrier, as Tristan could see the woman was unharmed. Nevertheless. The barrier was still shattered by the sh, causing the woman''s face to quickly turn pale.

    Tristan could clearly hear the group leader, that man who was armed with a hammer, was rushing towards him from the back. The man seemed to shout something about not killing the woman. However, Tristan did not want to waste any more time with these people; not until he was sure his sister was safe.

    Tristan swiftly swung his sword towards the retreating woman one more time. This time, he decided to send a low sweeping sh. In an instant, the woman fell to the ground as both of her legs were cut off.

    The woman screamed in agony, but Tristan didn''t even pay attention to her anymore. He proceeded to dash forward, passing her as he continued his way to the massive door.

    The wound the woman received should be able to hold the other men down for a while; Tristan thought.

    And clearly, Tristan was right. The other surviving members and the leader decided to treat the woman''s wounds, instead of chasing him. However, it didn''t mean the problem was gone. The two dozen or so orcs decided to chase Tristan when they saw their leader was being taken hostage.

    Tristan immediately sped up as he rushed towards the dark corridors. After running past countless rooms, Tristan finally found the familiar steel door. He leaped into the air before spinning and delivering a powerful kick to the steel door.

    BANG!

    There, behind the now deformed steel door, Tristan saw a group of terrified humans. Among them, Tristan spotted his sister.

    "Le!"

 Chapter 13 - Rage

    Tristan''s heart was beating rapidly, as if it was going to explode, as he tried to find a familiar face, the only one he held dear. His heart finally began to calm down when he saw her, sitting in the corner of the room. The girl with dark brown hair and dazzling blue eyes, his sister, Le.

    Tristan subconsciously released his hold on the goblin the moment he saw his sister, and immediately walked towards her. However, as Tristan walked closer everyone around her, including Le herself, were terrified.

    All of them immediately scurried to the sides, opening the way wherever Tristan headed to. Meanwhile, Le could only duck there on the ground, trembling and covering her head with her shaking hands.

    In an instant, Tristan regretted his previous actions which were certainly not well thought out. With him suddenly destroying the steel door with a kick and proceeding to scan the entire room with a fiery gaze, the people inside were terrified beyond words.

    Tristan also forgot that right now he was not himself outwardly. To be precise, in front of these people, Tristan probably looked just as terrifying as the orcs and the other creature.

    Then, how could Tristan expect her sister would recognize him the way he was currently.

    Tristan slowed his steps, and made his way slowly as he began to speak, "Le¡­"

    Upon hearing her name was called, Le lifted her head up and casted her gaze towards the one who called her.

    "Le.. It''s me¡­ Your brother, Tristan!"

    Undoubtedly, that statement was thest thing the girl expected toe from the terrifying figure.

    "W-Wh...aatt!??" Le stuttered as she was certainly in shock.

    "Yeah, it''s me. It''s hard to exin, but it''s really me. Tristan." said Tristan with a grim smile.

    Le was silent as her mind was trying to make sense of her current situation. And then, rage appeared on her face, apanied by¡­ sadness.

    "No!! No! What did you do to my brother! You fucking monster!!"

    Le immediately jumped at the figure, forgetting the fear she had just now, before proceeding to hit him. Of course, those little arms hitting his chest could not injure Tristan at all. But somehow, that action was able to hurt him. To be exact, it hurt his feelings.

    Tristan truly understood that the condition he was in currently was extremely difficult to exin in words. When he received the little punches and saw the tears in Le''s eyes, Tristan became angry. Angry with what fate had for him.

    Suddenly, the middle aged man in a suit shouted at him, "Leave the girl alone, you monster!!"

    Tristan nced at the man, and the rage in him burned even more fiercely as he recognized the man. This was the man who pushed him before. And now, the guy threw a stone at him while trying to be a hero.

    As a result of his hypocrisy, Tristan snapped at the man. Unconsciously, or not, Tristan raised the massive sword he unknowingly brought over, and swung it towards the middle aged man. The man swiftly split in two from top to bottom, causing blood sttering all around the room. Some of it even sttered at Le''s face.

    Whether it was the blood, the revtion of her ''brother'', or the sight uring in front of her, Le was aghast, unable to utter any words, and then she suddenly fainted.

    Tristan quickly caught her copsed body before it could hit the ground and brought her into his arms. Tristan''s heart ached as he saw her sister''s condition. Meanwhile, the others who were in the room began to scream in horror as they saw the two separated parts of the man''s body.

    Ignoring the ear-splitting screams around him, Tristan turned around and saw that the white haired goblin was gone. It seemed that the goblin ran away when Tristan was busy with his emotional turmoil.

    Naturally, Tristan quickly went ahead and pursued the goblin. He needed to know about what he did to him. Tristan had so many questions that needed to be answered.

    Tristan swiftly ran across the corridor with the unconscious Le in his arms. Whenever he saw a goblin or orc, he just simply butchered them without even letting them try to do anything. Deep down, Tristan hoped the actions would be able to cool his burning rage.

    After a while, Tristan finally arrived back at the room where he was operated on. Theboratory.

    Tristan could see the goblin was trying to operate one of theputers in haste. s, Cursaac realized Tristan already came into the room. The goblin noticed the rage in Tristan''s eyes and hurriedly said, "Aahhh, I see that your sister is alive and well. Now keep your word and protect me!"

    "I do.. I will keep my word.." Tristan gave a slight smile before saying "I don''t see any of those people who tried to hurt you. Am I right?!" asked Tristan as he slowly approached the goblin.

    Looking at the demeanor Tristan was emitting right now, Cursaac knew right away that Tristan was trying to do something about him. Therefore, he quickly said, "Then, go outside and kill them!"

    Tristan just calmly replied, "It seems there is a misunderstanding here. I did say I will not let them hurt you. But I never say I would not hurt you."

    "No! Don''t you dare! I am the one who created you! You need me!"

    Tristan finally stopped in his tracks, "Perhaps you are right.. I do need you. I need you to return me the way I was!"

    Cursaac was shocked for a second before heughed loudly, as if the words uttered by Tristan was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

    "Keke...kekeke!! Why do you want to return to that rubbish body?!" said Cursaac while pointing at one of many corpses lying on the floor.

    Tristan threw his gaze towards the ce Cursaac pointed at, and he was dumbfounded. Tristan was shocked to see himself, or rather, his previous body, lying there what was left of it.

    Seeing his own lifeless body, Tristan felt as if his heart stopped beating for a second. His breath ragged and his sight blurred as he could not believe that his body was gone and he could not return to the way he was.

    Within all the rage in his heart, Tristan heard a voice in his head. Initially, the voice was barely audible. However, it was slowly getting louder, until Tristan could not hear anything beside that voice.

    Kill him.. Kill him.. Kill that filthy goblin..

    Tristan raised the big sword, ready to cut the goblin apart. However, he suddenly snapped out of the trance, stopped, as he held the sword tight!

    "Kekeke.. This is exactly what I mean with humans having superior brains. Forget about that weak worthless body of yours. Now you are a God, the greatest among them all!"

    Tristan was silent, trying to process everything he had heard. Tristan temporarily quelled the rage in him and asked, "Tell me where we are? ...and how do I get back?"

    "Kekekek¡­ you are from the lower world, right? Aah, right. You wouldn''t understand even if I told you¡­ Let''s just say that you are in a chaotic world at the moment. How to go back? Kekeke.. I am afraid it was a one-way trip!"

    "You told me that you can send us back!"

    "Kekeke.. What do you think? Kekeke. The answer is within that ck tall stone. I made a base here precisely because of its ability to bring me more¡­ more humans to experiment with. Kekekeke.."

    Tristan remembered about the tall ck stone with the unknown symbol and the mysterious engravings. It was right in the middle of everything when he came to this world.

    Thinking about all the corpses and the bloodbath, Tristan turned emotional again.

    "You bastard! If you don''t know anything.. Give me a reason why I should not chop your head off right here right now!"

    Upon hearing Tristan''s words, Cursaac''s face immediately changed, "No! You can''t kill me! I know everything about the vessel you are in now!"

    Looking at Tristan''s unconvinced face, Cursaac tried to think of other things. Momentster, the goblin seemed to remember something and immediately said, "The soul! The elf soul! Did the soul talk to you yet?!"

    Tristan was startled hearing it, did he mean the blood figure. It appears there is more mystery that the goblin knows. Before Tristan could respond to the goblin''s inquiry, the familiar rm suddenly rang again. Cursaac then quickly checked what was going on through theputer behind him.

    "Dammit! More trouble!! Those space knights made those peoplee here!!"

    "Who are ''those people'' you are talking about?"

    "The elves!"

 Chapter 14 - Surrounded

    Elves, Orcs, Goblins, and Space Knights.

    ''What kind of world have my sister and I have been thrown into?''

    Tristan approached theputer-like object in front of him. He walked closer to see what was happening on the outside through theputer''s screen before him.

    He could see that the dome-likepound was surrounded by hundreds of figures dded in silver-colored armors. The faint luster that the armors exuded made Tristan wondered if there was something more on them.

    Seeing the figures and connecting the words Cursaac said before, Tristan was confused.

    "Are they not on your side? What do they want?"

    The reason Tristan asking the question was because the figures surrounding thepound were definitely not friendly. Looking at their demeanor and their weapons out in the open, he was extremely sure that those elves weren''ting for a cup of tea.

    "No! No. You see.. They are the real inhabitants of this. As for me.. You can say that I am more of .''..a traveller... kekeke" said the Goblin.

    Tristan could somehow guess that this damned goblin must have always brought trouble wherever he went. Hence, his ''traveller'' title.

    Before Tristan could say anything, the goblin continued, "We better not be involved with those people.. Yeah, we should just run. That''s the smart thing to do."

    The look of the goblin''s face clearly showed that he sincerely wished Tristan to heed his suggestion. s, there was no way Tristan was going to believe the goblin''s words that easily as he didn''t know what the goblin''s real n was.

    Suddenly, Tristan felt the girl in his arm start to shake. He quickly put down his sister on the ground with care and proceeded to do a check-up on her. When he did so, Tristan began to panic as he could clearly feel that her body was burning hot. Moreover, it also appeared that she kept whispering his name while in half unconscious state.

    Tristan once again red at the goblin. Gritting his teeth, he snarled, "What. Did. You. Do. To. Her!?!"

    The goblin panicked when he realized the killing intent in Tristan''s eyes,"Nothing! Nothing really.. I did nothing, literally! The most probable reason she was like that was because humans'' high dependence on substances... Well, as you can clearly see here, we are not an inn or anything like it."

    Realizing what the goblin meant, Tristan could stare in disbelief before he shook his head. Noticing Le''s dry lips and pale face, what the goblin said was probably true.

    "We really should leave.. Lets go.. I know a way.." said the goblin again, this time it sounded like a plea.

    Before Tristan could respond to the goblin''s words, a loud noise suddenly heard from outside of the room, causing both of them to be rmed. Turning their heads towards the room''s entrance, Tristan saw a group of people entering the room. It was the four remaining space knights with the wounded female on one of thepanions back.

    The group quickly aimed their weaponry towards Tristan, goblin, and the lying Le, "Don''t you all dare to move!" shouted the leader.

    With his sister lying on the ground, this time Tristan couldn''t be reckless even if he probably could easily decimate those people. Tristan looked at the one who shouted earlier,

    "If you aren''t making any trouble, then I won''t too." said Tristan calmly while keeping his gaze at the leader.

    The leader, the one which Tristan gazed on, the burly man with a big scar seen across his face, was silent as he saw how calm Tristan was. With his weapon still aimed at Tristan, he said, "We can settle our disputeter. Those Elves are killing your orcs! We fucking surrounded! Tell us how to get away from here!"

    Tristan just pointed his finger at the goblin beside him and said, "If you are here for that reason, then you are in the right ce! This goblin knows the way out!"

    Tristan thought that bringing the space knights along would make it harder for the goblin to fool him. Even though Cursaac seemed unhappy with what Tristan did, it was extremely clear that there was nothing else he could do besides following Tristan''s orders.

    Noticing that everyone''s attention was on him, Cursaac quickly said, "We will need to go to the east wing. That''s where my transport is! But I definitely need some time until it can be used. Hence, we need someone to buy time for us!"

    One of the injured space knights stepped forward as he volunteered himself, "Captain, let me do it. It''s my honor to die for the squad!"

    s, Tristan cut the valiant space knight off before his captain could respond "With your condition? How long would you be able to buy time for?"

    Tristan then followed his words, this time with a confident tone in it, "I will do it."

    "I can and will hold as long as you want. You know that I am the only one who is able to do it right now."

    Doubtful expressions appeared on the space knights'' faces as they didn''t know anything about Tristan. Moreover, they previously had a hostile attitude with each other. However, it didn''t change the fact that Tristan was indeed strong. It also didn''t help that the five of them had at least an injury that impaired theirbat prowess.

    Cursaac also appeared to be at odds with Tristan''s words. s, before anyone could say anything else, Tristan had lifted his sister up and stepped forward. Seeing Tristan walking towards the door, the space knight captain stopped him, "You.. you can leave the girl to us!"

    Tristan looked at him, and said, "Leaving her to you guys? No! She''s safer with me."

    Before Tristan walked out of the room, the goblin shouted, "Ten to fifteen minutes is all I need. After that, you can find us at the east wing."

    Upon hearing that, Tristan only briefly nced at the goblin, and then the space knights before proceeding to walk out of the ce.

    With his sister in his embrace, Tristan walked through the corridor and reached the outside of the building, the ce where countless corpses and blood were. His steps were quickly stopped by the dozens of elves.

    The first thing that came out from Tristan''s mouth was,

    "Thank god you all are here¡­ Those bastards, they are all back there. Catch them!"

 Chapter 15 - Goddess

    Hundreds of silver armored figures were congregating on the ground where there were still corpses and pools of blood scattered about. The stark contrast between them and their surrounding made a spectacle that was truly disturbing yet intriguing to the eyes.

    The silver figures appeared to be elven soldiers as Tristan could clearly see the obvious trait of the elongated pointy ears. Filling almost one third of the dome, each and every one of them had a longbow on their back and a sword of multitude kinds on their side. The bright luster shone from the bows told Tristan that those things weren''t the average factory-manufactured bow on Earth. For a moment, Tristan was entranced by the appearance of those elves, but he quickly schooled his expression back to normal.

    Currently, a portion of them had surrounded and were fighting against the remaining orcs, some were just standing on guard, while a group of them was walking towards Tristan''s direction.

    One particr figure at the helm of the group caught Tristan''s attention because of how striking they looked. A massive white tiger with a female elf sitting on top of it.

    Long beautiful golden hair and verdant green eyes. She wore body armor that only covered half of her body, revealing her fair skin and captivating body. Simply put, the figure of a goddess.

    For a second there, Tristan forgot about the situation he was in as he was enchanted by the elf''s beauty. However, he quickly woke up from his reverie.

    The female elf gazed down at Tristan from above the massive creature with such charisma. From her expression, Tristan could tell an inch of confusion. Before she spoke, Tristan said his words first

    "Thank god you all are here¡­ Those bastards, they are all back there. Catch them!"

    Tristan''s words seemed to make the female elf even more confused. With an annoyed tone in her voice, she said, "Who the hell are you?!"

    Upon hearing the unexpected yet expected reaction, Tristan sighed inwardly. It was clear to the eye that the female elf was the leader of some sort. Hence, his n to redirect them towards the damned goblin and the space knights before running away amidst the chaos seemed to not be going as smoothly as he thought.

    With his unconscious and fragile sister in his arm, Tristan would not resort to fight unless it was thest choice. He then decided to gamble on the situation by saying something that confused the hell out of the female elf.

    "Who the hell are you?"

    The female elf became even more confused when she heard Tristan asking her back. At the moment, Tristan was trying to bluff her.

    The important key to a sessful bluff was to stare at the target with even more emotion, expressing it directly to the eyes of the adversary. Tristan needed to have perfect confidence in his bluff in order to make others eat it.

    The female elf was stunned as she was silent for a while, and then she said, "I am¡­ Serene.."

    Tristan''s mouth curled a little before it returned to its stoic state, thinking that his n of dominance worked. But then, she was suddenly angered as she took out a whip-like weapon and proceeded tosh it on the ground, causing a deep gash on it.

    ''Damn¡­ She''s not weaker than me, apparently¡­'' Tristan inwardly thought.

    "I am Serene! The first valkyrie of the Vanyar Kingdom! Now, you tell me elf! Who are you and what are you doing in the forbidden ruins of Aesir?!"

    Tristan''s brain quickly went into overdrive as he tried to think of ways to react. In an instant, Tristan changed his attitude, he bowed his head as a sign of respect and calmly said, "My honorable valkyrie¡­ I-I honestly don''t really know. I...I was taken here not by choice... That.. goblin creature... I heard them fighting, and then¡­ I managed to run. I heard they are about to run away, hence I hope you catch them. Do not let them get away."

    The best lie was the one that had half the truth in it. Well, actually none of what Tristan said was a lie at all. He just roughlypiled the event and omitted some details.

    Tristan sneakily cast a nce at the female elf and it looked like she was unconvinced.

    "What about that human girl in your arm?"

    Of course, Tristan had prepared the eptable response for Le''s presence, "She.. she was helping me escape and got hurt. I owe her my life, thus I at least need to see her recover." Tristan said as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, acting like he owed Le his life.

    This time, it was clearly nonsense, but the female elf didn''t know that. Sure, it was not a masterpiece-type of a lie, but his lifelong experience, especially the time in the prison, perfected his talent.

    The female elf moved closer to Tristan as she pulled the tiger leash in her hand. Immediately after, the huge tiger creature roared loudly so close to Tristan''s face.

    Such a loud and intimidating roar from a scary beast should make anyone wet their pants, but surprisingly, Tristan didn''t feel fear at all. Tristan just stood there unmoved and wondered if he was still human.

    The female elf stared at Tristan with a piercing gaze, "You can''t fool me, you know¡­" she said with confidence.

    "Mina here.. She can smell fear. And she couldn''t smell any from you.."

    Upon hearing her words, Tristan thought he got caught lying. He probably needed to use the sword, after all. However, before Tristan could grab the sword, Serene said something that made Tristan freeze his hand in the air.

    "Only people with guilt are afraid... Therefore you¡­ I believe you are telling the truth."

    "..." Tristan smiled wryly in his heart. It was fortunate that he was hesitating for a moment, or else he would be digging his and his sister''s grave!

    Moreover, perhaps it would be true if he was intimidated by the tiger creature, but he just wasn''t, or rather, couldn''t.

    Serene finally stepped down from her mount and looked at Tristan closely. This time, Tristan could see a different side of her, a sincere and caring look. To be honest, he was quite surprised by the ring differences.

    While inspecting Tristan, Serene said, "One of your ears.. your eye.." she sighed, and continued, "You poor elf... What did they do to you? ...Don''t worry, for I will not let them get away."

    Tristan was quite shocked by the attentive feelinging from her words. Adding with her being so close to him, letting his senses feast on her alluring body and smell; Tristan felt kind of guilty that he fooled her right now.

    Serene quickly gave some simple gestures towards the elves behind her, and they immediately ran towards the entrance Tristan came before. Serene was about to follow her subordinates when she turned around and asked, "What''s your name, elf?"

    "You can call me Tristan"

    With Serene and her elves hunting the damned goblin and those knights, Tristan now just needed to find a way to quietly escape without anyone knowing.

 Chapter 16 - Blood Seal

    The elves, the space knights, nor the goblin Cursaac. Tristan had absolutely no interest or ns to let his and his sister''s fate hang in any of their hands. Therefore, before the elves could decimate the goblin and the space knights, Tristan would have to run as far as possible from this ce.

    Despite a group of them already entering the building, there were still hundreds of those elven soldiers spreaded around the dome-like ground. Moreover, half a dozen of them were around Tristan, tightly surrounding him. At nce, it might look like the elves were protecting and guarding Tristan, but they also kept their eyes on him. There was also the huge tiger around, waiting for its master''s return obediently

    Ten to 15 minutes was how much time Cursaac would need before whatever the transport method they had was ready. That meant there would either be a massive fight inside the building or amotion with Cursaac sessfully leaving thepound in any moment from now on.

    Whichever happened, that would be the best time for Tristan to slip away with Le in his arms.

    Suddenly, Tristan noticed a group of elvesing out from another entrance. Behind them there were a few dozens of humans. It was apparent that the elves had brought out the captives who were held inside.

    It could be said that those people were kind of in the same situation as him. When he looked at them being herded by the elves, with ashen and pale expressions on their faces that clearly showed how traumatic and tragic their situation was at the moment, there was a small voice whispering in his head, telling him to try and save those poor people too.

    s, that gant thought immediately swept away as heughed inwardly. There was no way in hell would he risk the safety of his sister by trying to save them. Therefore, Tristan just directed his gaze away and threw the memories in the back of his mind as he stopped thinking about them.

    To test the reaction of the elven soldiers around him, Tristan deliberately took a step forward.

    In an instant, all 6 elves were on alert and aimed their bow and swords towards him. The demeanor they exuded clearly told Tristan that they would attack him if he made any other moves. Evidently, Tristan''s chances to sneak away undetected at the moment were next to zero.

    Tristan quickly raised his hand while pointing towards a cape-like clothying on the ground. He slowly made his way towards the clothes lest he further irritated the already alerted elves. When he reached it, he immediately took the clothes and wore it to cover his half naked body.

    He then proceeded to sit on the ground, weighing his current options while observing the surrounding.

    "If only this elf bodyes with an ability to fly.." Tristan thought in his head.

    If the damned goblin could hear Tristan''s thoughts, he would probably fall into a deranged state. After all, the body Tristan was currently in already had overwhelming strength among its peers, and he still wasn''t satisfied with that!

    While Tristan stopped his wishful thinking, he suddenly remembered about the innate skill he had, the ones he didn''t have the time to check on previously. With just a thought from his will, words were appearing inside Tristan''s mind.

    [Blood Elf Monarch Innate Ability]

    [Stage One Innate Skill - Blood Extraction]

    [Stage Two Innate Skill - Blood Seal]

    The name of the first innate skill basically said what it does, a skill used to extract blood. Based on what Tristan had experienced so far, he assumed this was the skill that saved his life when he was on the brink of death earlier. It did so by absorbing and refining others blood.

    As for the second innate skill, Tristan honestly had no clue at all. He racked his brain trying to guess the skill effect until suddenly a familiar notification appeared on his mind,

    [Blood Seal]

    [An innate skill of a Blood Elf Monarch. Allowing to use blood essence to control other living beings]

    Looking at the somewhat simple yet astonishing description of the skill, Tristan could not help but whistle in his mind. "Wow.. this is a very promising skill. Now, how does it work?"

    As if answering Tristan''s inquiry, another notification appeared.

    [Choose a target to apply Blood Seal]

    "Alright! Let''s try on the closest elf right there!" said Tristan inwardly while his attention focused on the one he wanted to use the skill on.

    [Unable toply]

    [Target''s beyond capabilities]

    Tristan clicked his tongue when he saw the spell was failed, "Damn¡­ that''s a shame."

    Tristan was smart enough to quickly figure out the basic function of the ability.

    "I guess this is simr to those role-ying games?" Tristan thought. "If my level is higher, maybe then I could control them. So¡­ does that mean I can only use this skill on weaker beings like those humans? Aah.. but they won''t be any help to me."

    Tristan scanned his surroundings before his gazended on the tiger creature that wasying on the ground. "The ideal target would actually be that tiger. It could be a good means for running away. Hmm.. but that huge tiger should be on the same if not higher level than those elves."

    After a while, Tristan shook his head and decided to try the skill on the tiger anyway as he had nothing to lose.

    [Blood Seal]

    [White Zulian Tiger, Level 40 Beast]

    [Blood Seal would require 500 Blood Essence to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    "Hell yeah!"

    Seeing the affirmation in his mind, Tristan was about to shout to celebrate, but he currently needs to suppress the excitement inside him. Tristan then quickly confirmed the skill.

    [500 Blood Essence was used]

    The skill immediately drained thest bit of his remaining Blood Essence. Tristan then realized that the innate skill cost the same amount of Essence with the previous healing process. He wasn''t sure if the cost was high or low as he still didn''t have enough experience with the skill. After all, he was too eager to give the skill a try the moment he saw the alluring description of it.

    A faint red mist came out from his body and slowly flew towards the unconcerned white tiger. The mist''s movement was unbeknownst to the tiger and the other elves.

    All of a sudden, the huge creature was roaring loudly and struggling on the ground which quickly rmed the 6 elven soldiers. The tiger was whimpering in massive agony before suddenly Tristan felt a connection with the tiger.

    As if there was an invisible string forming and linking him and the creature. Momentster, Tristan could sense the creature''s inner thought and feel he could control it.

    [You have a sessful Blood Seal]

    Before Tristan could celebrate the sess, an explosive sound could be hearding from the building.

    Kabooooom!!!

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 17 - Acceptance

    Kabooooom!!

    The signal that Tristan had been waiting for, the cue for him to immediately leave the ce.

    Tristan himself wasn''t sure how he did it, but the instant he made up his mind to leave, the huge white tiger that he had controlled immediately pounced at the two elves standing the closest to it.

    Tristan tightened his hold on La and grabbed his massive sword before he leaped towards the rushing tiger andnded on its back.

    The unexpected event only attracted the attention of the few elves near him. When they realized his act, Tristan already traveled quite a distance away from them. The abrupt action,bined with astonishment due to the tiger helping out the captive, caused Tristan to have a rare moment of time to carry out his escape.

    Tristan grabbed the leash of the tiger as if his life depended on it, and the beast swiftly ran forward following hismand.

    Evidently, the elven soldiers already got out from their dazed state as a rain of arrows was descending from the sky towards Tristan.

    Tristan swiftly brandished the sword, swung it towards the arrows, and deflected all the arrows with it. Within seconds, he was able to break through the elves'' encirclement and got out of thepound.

    On the way out of thepound, Tristan heard a loud sound following the previous explosion. He nced at his back and saw a rectangr grey flying machine floating into the air and slowly leaving in the cover of smokes.

    The only regret Tristan''s had when he saw the flying object leaving the site, was the information he might get from Curs or the space knights about the he is on right now. But at the moment, he clearly knew his decision to get away was the right one.

    With one hand hugging his sister tight and the other on the leash, Tristan shouted, "Ride!!"

    While the tiger and two figures rode through the wind, Tristan''s mind couldn''t help but wander off. This was actually the first time for him to ride any kind of animal, much less a tiger.

    The experience of loping through the barren desert with the winds hitting and blowing their hair everywhere could have been quite exciting if Tristan and La didn''t fall into such a precarious situation.

    Seeing his sister''s feeble condition, the first ce he needed to go to had to have water; drinkable, clean water. Tristan fully understood that the two of them were far from safe, the elves would swiftly catch up to them if they stopped at one ce. However, they really needed to find a ce where there was water or an oasis.

    Unexpectedly, the moment Tristan thought about ces where water might be, the tiger suddenly turned the direction of its stride,pletely surprising Tristan.

    ''Did this tiger read my mind?" Tristan wondered.

    Half an hourter, Tristan received the answer to his question when the tiger arrived at a river.

    The river was located next to lush forest, which was quite strange when all the terrain he could previously see was only barren desert. s, Tristan didn''t let the thought linger in his mind as he quicklyy his sister down under a tree.

    Tristan cut a chuck of wood from one of the trees before carving into a somewhat rectangle bowl. Collecting water from the flowing river, he proceeded to feed it to La and swiftly treated her burning temperature with some wet clothes.

    When Tristan went back to the river to take another bowl of water, he was startled by what was reflected in the water.

    Touching his face, staring at what he had be now. There was a moment of silence and eptance within him.

    La suddenly awoke and began coughing. Realizing that his sister was collecting herself and still in a half-conscious state, Tristan discreetly took a few steps back in order to not make her afraid.

    Momentster, La regained her rity and the first thing she saw was Tristan, or rather, the elf. "You¡­ It''s you again... My brother¡­ where is he..?"

    Hiding the pained look in his eyes, Tristan cleared his throat and said softly, "You are still unwell. Drink some more water. I will find something for you to eat."

    Tristan walked towards the trees, but just as he took a few steps, his enhanced hearing told him that La was already standing and trying to run away. Unfortunately, her weak body didn''t get her far as she fell to the ground with a thud.

    Sighing deeply inwardly, Tristan approached his sister and carried her before he gentlyy her under the same tree again.

    "What¡­ what are you..?"

    La now had a good look at the figure towering over her. A muscr pale body that was taller than a normal human, coupled with white glossy hair, pointy ears and a green eye.

    La knew that the figure in front of her was definitely not human. But then, she realized the right side of the face just above the right cheek to the ear, it didn''t look like it fit into the body.

    Tristan realized what La was thinking, he slowly grabbed her arm and raised it to cover the left side of his face. And now, La could only see the strange side of his face.

    Then, La started to cry as it hit her.

    The blue eye, the familiarshes; it was someone she clearly recognized.

    La was crying loudly in disbelief, "No.. no.. no..! Go away!¡­ Let me go..!"

    Seeing his sister''s reaction, Tristan slowly said, "La.."

    "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" screamed La as she jerked her arm trying to get away from Tristan''s. However, instead of letting her go, Tristan hugged her tightly.

    "I already promised you on the ne, remember? I... I.. will never leave anymore... I will take care of you."

    Hearing the unidentified figure''s words, La''s cry became even louder as she hugged Tristan''s, just like a little girl in her big brother''s embrace.

    The moment was interrupted by a series of heavy stepsing from behind them.

    Tristan turned around and saw the white tiger with a branch full of small red fruits in its mouth. Looking at the tiger, Tristan let out a soft chuckle, "You really are useful, aren''t you?"

    Tristan patted the tiger and took the branch away. He then gave the fruits to La.

    Realizing that the figure in front of her, the one who looked at her with such tender eyes, was her brother, La asked the questions, "What the hell is happening with us..? With you.. your body.. and that white tiger.."

    Tristan smiled and patted his sister''s head, "Don''t worry too much about it, La. We will figure it out."

    A short while after, Tristan suddenly spotted an object closing in on them from the sky. It was the rectangr flying object he saw earlier.

    "Dammit! Can''t they just leave us alone?!"

 Chapter 18 - Persuasion

    Tristan stood tall under the tree next to the river while covering his sister with his body. Currently, he was staring at the flying grey ship getting closer with every second.

    Noticing the iing ship, La asked, "Are theying for us? Shouldn''t we start running?"

    Upon hearing La''s question, Tristan could only shake his head grimly, "No... I''m afraid we can''t, La. I don''t think we can outrun that thing."

    Previously, Tristan had been worried sick about his sister. Now that his sister was already awake next to him, it was probably best for the two of them to hear what they want.

    Tristan himself wondered who it was inside the ship that wanted toe for him. Was it the goblin? The space knights? Either way, that may not be a good news.

    Therefore, Tristan held his sister''s hand tight with one of his arms while his other gripped the huge sword. All of this preparation was in case they needed to run or fight.

    The rectangr-shaped ship quickly came closer and was slowly descending in front of them right across the running river. Tristan could see the gushing water sshing everywhere because of the ship. The loud buzzing sound slightly hurt La''s ears while the winding from the ship ruffled the grasses and trees around it.

    Apparently , the ship didn''t n tond as it hovered one meter above the ground. It slowly turned its front towards the two of them and Tristan could see Cursaac standing in the cockpit. Furthermore, that damned goblin was also staring at him.

    A momentter, Cursaac''s voice could be heard from the ship, probably through some kind of speaker.

    "Blood elf, I am happy to see that your sister is safe."

    Upon hearing the goblin''s words, the worry inside Tristan''s mind immediately vanished as he shed a slight smile. In addition with the goblin''s decision of notnding the ship, he deduced that the goblin didn''t have the power to catch him.

    Therefore, the goblin tried to resort to the most basic way when one didn''t have the upper hand, persuasion. This also meant the damned goblin managed to somehow outsmart those space humans and god only knew what happened to them. Hence, despite knowing his current advantage, Tristan still needed to be alert lest he ended up like those poor humans.

    Not caring if the goblin could hear it or not, Tristan shouted, "What do you want?!"

    It was evident that the goblin could hear him as he replied, "Blood elf, I want what''s good for you.. You shoulde with me. This is not safe!"

    Tristan was silent for a moment, as if he gave the goblin''s suggestion a slight thought. Then, he said, "I can''t really hear you with all of this noise! Come down and we can talk!"

    "Kekekek! You truly are smart, blood elf. But unfortunately, I won''t be fooled twice."

    Knowing that his scheme had failed before it could begin, Tristan opted for the second n, "All we want is to go back home! If you can''t help with that, just leave us alone!"

    As if he had heard the funniest joke of the century, the goblinughed, "Kekekek! Blood elf, oh, blood elf.. You don''t know how important you are right now. Do you know that you will always be hunted down by either the humans or the elves just for existing? Once again, you shoulde with me. It will be much safer for you, and your dearest sister."

    "No thanks! I''ll take my chances."

    Naturally, Tristan rejected the ''good-natured'' offer the goblin extended to him. The thing that Tristan most afraid of at the moment was that the goblin could somehow regain control over his body like before. If he did go with him, Tristan would have to be cautious all the time, which would exhaust him in the end.

    Realizing that Tristan had made up his mind, Cursaac hollered, "You will regret this, blood elf!"

    "No I won''t!!" Tristan retorted.

    Before the ship turned around and flew away, the goblin said hisst piece to Tristan, "I really hope you will still be alive when I return, blood elf."

    For a moment, Tristan was actually considering throwing the sword in his hand through the windshield, hopefully killing the goblin. However, thinking that the goblin was the only thing connecting both his past human and current elf, Tristan believed there would still be an important role for the goblin in his future. Therefore, he decided to let the goblin go.

    Looking at the ship that was getting farther away, La pulled Tristan''s pants and asked, "Are we safe now, Tris?"

    Tristan turned around and looked at his sister, "You finally called me by my name again.."

    "Well, after hearing all of that.. Fuck Tris! I''m not stupid!"

    Just when Tristan thought they were finally left alone in peace, his enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of stomping inrge numbers from a distance.

    "I guess that''s the group of elves.." Tristan woefully muttered.

    "Elves?" La asked, curiosity clearly filled her.

    "Yeah... the goblin seems to be right with the always be hunted part."

    Tristan quickly thought of an idea, he called out the white tiger and ordered it to run fast along the river. Meanwhile, he took his sister into his arms, and quickly went into the forest which was the opposite where the tiger went. This way, Tristan hoped that it would be able to fool the elves and kept them off their trail.

    However, Tristan was kind of sad to part with the tiger, as he knew there was a high chance he wouldn''t be getting it back. After all, he did consume a lot of that Blood Essence for it and the tiger was really helpful during their escapade. But then, their safety had toe first.

    The two siblings, or rather, Tristan with La in his arms ran nonstop through the woods like a gust of wind.

    La was shocked to see her brother''s capability. "Bro... You are so fast. How amazing.. So, are you like a superman now?"

    "Nah... More like a super elf."

 Chapter 19 - Sustenance

    The two siblings ran through the forest, crossing countless trees and bushes for hours until darkness finally arrived and covered the area.

    Estimating that he had probably been running for more than a hundred miles, Tristan decided that it was time to take a break and rest. He could still continue for another hour or so, but the reason he stopped was mainly because of La. Tristan was worried about her as she still hadn''t returned to her optimal condition.

    Completely oblivious to her brother''s caring intention, La nonchntlymented when she noticed Tristan wasing into a stop, "Are we stopping already? Aaah... That''s disappointing.. I was just getting used to the breezy wind, you know¡­"

    Tristan was speechless, and not knowing how to react to his sister''s words. After a while, he finally spoke, "... You are annoyingly talkative for a free rider."

    Not wanting to lose to her brother''s snarkyment, La retorted, "Huh! I am your sister. Everything from you is free for me!" While saying so, she also didn''t forget to wink and smirk.

    Tristan was extremely d that his sister had somehow back to her usual self.

    Afterward, he decided to hunt some wild game for dinner. With his enhanced hearing and extraordinary speed as well as strength, one could say it was quite easy, or even extremely, for Tristan to capture an animal that looked like a boar from Earth.

    La, on the other hand, could only look around for some nts that might be useful as the ingredients.

    Half an hourter, a campfire had been set up and they began cooking dinner.

    Even though Tristan and La grew up in a foster family, with how inattentive and uncaring their step parents were, the two of them pretty much raised themselves, or more urately, each other.

    La took out the dozens of nts that she collected previously and forced her brother to give them a taste. When Tristan asked why, she just casually told him because his body was stronger than her''s.

    "Eat this and see if your super elf body can possibly have a super tummy ache." said La with a straight face, but Tristan could swear he saw her lips slightly curled upwards.

    "..." Feeling helpless, Tristan could only ept her suggestion.

    La had absolutely no qualm in forcing her brother to eat all kinds of things she collected, and Tristan wasn''t afraid of poison. After all, even his previously broken nearly dead body was able to rise again. What could a few unknown nts actually do to him?

    That night, the two siblings who had not seen each other for a long time had so much fun teasing and ying with each other that they almost forgot about the situation they were currently in. Due to Tristan being locked up in prison, it had been four years since they were able to spend time together like this.

    Late at night, the two siblings were startled by unexpected urrence around them. Just like burning torch, the forest was abruptly filled with countless specks of blue glowing lights.

    The previously in, ordinary-looking forest was actually turned into such a beautiful ce at night. Honestly, it was quite a magical scene.

    Tristan and La were watching the marvelous sight before them. Apanied by the crackling campfire, the atmosphere had turned extremely warm, as if there were only the two of them in the world.

    Not long after, La fell asleep next to Tristan with her head on his shoulder. Tristan was revealing a soft smile while looking at his sleeping sister. Seeing the peaceful expression on his sister''s face was one of the best joys in Tristan''s life.

    While slowly putting the sleeping La on top of the bed he had made earlier by stacking countless grasses, Tristan still kept his vignce as he would naturally be on guard through the night.

    Tristan looked at the night sky and the gleaming stars in it, thinking that Earth could be somewhere far within those stars. But thinking about Earth, he honestly didn''t miss it even one bit. There was really nothing for him there. The best thing about Earth was the girl sleeping quietly beside him.

    Tristan unconsciously let out a smile when he thought of starting a new life in this strange, unknown, yet wonderful with his sister. But then, he was not sure if La would agree with his thought.

    While Tristan was lost in his thought, he suddenly felt something strange in his body. A strange feeling was churning inside, causing extreme displeasure across his entire being.

    "Could it actually be those nts?" Tristan thought.

    Tristan felt the ufortable feeling slowly turn into pain, gradually increasing pain that spreaded all over his body.

    "Oh my god! I could survive being pummeled by a massive electric hammer and dozens of those crazy green monsters, but will die because of a few small nts??"

    Stunned expression seen on Tristan''s face.

    "The hell?!! This isn''t funny at all!"

    When Tristan was having his crazy fit inwardly, he suddenly received a notification.

    [Your body requires daily sustenance]

    "..."

    Tristan facepalmed himself.

    "Does it mean food? I nearly ate the entire boar by myself! What?! Wasnt it enough?"

    For a second, Tristan wondered if his new body had the appetite of an elephant.

    The same notification repeated one more time before it finally showed something that really shocked him.

    [Current Blood Essence : 0]

    [Host require Blood Essence for sustenance]

    "What. The. Hell?! Blood?! I need daily blood to live? Fuck!"

    Tristan had enough intelligence to quickly understand what the words meant. Blood elf, blood extraction, blood consumption.. It all connected.

    "Damn! Does this mean that I''m some kind of vampire?"

    "..."

    [Warning! Your body will suffer a drawback due to theck of Blood Essence]

    [Battle power decreased by 50 points]

    [Current battle power 100]

    Seeing the massive downgrade on his prowess, Tristan couldn''t help but curse, "Shit! This is crazy!"

    The notification was followed by a torrent coursing through his body. Then, Tristan felt extreme weakness all over.

    "Well... It could be worse" Tristan said inwardly, trying to offset the mental pain he felt when he saw his strength decreased by a big margin.

    At least, besides his decreasing battle power, there were no other side effects that Tristan received.

    However, Tristan could not help but frown when he realized he had be something like a blood sucking monster that needed to be fed every day. He could only let out a sigh.

    If he knew that this would happen, Tristan would have not spent all of his Blood Essence for the [Blood Seal] on the tiger.

    Anyway, with him not having any Blood Essence right now, and the only blood source avable around was his sister, Tristan was undoubtedly in a predicament. There was no way he would suck blood out of his sister. Tristan would rather kill himself than hurt La.

    "I guess I will need to start finding blood soon. Somehow.."

    "Yeah.."

    A long deep sigh resounded through the forest that night.

 Chapter 20 - Experiments

    Right as the sun rose, Tristan saw La staring at him with a mix of curiosity and concern.

    "Brother," La touched him, trying to sense if something is wrong. "You look much paler than yesterday."

    "..."

    "Did something happen to you?"

    "No, nothing... It''s probably the sun" Tristan smiled as best as he could to ease her worries.

    "I see." Unaware of his predicament, La returned the gesture with a sincere smile of her own.

    Her smile only solidified Tristan''s decision not to tell his sister about his blood-sucking predicament. On top of everything else going on, he just couldn''t make her worry even more than she already did. Perhapster, when he had more information about this, he would consider telling her.

    "Alright..." Tristan stood up and stretched his limbs. "We really should get going now."

    Tristan extended his hand and was about to grab his sister. However, before he had the chance to take her, La pleaded and asked with resignation in her eyes.

    "Do we still need to rush even now...? From what I see, I don''t think they''re still chasing us. Besides, look." La gestured at everything around them. "Now that we aren''t running for our lives, somehow this trip feels like a pic, hehe." La scratched the back of her head andughed.

    Perhaps, if La said that yesterday, Tristan would be more inclined to go along with that n. However, the notification about his need for blood threw that n out of the window. In order to know more about this world, he couldn''t rx, he has to find out a solution tobat his need for blood.

    Unfortunately for him, the forest is much bigger than he previously thought. He had been running for two days, and there were only a sea of trees as far as the eyes could see.

    They continued their journey for a while before taking a short break for food. He left La in the safest spot he could find before telling her that he''ll hunt for animals. On one hand, he really did want to hunt, but on the other hand, he was looking for a chance to try out his skill on the animals.

    He searched for a while until he found a massive, fierce looking boar walking past him. Upon spotting him, the boar turned to look at him and showed off its tusks in a threatening stance. Unperturbed, Tristan was able to kill it, and he decided to use his skill on the fresh bleeding corpse.

    [Blood Extraction]

    He had used the skill before, but this was the first time he saw how the skill really worked. The fresh blood pooling from the dead boar''s blood was turned into an opaque red mist. The mist floated towards him before his skin absorbed it.

    [10 low quality blood cells are found]

    [Extracting and filtering blood cells]

    [1 blood essence ]

    Upon seeing the low number, Tristan was a bit disappointed, but deep down he knew better than to expect a boar would be enough to nourish him. Looking at the bright side, at least his ability still allowed him to absorb blood from an animal, and killing humans was not the only solution.

    Tristam decided to hunt a few more animals and get more practice on the skill

    [5 Blood Essence]

    Even with all the time he spent hunting, Tristan showed no sign of returning back into his previous self. He was even scolded by his sister as he brought back too many animals to eat.

    They cooked the animal over a campfire before resting on the forest floor. Morning came in what felt like an instant, and Tristan checked his body, realizing that the five blood essence he so painstakingly obtained is already consumed by his body.

    He concludes a few things from his experiments

    First; it was not feasible to nourish his body using blood from normal animals considering the amount and quality of blood he needed daily just to function properly.

    Second, the system doesn''t show or exin it but his body still needed to consume blood essence constantly. If he left his blood essence at 0 for too long, he believed that something bad would eventually happen.

    Third, only fresh blood could be extracted and used by him. He had tried to obtain energy by extracting from an overnight boar corpse and as expected, he failed.

    Considering all the limitations for his extraction, it seems killing humans had just returned back on the list of options he had

    The next day came as quickly as it went, and the two siblings finally managed to walk out of the massive forest. On the other side from where they came, there was a massive dry desert, but in the ce they arrived, they saw lush greenery coupled with hills and rivers.

    They trekked for another day, and finally, they saw a small town protected with a wooden palisade all around it. Several guards donning some kind of brown-colored leather armor were walking together to ensure the safety of the ce. From afar it looks like any normal human town in medieval time.

    There is a bit of traffic heading in and going out of town. From the way it looks, the inhabitants look kinda weing. Tristan decided to risk it and walked towards the gate.

    With his cloak, he covered the tips of his ears. Now, he could only hope that no one would know he was an elf. He doesn''t know how humans would interact with elves in this world.

    Unfortunately, before they managed to get closer, a guard had spotted them and called on them

    "halt! you there!"

 Chapter 21 - Erantell

    Tristan and La tried their best to make their presence as small as possible. s, their hopes were crushed the moment they heard someone shout towards them.

    "Halt, you there!"

    Tristan deliberately acted as if he didn''t hear the call and kept nudging La to walk forward, ignoring everything around them. Unfortunately, they were quickly stopped by a person d in armor.

    "Who are you and what business do you have here at the border town of Erantell?"

    Tristan lifted his head and was about to answer the question when he realized that the guard was actually cing his attention at La.

    His sister, on the other hand, could only show a stupefied expression to the fierce guard. She slowly leaned her head toward Tristan and whispered, "Tris, I have no idea what he''s saying. Thenguage is so strange!"

    Tristan was startled when he heard his sister''s words. Then, he was confused. Previously, she was able to understand what Cursaac said perfectly, but howe she could not understand this guard''s words?

    Throwing the problem to the back of his mind, Tristan decided to solve his sister''s dilemma first. Luckily, he couldpletely understand and talk to the guard. As to how he did it, it probably one of the features from the system that was imnted in him.

    Tristan slowly pulled La to the back so he was the one who faced the guard. Unfortunately, the pause and confusion on La''s face already made the guard suspicious and restless. Hence, he began to call more people.

    "What is going on here?" said a man with a slightly different armorpared to the guard in front of Tristan.

    Tristan turned his head towards the source of the sound and spotted the man. Noticing the better, more luxurious armor the man wore, he quickly assumed that the man was the leader of the guards.

    Seeing his captain wasing, the guard who stopped Tristan and La quickly spoke, "Captain, this girl is wearing very suspicious clothes. I suspect she is an ounder."

    Tristan immediately looked at his sister, and it was true. La was wearing a white shirt that was covered with dirt and specks of red blood as well as dark blue jeans that were already tattered.

    "What the hell are you looking at? Why are you all looking at me like that?!" La exploded as she noticed the guards around them casting their gazes on her. Receiving several pairs of eyes directly on her was definitely not a pleasant feeling for a young girl such as her.

    Listening to the words La blurted out, the expression on the captain''s face changed immediately, "You are not from around here, are you?! Tell us, where are you from?!" said the captain in response to La''s remark.

    Much to Tristan''s surprise, it appeared that the guards could understand what La was saying, but not the other way around.

    Tristan quickly stepped forward, trying to mediate the situation. s, instead of resolving the matter, his attempt backfired. All the guards drew their weapon out and brandished them. Several swords and spears were pointing their tip at Tristan and La.

    "You too! Remove your cloak!!" the captain snarled at Tristan who draped a piece of clothes over his body, covering his entirety and only letting his eyes seen to the outside.

    "Now, this could probably be a problem.." Tristan thought in his mind.

    Tristan did hear from the poor Desmond before, about the war between humans and elves. His current appearance, which was of an elf, could bring trouble from these people if they were on the side of humans.

    Sighing inwardly, Tristan could onlyply for the moment. There was no way he would do a massacre without any reason here with his sister around. It was clear that Tristan just had to bet on this situation, to see what kind of reaction these people had when they saw an elf directly.

    Tristan slowly lifted the clothes covering his face while readied his other hand to grab the sword.

    The captain and the guards kept their stern expression as they looked at Tristan revealing his face. But unexpectedly, when the captain and the others saw his face and pointy ears, they suddenly let out a respectful attitude.

    "Aah¡­ I am sorry, sir elf. I didn''t know"

    The captain immediately sheathed his sword and all the guards quickly followed him, storing their weapons aside. Tristan noticed a sliver of worries in the captain''s eyes, which made his brain quickly go into overdrive and acted the way an elf should do.

    "Your apology is epted. Am I allowed toe in now? Or do you need more time to check me again?"

    "Of course not, sir elf. You are wee toe to the town, but the girl here¡­ She¡­"

    "She''s with me. Is there a problem?" asked Tristan with a serious face.

    Noticing the look on Tristan''s face, the captain quickly waved his hand, "No, sir elf. Of course not. But I still need to report this to the mayor."

    "Sure. Do what you have to do. There''s no benefit for me to prohibit you from doing your job."

    Seeing the impatient gesture from Tristan, the captain immediately ordered his men, "Let them in!" The guards immediately made way for Tristan and La to walk.

    Tristan quickly grabbed La, and walked through the massive gate entering the border town.

    While ncing at the nervous guards, La said, "Wow, Tris¡­ You are so cool! They all immediately turned polite when they saw you."

    Upon hearing his sister''s words, Tristan could only smile.

    It seems the elves had more authority on this, or at least, in this border town. Tristan thought of asking for more information from the captain, but he was worried that would make them suspicious of him. Hence, he decided to find another ce for the information he needed.

    The two walked through the Erantell Town.

    The town was filled with hundreds of small, rustic houses made with abination of wood and stones.

    Tristan and La also spotted at least two dozen humans doing their activities around the street before them. Some of them chatted with each other, some were shouting their merchandise, while others stared at Tristan and La with weird gazes.

    After all, it was rare for an esteemed elf to appear in this small town on the border.

    Tristan ignored the gazes he received, and continued to observe around. He saw that most of the people here were human. But then, Tristan noticed two short figures with heads too big to belong to a child, a dwarf that books and movies depicted. There was also a furry-looking figure that he couldn''t recognize.

    At the moment, Tristan and La both truly felt as if they went in one of the fantasy movies and books they read on Earth.

    And like in such stories, Tristan could roughly guess the best ce to get more information of this town and the world in general.

    The tavern.

 Chapter 22 - Tavern

    The two siblings were walking through the streets of the town, looking for the target of their destination. Tristan and La were feasting with their eyes, capturing and etching the fantasy-like sights into their minds...

    Momentster, they finally arrived at a small wooden structure with a stone base. Right above the entrance of the structure was a wooden que with words that Tristan understood as "Moric''s Tavern" on it. Hearing the hustle and bustle inside the structure, it was definitely the ce that Tristan was looking for.

    When they arrived, the sky was nearly covered by ck hue.

    "Wait here a second." Tristan said as he dashed away, leaving La standing in front of the tavern. A minuteter, he returned with something in his hand.

    "Here, cover yourself with this, La." Tristan said as he stretched out his hand to La, showing the thing he obtained. He gave her some kind of leather coat, which could cover most of La''s body.

    "Oh my gosh, Tris... Where did you get this piece of cloth? Did you¡­ steal it? Are you an elf thief now?"

    "Nah, I am just¡­ ''borrowing'' it. Something that I learn from my four years of extended education"

    La just nodded and grinned while quickly wear the coat to cover her clothes

    "Yuck! It''s so smelly. You really know how to treat a girl, Tris." Lamented with a clear tone of sarcasm while rolling her eyes.

    "Don''t worry. This is only temporary. I will ''borrow'' a better one for youter.."

    "I see. What adies man you are."

    Tristan deliberately ignored his sister''s words, as if he heard nothing at all and the words were stranded in the night sky.

    ¡­

    The two of them immediately went inside the tavern. The moment they did so, they were quite surprised by the sight that greeted them, especially La. They never expected that the ce would be packed with people.

    There were at least three dozen wooden tables spread around the tavern, with most of them filled with people eating, drinking, or chatting. In short, those who were currently having their good time.

    At the corner of the room, Tristan noticed a young man singing a song, apanied by an unusual-looking music instrument.

    "So, if we are looking for information¡­ I guess, the bartender?" La said, unsure with her guess.

    Tristan just shook his head at his sister''s answer, "No, that''s not it. Just follow me."

    Tristan knew that normally the best way to get information was from the bartender. However, with the situation he was in now, he couldn''t just ask around about things he didn''t know to begin with. If he did so, it would definitely arouse a lot of suspicions.

    Tristan chose one of thest few empty tables, which coincidentally located at the corner, and took a seat there.

    The moment her body hit the chair, La immediatelyunched another question, "So, what are we doing now?"

    Tristan nced at her, and smirked, "Watch and learn."

    Tristan studied his surroundings carefully, and focused on his enhanced hearing. He really did not know anything about this world. Hence, he chose to observe and listen to the chatting that took ce around him.

    With the help of the system in his head, Tristan could understand everything that the people around him were talking about. Some of them were talking about how tired they were after working all day, some of them were discussing which girl they managed to get in the town, while some of them were talking about their gains from their adventure today. All in all, it was apparent that humans really liked to brag, even those frompletely different worlds.

    Tristan also observed the food and the drinks on the tables around him, and noticed that they were not that much differentpared to what he could find on Earth. Scanning the entire room, he also spotted two young women that appeared to be the tavern''s waitress getting flirted with by a group of burly men several tables away.

    Tristan threw his gaze towards the front table, where he could see how people paid for their meals with a brown-colored coin. Guessing and referencing from the fantasy-like information he knew, it was probably a copper coin.

    All of sudden, Tristan''s ears picked up something that was extremely interesting. It was the word ''ounder''. The same word he heard the town guard saying his sister was.

    Focusing on his hearing more on the two men''s conversation, Tristan then heard about an ounder flying machine that was seen in the sky above the town a while ago.

    While listening attentively, one of the young women, a waitress, was approaching his and La''s table, and ced two sses of drinks and a te of food on the table.

    Startled, Tristan was about to say that he didn''t ask for this when the waitress beat him to it, "It''s on the house, sir elf." said the waitress with a smile.

    Instinctively, Tristan cast his gaze over to the front table, where the bartender was. A huge man with a bushy beard and sideburn on his face was raising his ss towards Tristan.

    "Well, maybe because I''m an elf, I actually don''t really need money here." Tristan thought to himself.

    Tristan nodded his head to the bartender, showing his thanks. He then shifted his attention to the food on the table, and proceeded to try them. The meal was quite good; a meat roll-like dish that was savory to the tongue and a brown drink that tasted like honey water.

    "Tris, it''s an alcoholic drink! I can definitely get used to this!" La said as she chugged the whole ss after she took a sip of the drink. The two siblings quickly finished the food as they were indeed quite starved.

    "So, what''s the n now, genius?" La asked as she wiped her oil-covered mouth.

    "The n is, you stay here and I will find money for us."

    "Wait, wait, wait.. Hold up. I can help you!" La said as she got up from her seat.

    "No. Finish your drink and sit back down. Sit nicely."

    La was grumbling, but she still followed Tristan''s words. Looking at his sister''s behaviour, Tristan unconsciously let out a smile.

    He then walked towards a certain table that was packed with people. There was a group of men betting on what appeared to be an arm wrestling match. It was sort of a challenge with coin as a reward.

    Tristan gave them a look for a while. It appeared to be a pretty simple change, and he was very confident he could easily win with his strength.

    Hence, when the opportunity arrived, Tristan immediately stepped forward and sat on the match chair.

 Chapter 23 - Performance

    The man standing in front of him was a huge man full of bulging muscles, and were it not for his light skin, he would be the splitting image of the famous Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson. It was obvious that he was strong and proud of it, considering his condescending gaze towards the other people in the room.

    Tristan was excited to try his strength and see how it measured up against that man, but when he saw him, the Dwayne Johnson lookalike raised his hand and shook his head. The challenge was rejected before Tristan had a chance to offer it.

    Tristan rubbed his forehead in disappointment. No one there dared to wrestle against him, an elf. He walked back with an empty hand to see his sister shing a mischievous grin at him.

    "Did you get anything, my dear genius brother?"

    "Obviously my n isn''t that good. Maybe you want to try arm wrestling them, La?"

    "Me? Arm wrestling? Of course not. Wait here, I have a much better idea."

    Before Tristan was able to ask for further rification, La took the empty wooden drinking cup lying on the table in front of her and twirled it as she walked confidently to the empty spot where the bard was singing before.

    "No way, La, are you¡­" Tristan muttered to himself.

    When she arrived at the spot, several pairs of eyes were already staring at her. She ced the cup on the table and started to sing, pping her hand in a rhythm while asionally knocking the side of the cup for instrumental variation. As she sang, more and more patrons looked at her in interest.

    "I got my ticket for the long way ''round

    Two bottle o'' whiskey for the way

    And I sure would like some sweetpany

    And I''m leavin'' tomorrow, what do you say?

    When I''m gone, When I''m gone"

    It was a famous and catchy American song, and La put an unique twist to the country song with her own spin. Her voice, coupled with her looks, quickly made her the center of attention in that bar.

    Virtually everyone lost track of what they were doing and stared at her as if entranced. Some had started to thrum their fingers on the table to the rhythm, and some even hummed along to the song, earning an enraged shush from the people next to them.

    "You''re gonna miss me when I''m gone

    You''re gonna miss me by my hair

    You''re gonna miss me everywhere, oh

    You''re gonna miss me when I''m gone"

    Simr to the other patrons, Tristan could only stare at his sister in amazement. It had been a while since he listened to his sister''s singing. Right as she finished the song, dozens of copper coins were thrown from all directions.

    Excitement bloomed in La''s heart, and a part of her wanted to run straight to her brother and show off what she got. But, before that, she decided to sing several Beyonce songs to try earning a few more coins.

    After she finished singing, La came back with a pile of copper coins in the cup and a wide, mocking smile towards Tristan.

    "Look, Tris, I won! From now on, let me be the main breadwinner of the family!"

    Tristan had to admit, while the performance was fun, it had also attracted unwanted attention towards his sister. He noticed a drunken man in fancy clothes was appraising La from afar, his smile looked like a starving man who had just found a huge slice of meat.

    Tristan looked around, walked closer to his sister, and whispered in her ear. "Hey, sis, can you wait for me in the alley outside? I''ll follow youter."

    La was a bit surprised by the sudden request, but knowing her brother always had her best interests in mind, she nodded and did just that. Right when she walked out, the drunken man followed suit.

    Outside the bar, there was a dark path leading to the unknown. As her brother asked, La stood near the alley, and the drunken man took the chance to approach her.

    "Hello, beautiful¡­ You have such a lovely voice, sing for me again will you?"

    The drunken man stepped closer and extended his hand to touch her skin, but before he managed to do that, something stopped him.

    St!

    The attack was quick and invisible to the naked eye. One moment, La was staring at the approaching hand and the next she saw the hand detach from him, stter blood on her face, and saw the man himself knocked out before he managed to express his pain. La touched the sticky blood tainting her face and was about to scream before an arm closed around her mouth, muffling her plea for help.

    "Shhh¡­ Sis, you''ll alert everyone else like that." A familiar voice whispered in her ear.

    "Bro, what did you-, wait, YOU TRICKED ME!" La pulled her brother''s arm away from her mouth and said.

    Tristan did not answer, he bent down and checked the guy''s pockets before fishing out a pouch filled to the brim with copper and silver coins. With a confident smile, he yed with the pouch and smiled at his sister. "Anyway, I believe I still won, and I am still the main breadwinner of the family."

    "Tris, are you crazy? What did you do? Did you really kill that man?"

    "Of course not, I didn''t kill him¡­ For now¡­ and no, I''m not crazy." Tristan answered without hiding the true emotions whirling in his heart.

    "Are we going to just leave him here? He''s bleeding." La stared at the unconscious injured man.

    "Nope, not just yet." Tristan shook his head.

    Under the cover of darkness, Tristan carried the man while hiding in the shadows to avoid being seen. Using his enhanced senses, especially hearing, he managed to find an abandoned house. The wood of the house was rotting, its doors and windows smelled distinctly of fungi.

    That night, Tristan went in to get some of the information he was seeking. The man was terrified of being questioned by an elf. Afterward, Tristan told La to leave the scene.

    Seeing the poor man, Tristan was left with a choice of kill or not to kill.

    Logically Tristan finds few reasons to kill the man, first, he doesn''t want the person to make trouble in the future by telling about him, second, he really wishes to try his extraction skill towards humans this time.

    Even with these reasons, Tristan was still reluctant to kill the man. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and put the pointy edge on the person''s chest.

    Right just before he thought about putting down the sword and spare the man, he felt a burning sensation¡­ an urge to see blood flowing from that pointy edge.

    Saattt¡­

    Tristan pierces the sword through the man''s chest. Blood spilling and flowing down from his body to the ground. Seeing it, Tristan unconsciously cast his spells and a red mist started to form.

    [Blood extraction]

    [30 low quality blood cell found]

    [Extract blood cell]

    [Two blood essence received]

    When he finished the deeds Tristan doesn''t feel any remorse, he just felt his urge was relieved with an inch of disappointment with the amount of blood essence he receives.

    Tristan walked out of the building with the most neutral expression he could muster and saw La''s worried gaze greeting him.

    "What happened Tris.. what.."

    Tristan shakes his head and said, "Let''s not talk about it¡­"

    They walked silently, found an inn, and ordered one room. La slept on the bed while Tristanid on the floor to rest.

    With the information he obtained he looking forward to tomorrow

 Chapter 24 - Magic

    Tristan awakened with some thoughts about just what happenedst night. The urge to kill and see blood; He wondered if this meant someone was still in control of him or if this is what he is now... As of now, he has no answer for it, and he should just focus on what is in front of him.

    Within such foreign ces, survival was his utmost priority, and for the current him, that would mean he needed to somehow solve the problem regarding his daily Blood Essence consumption.

    Seeing how he could only get a measly amount of Blood Essence from animals as well as humans, in order for Tristan to survive, he would need to involve himself in as many fights as he could.

    The bigger the fight, the more Blood Essence to farm.

    Predicting hising fate that would arrive sooner orter, Tristan needs a way to strengthen himself, and also his sister. He needed somehow for her to be able to protect herself.

    Magic. That''s the most exciting information he heardst night. It would be very helpful if both La and himself were able to do magic. Fortunately for them, the town would be having a particr event today, a monthly magic test which would be held in a ce called the Magus Guild.

    ¡­

    Before the sun showed itself on the horizon, the siblings went out from their amodation and searched their way to Magus Guild. However, they first had to find new clothes for them to wear.

    They walked into the nearest clothes store, a tailor shop which was only a few buildings away. The siblings bought a set of clothes for themselves and immediately changed into it right at the ce.

    The shop itself, and standing in front of a tall mirror, fascinated him on how simr this world waspared to Earth. Well, besides their unusual fashion style.

    Tristan took a moment for himself, checking carefully on his image reflected in the mirror. He still found it bizarre to see the odd look upon the mirror.

    Compared to his previous body, Tristan looks a little bit older, maybe in his 25''s, much taller, pale skin, long memorable white hair, and a pointy ear. At the moment, the human figure on his face, the one that was from his old body, did not reveal him as a human at all. At most, he would probably be categorized as a slightly disfigured elf.

    Regardless, Tristan decided to find a cloak that would provide better coverage on his ear and cover his long white hair until he looks more human than an elf. Even though there were indeed many benefits of being an elf in a small border town, he preferred toy low for the moment.

    With the new proper outfits, the siblings proceeded to find the said Magus Guild.

    Finally, after walking through nearly the entire town, they found it in one corner of the town. The moment they arrived, their sight was greeted by a three storey temple-like building. From its appearance and the aura it exuded, it was probably the most luxurious building he could see in the town.

    They quickly entered the building, and the first thing that caught Tristan''s eyes was the huge hexagram panel made of stones with eight symbols on its sides and two on its center. There was simple writing that Tristan could read. The ten elements; water, ice, wind, lightning, fire, metal, earth, nt, darkness, and light.

    "Wee to the Magus Guild." said a female attendant who stood behind the reception table when she saw Tristan and La enter. "Are you here for the magic test?"

    "Yes, and this girl here needs to get a magic symbol as well," Tristan said while pointing his finger to La next to him.

    This is actually why he came to find out about the magic in the first ce. From hisst night''s ''talk'' he learns that Magic symbols were the reason why people could understand each other''snguage, Tristan thought It to be the same one Desmond showed him before during his time in captivity.

    "The service would cost 2 silver coins, sir."

    Luckily, their performancest night allowed them to pay for such services. Otherwise, Tristan would go out for a while and resort to some ''borrowing''.

    "Here," Tristan said while putting two exact silver coins on the table.

    "Alright, thank you, sir. Actually, she can do this service first before the event starts. Would you like to do it?" Tristan only nodded his head as confirmation. "Alright, miss, right this way.."

    The attendant led them to a room where there was a figure already waiting. To their surprise, the figure was a male elf.

    While trying to keep his calm, Tristan watched the elf take some kind of paintbrush and began drawing on La''s left palm.

    After the symbol was drawn, the elf then cast some kind of spell onto it. Immediately after, the symbol shone brightly for a second. After that, the elf asked La to make sure the symbol was working, "Can you understand me now?"

    La gave him a nod, which meant she understood the elf. With La now able tomunicate properly, they can now blend in easier with the people of this

    A momentter, the female attendant from before entered the room and took Tristan as well as La to a different room. Opening the door, the female attendant said, "Here is where they will hold the test."

    Inside, Tristan could see the room was filled with dozens of people.

 Chapter 25 - Spirit Crystal

    Tristan and La were taken to the second floor. After ascending the winding staircase they arrived at a huge hall, except that half of the room was open, letting everyone see the skies above.

    A few dozen people were gathered there, every single one of them human. Meanwhile, on the other side, there were three people sitting behind a long table with serious expressions on their face.

    It seems that they arrived just in time, as the test was just about to start.

    As if on cue, one of the three stood up and walked towards the middle of the room. The man scanned all around the room and looked at each participant before conjuring arge crystal ball from thin air. Before Tristan could ponder how he could do it, the man spoke with a deep voice,manding the attention of everyone around him.

    "Wee, people of Erantell! I see there are quite a lot of you joining this month''s test. As per the usual rules, the test can only be done starting from age 15 and above. Those who meet the requirement are wee to walk forward and touch the spirit crystal!"

    Tristan looked around and saw that out of the many participants in that ce, more than half were teenagers, but a few were around La''s age. However, not even one of the three dozen people who gathered looked quite as old as him.

    When Tristan and La walked up to join the group, he could see some people pointing andughing at him from the corner of his eyes. One particrly bold teenager, who stood next to him, even sneered directly and said.

    "Hey old man, what are you even doing here? Are you sure you didn''t forget where you are supposed to go?" The teenager asked with a mocking grin.

    Tristan knew responding would be a massive waste of energy, and he decided to not even entertain the childish behavior with a response. However, La clearly had a different thought in mind. She responded in kind and snapped. "Hey, shitface, can you shut up or do you not know what that word means?"

    The mocking youth''s sneer quickly twisted to a white-hot rage and he raised his hand to strike at La. Tristan reacted quickly and grabbed the youth''s hand tight.

    Tristan narrowed his eyes towards the young man and snapped. "We don''t want any trouble, so back off!"

    Tristan gripped the youth''s hand tighter, as a warning, letting him see a little bit of his strength. With a terrified look, the youth yanked his hand away from Tristan before walking away to the other side of the line, not wanting to even entertain the thought of being around Tristan a second longer,

    "Nice one, Tris¡­" La whispered.

    Right as the guy in the middle continued his speech, themotion around him quickly stopped.

    "As usual, we of the Magus Guild are operating under the order of King Can himself. We are looking for talented young magicians among you."

    The man looked at the crystal atop his hand and said. "Those who have an aptitude of B and above will receive a reward from the guild in order to help the advancement of their talent."

    The man ced the crystal ball on a small table he conjured in the middle of the room. The three dozen people all walked closer to the crystal and touched it with both their hands.

    The first person to touch the crystal was a young boy seemingly no more than sixteen, d in simple woolen cloth. With his small hands, he touched the crystal.

    The crystal crackled with energy before glowing in a bright yellow color.

    The man appraised the glow of the crystal and announced. "Earth element affinity, C aptitude rank."

    From the earlier exnation, C doesn''t seem to be a very good rank. However the boy looked very happy and walked back to the corner with a spring in his step, back towards a couple who appeared to be his parents. A bit of ruckus could be heard from the whispers of the others who came.

    The next few people were all unable to make the crystal glow at all.

    "No aptitude, next!" The man announced, and the young man wearing the simple shirt walked back with his shoulders slumped.

    The same disappointment was shared by the next 6 youths who attempted the test, only to receive a simr result.

    Finally, it was time for the eighth youth to try the test. With a slight tremble, he touched the crystal with his fingertip, and this time, the crystal glowed twice as bright in a soothing blue color.

    "Congrattions! B aptitude, water element."

    The boy''s eyes widened in shock, and the shock made way to excitement. The three men looked at each other and nodded in a simr satisfaction. The excited boy was led towards the table and received an eye-catching vial filled with a sparkling potion.

    Tristan grinned and looked at his status.

    [Tristan]

    [Spirit Aptitude Rank S ¨C Fire Affinity]

    He joined to see what kind of test would be done and how they would do it, before letting his sister do the same. Now, after seeing the process first-hand, he was sure that the test would measure the same ''aptitude'' as the one he saw in his system. At one point, he thought of not joining the test to stay low-profile, but now seeing the reward, he just had arger reason to take it.

    Before he managed to walk forward, the youth who tried to mock him earlier jumped in and cut him off, giving another mocking look in the process.

    The young man proudly touched the crystal, and the crystal ball started to fill with energy before glowing a bright red color.

    "Congrattions! Another B aptitude, fire element."

    The youth came back with such a proud grin, as if looking prouder than he did before was even possible. He looked up at Tristan and said. "Cih! Old man, did you see that?"

    Tristan simply shook his head, resisting the temptation tough in his face. He didn''t really care at first, but now he wanted to see how the youths'' expressions would be after he showed the difference between B aptitude and his S aptitude and how their fire elementspared.

    Tristan approached the crystal and grabbed it with both hands. Right as his skin touched the smooth surface he felt the gentle crackling of electricity.

    Tristan waited, curious to see how bright it would glow.

    A few seconds passed, but there was no sign of light at all.

    "..."

    The next sound he heard was

    "No aptitude¡­ Next!"

    Tristan bit his lip and cursed.

    "What the fuck?!"

 Chapter 26 - Aptitude

    "No aptitude. Next!"

    The same words came out a dozen more times causing dozens of people toe back to the corner of the room with disappointed faces. None of them had the aptitude to do magic. Apparently, Tristan did not either, at least ording to the crystal and the man in charge. They thought that he had no aptitude.

    Tristan once more checked his stats, this time thoroughly.

    [Tristan]

    [Battle Power ¨C 100]

    [Blood Elf Monarch ¨C Second Stage]

    [Spirit Aptitude: Fire Element, S rank]

    [Spirit Force: Nonexistent]

    The system imnted into his head clearly stated that he has an S aptitude in Fire element. But then he never really knows what an S means, it should have meant Superior or Special, which is above rank A. But now Tristan wasn''t so sure.

    The second possibility he can think of is that it could be an elf thing. Maybe elves have a different physique and the spirit crystal can''t test him properly.

    The words right at the bottom caught Tristan''s attention.

    [Spirit Force: Nonexistent]

    Tristan believes this is most likely why the spirit crystal is unable to show his S aptitude. An object named Spirit crystal and words of no spirit force exists. That can''t be a coincidence. Tristan believes that the crystal tests his aptitude through his spirit force.

    There must be another way to make use of his fire element, and he remembers the notification he had before when he first used his ability.

    [New source of power was found - blood essence]

    Blood extraction, blood essence, blood elf¡­ It doesn''t take a genius to put all the pieces together. Tristan found himself wishing there was a manual book or something to help him understand his new body easier.

    "Next!" said the man handling the test

    La looked at her brother. It was now her turn. Before, she was eager, but now as she looked at the failed candidates, she could feel butterflies in her stomach.

    La gripped her brother''s clothes and bit her lip. "I''m nervous, Tris, this is like high school all over again "

    Tristan patted his sister''s head, smiled, and said. "Don''t worry about it too much. You are my sister, after all, I guess you''ll at least get a B aptitude, or maybe even an A." He attempted to reassure her.

    La''s worried expression was reced with low mockingughter. Sheughed for several seconds and wiped her tears before saying. "Ah, brother, are you still sad you didn''t have any talent that it hit your head and made you dumb"

    "¡­"

    Tristan really adores his sister, but sometimes, her foul mouth made him want to put tape on it so she shuts up just once¡­

    "Thank you for brightening my mood though"

    La walked towards the crystal. The other candidates only saw a in-looking girl with equally in clothes walk towards the device that will decide her fate, and they looked away in disinterest. No one there really expected anything. Thest several candidates all ended up disappointed, and La seems to be no different.

    With both her hands, La touched the crystal, and she felt the sparks gently tickling her palms. Slowly, the crystal started to shine in a bright golden light.

    "Finally, someone with an aptitude." The man muttered under his breath, not loud enough for the others to hear but enough for La. He watched the crystal ball shine even brighter with a smile, a smile that was soon reced with a gasp of excitement.

    The crystal ball kept on getting brighter, until it became a miniature sun enveloping the room with its golden light. The shine attracted the attention of the other candidates, who all gasped in shock.

    The two men sitting behind the desk stood up and leaned forward.

    The girl with ck hair and in in clothes, the girl looked down on by almost everyone in the room, was the genius they were looking for

    "I...it''s¡­ A aptitude! and it''s the light element as well... That''s rare!" The man holding the crystal ball said while staring at La with apletely different attitude.

    Every other candidate, even those who had failed, stared at the glowing crystal ball in awe. Even Tristan was not immune from staring, and he barely kept himself from screaming.

    His sister having a good aptitude for magic would be a huge boon for them, as it would help in their survival in this world.

    Just like the other sessful candidates, La received a vial full of sparkling potion, but unlike the other candidates who was allowed to leave, the two men stood up as La tried to leave and started to bombard her with questions. La seems confused and a little bit terrified, she was unable to answer and only managed to stare at the two.

    Sensing his sibling''s distress, Tristan walked by and stood between the two men and his sister. He nudged his sister to hide behind him and asked.

    "Whatever questions you may have, you can ask me instead." Tristan said.

    "I apologize, dear sir, who are you? Are you her¡­"

    "She is my sister, yes." Tristan answered before the man could finish his question. From behind him, La nodded in affirmation.

    "Ah, I see¡­ I am sorry for saying this, sir, but you two look nothing alike." The man looked at Tristan and La from top to bottom, as if trying to find any simrity between them.

    "Well¡­" Tristan looked at La and smiled before facing the man again. "That''s because she''s my adopted sister."

    "Yeah, we get that question a lot." La chuckled.

    "Thank you for your help, we''ll be leaving now¡­" Tristan said and motioned for her sister to follow him to leave the ce right away.

    "Wait!" One of the men eximed. "I don''t wish to pry too much into your personal matters, but it''s a waste to see such an incredible talent being wasted away. Normally, we can only find half a dozen candidates with A aptitude each year, and considering her age, she took this test ratherte, showing that both of you don''t really understand much about magic." The man exined.

    "What do you want to do?" Tristan asked and tried to hide his sister behind him. He sensed that something is amiss.

    "Please, let here with us to the capital so she could receive the training she deserves. All candidates with an aptitude are invited. With her A aptitude, The great Wizard and even King Can himself would be interested to know more about her." Another man said.

    Tristan didn''t even ask his sister, he braced himself for a confrontation before answering.

    "No she can''t"

 Chapter 27 - Magic Spells

    Tristan firmly rejected the man''s invitation, he did not even hesitate for a second. There was no way he would let his sister go with a stranger that he just met, especially so when he still did not know too much about this foreign world. The risk was too much for him to bear, hence, the refusal.

    The two men seemed to be disappointed with his answer but, unexpectedly, they didn''t do anything else. When he asked about it, it appeared that they were not allowed to force others by the rules of their ruler, which made Tristan think this kingdom might not be as chaotic as he thought.

    When the two of them walked out of the room, La wanted to leave the ce right away. However, Tristan actually still wasn''t quite done yet with the Magus Guild. There were still so many things that he needed to know.

    Now that he knew La was able to learn magic and she was apparently quite gifted with it. It was logical for him to ask more about the matter directly from the Guild. He then walked over to the reception desk, where the female attendant from earlier was.

    Tristan then asked her about what the Guild could do for his sister. He also wanted to know more about the thing that they just received, the potion.

    As it was a basic knowledge that was free to spread around, the female attendant was kind enough to exin it to Tristan.

    One of the main services the guild can provide was magic spells, and the potion would help each beginner magician to learn spells.

    Before anyone could ever try to cast a spell, they had to have a minimum amount of spirit force within their body. The spirit force was the ''fuel'' that allowed the manifestation of countless extraordinary feats that spells could aplish.

    The potion that was given to those who passed the test was called [Spirit Awakening Potion]. Just like its name implied, the potion would help those who never had contact with spirit force a chance to awaken it.

    The attendant taught La how to operate the magic symbol embedded on her hand. La did as instructed, and she was quickly able to check her current status. The symbol on her hand was glowing, followed by a series of information.

    [La]

    [Battle Power : 7]

    [Spirit Force : 17]

    [Spirit Aptitude A]

    Next, she was asked to drink the sparkling potion. Tristan thought about the matter and recalled there were a few other people who also received the same potion. Hence, he finally allowed her to drink it, despite his reluctance.

    Right as thest drop of liquid went into her mouth, La instantly felt extremelyfortable, as if she had just received an exceptional full-body massage. Moreover, she felt her entire body was brimming with arge amount of refreshing energy.

    [Your spirit force has increased]

    [Your spirit force has increased]

    [Your battle power has increased]

    La was extremely excited when she saw the barrage of notifications in her head and proceeded to tell Tristan all of them. When it all seemed to die down and she didn''t receive any more notification, La rechecked her status.

    [La]

    [Battle Power : 9]

    [Spirit Force : 30]

    [Spirit Aptitude A]

    [Congrattions! You are now a Rank 3 Magician]

    La was ecstatic about the news, even though she did not really understand what that meant. But every congrattion one receives should mean something good, right?

    Meanwhile, the female attendant was as excited as her hearing La was awakening. The reason was because there were rarely any A aptitude magicians who came from Erantell Town.

    Commonly, those who have A aptitude would be treated like a prodigy in this small town located at the outskirt border of the kingdom. Moreover, La had just jumped two ranks from just drinking themon potion, which actually was quite amazing.

    At this moment, Tristan suddenly asked, "What about the S aptitude? How rare is that?"

    The female attendant immediately got out of her excited state, stunned by Tristan''s unexpected question. A momentter, she finally answered, "Sorry sir..? I never heard of an S aptitude talent before."

    "..."

    Things only became more and more tricky for Tristan. He once again noticed La tried to hide her chuckle when the female attendant answered his question. As a result, La received a re from her dear brother.

    Coughing lightly, La quickly schooled her expression to normal and said with a matter-of-fact tone, "Just stop it, brother.. From now on, I will be the brain, and you will be the muscle. I am the beauty and you are the beast. How does that sound? They match perfectly with us, don''t you think?"

    Tristan deliberately acted as if he hadn''t heard anything and proceeded to ask the female attendant about the next topic. The spells.

    The female attendant took the two of them to the back, then into a room that looked like a library from the outside. Entering the room, Tristan noticed there were some guards stationed inside, protecting the room. Scrutinizing them, he felt he could easily overpower them through physical strength alone but, of course, Tristan could not possibly wreak havoc without a reason.

    Inside, there were half a dozen wooden cabs ced in rows. Tristan could see all of them were filled with some kind of parchments. Looking at them, he guessed that the parchments were probably made of animal skin.

    The attendant led the siblings through the rows of cabs until they reached the far end of one. Turning around, she said, "Alright, here is our collection of Rank 1 to 3 Light element spells."

    Upon hearing that, Tristan cast his gaze to the said cab, only to find it almost empty. There were only 5 parchments that could be seen on it.

    Noticing the confused look on Tristan''s face, the female attendant said, "I am sorry, sir. You see.. This branch of Magus Guild did not have that many Light element magicians. Hence, theck of our collection. Maybe you will find more in the other town, or even better, in the capital city."

    Tristan sighed inwardly while shing a smile to the attendant, "That''s alright. Thank you for your hard work. Please show us the spells."

    The female attendant proceeded to take all of the parchments, and spread them out at a table inside the room.

    [Memorize page - Rank 1]

    Able to perfectly memorize one page of information.

    [Torch - Rank 1]

    Temporary creates an item into a light object

    [Healing Ray - Rank 2]

    Creates a ray of light that heals minor wounds.

    [Inner Thought - Rank 2]

    An ability to deliver a message or thought to another person.

    [Mage Armor - Rank 3]

    Creates an armor made of light as protection from attacks.

    Although the spell''s choices seem limited, the two siblings still looked extremely excited. Then they realized the spells came with a hefty price tag.

    [Price of Spells]

    Rank 1 Light spell : 10 silver coin

    Rank 2 Light spell : 30 silver coin

    Rank 3 Light spell : 1 gold coin

    La looked at Tristan, her gaze was hoping they had enough money to spend.

    "Nope. We are broke."

 Chapter 28 - Money

    The two siblings were walking out of the Magus Guild. La''s head was as low as it could possibly be. It was apparent that they were leaving without purchasing any spells. The reason? They were broke.

    Looking at the expression Tristan had on his face currently, coupled with the way he was walking decisively towards somewhere, caused La to be concerned. An inkling of an idea of what her brother was thinking at the moment made La quickly grab her brother''s arm.

    "Tris!! Stop!"

    Tristan was startled by the sudden tug on his arm. He turned around, a confused look on his face, "What''s wrong, sis?"

    He noticed that La was unable to look into his eyes, causing him to know that she was hiding something from him. Folding his arm in front of his chest, Tristan said, "Tell me.. What is it?"

    La slightly hesitated, which incited a raising eyebrow from Tristan. She then walked closer to her brother and gestured for him to get down, letting her whisper what she wanted to say, "Tris.. I know that we really need money. However, I don''t want you to buy me stuff using money from¡­ you know¡­ k-killing people.."

    Upon hearing his sister''s words, Tristan chuckled, "Hahaha! You think that I will go and start killing people just for money now?" he loosened his folded arms and raised his eyebrows in a joking manner.

    With a serious expression, La asked, "Aren''t you?"

    Tristan was silent for a while, "Well.. your words are not exactly wrong. But, it''s not the way you think."

    This time, it was La''s turn to be confused, "What do you mean, Tris?"

    "Hmm.. how should I put it.." Tristan rubbed his chin in contemtion, trying to find appropriate exnation for her. But then, he gave up, "Aaarggh! Juste along." Tristan said while gesturing La to follow him.

    Tristan walked through the town street with La following right behind him. The moment he stopped, they were standing in front of a building.

    Its appearance looked like thebination of an inn and a castle. Its wall was built using huge stone blocks, which gave it a rough feeling. However, thanks to its meticulous and unique design, it also gave off a sublime atmosphere.

    The building was standing tall, conspicuous among other buildings in the town.

    Looking at it, La felt that this building here did not lose outpared to the Magus Guild they just visited. When she lifted her head up, she finally knew the reason she felt that way.

    There was a sign above the entrance of the building, with words ''Adventure Guild'' on it.

    "What is this ce Tris?" Curious, La asked Tristan because she noticed that her brother seemed to know of this ce beforehand. Unfortunately, he did not answer her question and directly opened the closed door for her to enter.

    Entering the building, La''s sight was greeted by a huge hall with a lot of tables, just like the tavern. However, there was no food or drink seen on these tables. Several dozens of people were sitting across the tables, chatting and talking with each other.

    She then noticed there were several people standing behind a long counter, which were probably the guild''s attendants. Looking away from them, she spotted several people standing in front of a huge board at the corner of the hall, where many papers could be seen on it.

    La felt the ambience of this ce was very differentpared to that of the tavern. The people here all looked like formidable fighters, causing her to be a little worried.

    The moment La entered the hall, followed by Tristan, several pairs of eyes immediately directed towards the two of them. To La, their gazes felt extremely threatening.

    This ce was the Adventure Guild, a ce where groups of strong fighters could receive jobs. The range of jobs were diverse, starting from searching for missing animals to exterminating monster packs. Of course, the fighters would be paid after they finished the job, linear with the difficulty of the task.

    First of all, the siblings approached the huge board that was surrounded by people, while ignoring various gazes they received. Arriving at the board, La could see several pieces of paper, which contained various requests.

    It was apparent that this board was basically the Job Posting Board. The people of Erantell or the surrounding viges would post their requests to the Adventure Guild, which then would first be processed before being put on the board.

    Tristan quickly looked through the requests on the board.

    Monster Hunting - 50 silver coins

    Needs a group of fighters to clear up the farms from Poisonous Bees

    Missing/Kidnapped Kid - 20 silver coins

    Mina. Female, 10 years old. Last seen near the Bandit Cave of Hira.

    Destroy Orc Camp - 3 gold coins

    Annihte a minimum of 50 Orcs. Camp sighted west of Co Vige.

    Tristan quickly grabbed the Destroy Orc Camp paper. The reason he chose this job was because not only did it have the biggest pay, it also involved a fight, which meant a lot of blood that he could farm. Moreover, Tristan had fought orcs before, therefore, this job should not be too much of a surprise for him.

    "Why did you take that one? I hate monster. What''s about this kid? Her fate is so pitiful... Let''s take this job!" La said while pointing her finger at the paper.

    Tristan turned to face La, with a t face, "I am sure the great magician La can handle it by herself if she wants... go ahead¡­ take it."

    "Urrggg.. I hate you, brother."

    Tristan ignored La and approached the counter before cing the piece of paper on the table.

    "I will take this job."

    The female behind a counter apparently was a girl with a weird cat ear. she replied, "Certainly. Can you please show me your adventurer badge,?"

    "Aah, yes.. Adventurer badge.. I.. I lost my badge, it was¡­ hmm¡­ eaten by a monster."

    "I''m truly sorry. But this job has a 5 Silver adventurer''s or a Gold adventurer as its requirement. Unless you can show me your Gold badge, you can not take the job."

    It was clear that the process of earning money wasn''t as smooth as Tristan thought it would be.

    "Alright, then. Is there any way to issue a new badge?"

    "Yes, of course. You can get one in here."

    Apparently, Tristan would be able to buy a Copper adventurer badge using 20 copper coins. Unfortunately, jobs for Copper adventurers like himself were mostly about menial chores, like cutting woods, helping in farms and constructions. Not only did they a small amount of money, there was nothing involving blood in them.

    "Is there really no other way?" Tristan asked, exasperated.

    "I''m sorry, sir. It''s the rule."

    When Tristan and La were dejected by the refusal, a group of people approached them. 3 men and one woman, all heavily equipped.

    One of the men, the one with brown hair and heavy armor said, "We are also looking to take that mission. All four of us are silver rank adventurers, and we are just short one person. How about you join us?"

    "That will be great¡­ but unfortunately, I am just a copper," replied Tristan while lifting his newly acquired Copper badge, fresh from the oven.

    "Yeah.. At first, I thought so as well. But my brother here insisted to add you to the group." said the brown-haired man while pointing his hand to the side. The brother he mentioned was the short man wearing a cloak.

    Noticing Tristan''s gaze, the short man opened his mouth, "You should mention that you are an elf. That way, you will automatically get a Silver badge."

 Chapter 29 - Adventurer

    "An elf?"

    Tristan was a little bit startled that the short guy could actually tell that he was an elf. Meanwhile, the brown-haired man and the attendant were shocked when they heard the cloaked man was one of the esteemed. The man turned his head to hispanion and saw that he was serious.

    pping his hands together, the brown-haired man said with a smile, "Ahh! If an elf joined our party, the job will surely be much easier to finish!"

    The man looked at Tristan with a hopeful gaze. s, Tristan still kept his silence, as he tried to read more into the situation before saying anything else.

    While Tristan was still in doubt, the short guy added, "You need to know, brother. He is not just any normal elf."

    The brown-haired man was surprised, "Huh?! What do you mean?" He then observed Tristan closely, "He does not look like a dark elf to me."

    "No, of course no. He''s not a dark elf, but he is very strong."

    Tristan kept his calm while directing his attention to the short guy, observing him carefully. He then realized that under his dark cloak, the guy was constantly ying with some kind of a bracelet in his hand.

    The other two people who came together with the short and brown-haired man were also curious, they wondered what made theirpanion say Tristan was very strong. Fortunately, their question was quickly answered by the short guy.

    "This elf has a battle power of 100, brother even you can''t overpower him." said the short guy while looking at the brown-haired man.

    Surprise was seen on the man''s face before it quickly turned into excitement, "Wow! Really? That''s really great!" He then returned to Tristan and said, "I truly respect a strong fighter! You can call me Borin. What is your name, sir elf?"

    Tristan wanted to know more information from this group. Hence, he decided to take a friendly attitude. After all, the other party approached him with good intention.

    "My name is Tristan. This is my sister, La.:

    "Hi all.." La greeted with a smile.

    The four people were turning their head left and right,paring the two of them. They were dumbfounded by the stark difference the siblings had with each other.

    The short guy, who apparently was called Piyo, was about to ask but La beat him to it as she said, "Yes. I am adopted, alright?"

    Borin and the others were startled for a second, before they exploded into a loudughter, "Hahaha! You both are hrious." Collecting himself, Borin looked at Tristan again and said, "How about my suggestion? Will you join us toplete the job?"

    Tristan fell into deep thought, contemting the matter seriously. After a short while, he finally nodded his head, "Sure."

    The reason he agreed with Borin''s suggestion was because he knew he had to work with someone at some point, as going solo would sometimes be nearly impossible to do. Hence, he nned to take advantage of this opportunity to experience working in a group.

    These 4 people could be useful for him. However, there was still one thing that he needed to confirm first.

    "However, you need to agree to my one condition."

    Borin was surprised by the sudden request from Tristan, but of course, he would not immediately reject it. "Let''s hear it first."

    "Because I came with my sister here, I expect to split the reward to 6 portions, not 5."

    Tristan''s request seemed to offend the other man who held a spear in his hand, but Borin quickly stopped the man with his hand, "Because we highly value your strength, we will ept your request, sir elf."

    "Great let''s get started then!" replied Tristan with a smile.

    With the two parties havinge to an agreement, Tristan immediately followed Piyo''s advice and switched his Copper badge into a Silver one. Seeing the gleaming badge in his hand, he once again thought how beneficial his new body was.

    Tristan could notice the change of attitude in the cat ear female attendant towards him, which turned much more polite than before.

    With 5 Silver adventurers teaming up, they could officially take the job.

    Before they went towards the vige in the posting, Borin asked Tristan to join in the discussion. The 4 people then began to introduce themselves. The brown-haired man, Borin, was the leader and acted as the one who confronted the enemies first, the Defender.

    The tall slender man wielding a spear, the one who was offended by Tristan''s request, was called Seth. He was a Lancer. The short guy, Piyo, acted as the Scout of the group, which waspletely understandable given the stature he had. It was extremely supportive for his profession.

    Meanwhile, thest person, a woman with short purple hair, Herrera, was apparently a Fire magician.

    Tristan noticed that these people had some kind of ss name for their profession, which caught his interest. However, the one who he was most interested in was the Fire magician. Noticing Tristan''s gaze, the woman returned it with a flirtatious smile.

    La saw Tristan looking at the female magician, and noticed the alluring body she had. Hence, shemented in a small voice, "Ooh.. I see a man thinking with his lower parts."

    Tristan wisely acted as if he did not hear anything.

    ¡­

    They decided to meet up in the same ce tomorrow, first thing in the morning, so that they could go on the journey together.

    It appeared that the journey to the Orc''s camp would take two days. Boris told Tristan to make sure he brought proper equipment and items, especially for La.

    Afterwards, they left the Adventure Guild and went their separate ways.

    The moment the two siblings entered the streets, Tristan''s enhanced sense suddenly perceived groups of people approaching them from multiple sides.

    "La, stay close to me! We are surrounded!"

 Chapter 30 - The Mayor

    Tristan quickly went into full alert the moment he heard and perceived the groups of people approaching the two of them, which were currently located in the middle of the streets. He gripped the hilt of his sword, while waiting for the appearance of those that were surrounding them. Seeing and noticing all of them wearing the same uniform, he finally decided to loosen his grip and wait to see how the situation would evolve.

    "Halt!" said one figure who wore slightly different attire among the group.

    There were at least two dozen men surrounding them, which caused La to fidget her feet. Observing each and every person carefully, Tristan realized all of them seemed extremely tense, as if they were ready to attack at any moment but, strangely, there was no one who dared to raise the weapons in their hand towards him.

    The one in a different attire, who ordered them to stop, was apparently their captain.

    "Dear sir elf, I am truly sorry, but you are being suspected of a murder." Despite the unpleasant wordsing out of his mouth, the captain tried his best to show his respect to Tristan. Noticing Tristan''s raised eyebrows, he quickly continued, "I invite you toe with me, sir elf. The mayor wishes to speak with you and the girl."

    Tristan found the words to be funny. On one part, they told him he was suspected for a crime, but on other part, it also seemed like he was being rewarded, as he was able to meet the leader of the town. There was also the part where the captain specifically mentioned La, which intrigued him even more than anything else so far.

    La quietly closed on Tristan and whispered, "Should we run from them, Tris?"

    Tristan did not answer her question, he nced at the twenty or so people around them. Even though they seemed to be well trained, he believed that he could break through their encirclement quite easily.

    When push came to shove, he would only need to dash through them, and with his overwhelming Battle Power, no one would be able to slow him, much less stop him.

    But thinking about the offer to meet the town mayor, Tristan interested to know whats this is all about. as he need to get more information about this world. He decided to follow these people and see what they had prepared for him. After all, it still wasn''t toote if they began to run after meeting the mayor.

    "Alright. I will meet the mayor. Lead the way."

    "That''s a wise choice, sir elf. Please, follow me."

    The siblings then quickly followed this group of people. It looked like they were being led into the center of the town, towards a building that had the appearance of a pce. Compared to the pces he had seen on Earth, Tristan found that this pce was a bit underwhelming. He gave it a solid ten on design, while a meagre five on size.

    However, it appeared that his initial thought was wrong.

    The moment Tristan walked through the gate and entered the ce, he realized that it actually looked more like a fort than a pce. He could see at least one hundred guards stationed along the walls and gate of the ce.

    Before they went into the actual building, the captain asked Tristan to hand over his sword, for safekeeping. Knowing that he could not act carelessly, Tristan reluctantly passed the sword to one of the soldiers.

    He watched as the poor soldier who received his sword almost tripped his leg and fell to the ground due to its massive weight. On the other hand, La tried her best to suppress her giggle.

    The two then continued following the captain, walking through the long corridor, passing countless doors, until they reached a huge chamber.

    Inside, there was a figure in gold clothes waiting for him, sitting on a luxurious chair. Looking at him carefully, Tristan was quite surprised. But then, it quickly turned into amusement.

    The reason he was surprised was because this person in front of them was an elf. However, it didn''t stop there. This elf was different from those Tristan had seen so far; he was short as well as chubby. A fat elf.

    "..."

    Oblivious to the thoughts inside Tristan''s mind, the elf said, "Aah! Greetings, fellow elf. I am Uriel of House Axion, the Lord and Mayor of Erantell."

    Tristan watched the half dozen guards who came with them give a bow to the elf. Not for him though, Tristan just stands there act like seeing nothing.

    The elf, Uriel, walked closer to La, bowed slightly and slowly reached out to her arm before proceeding to kiss it.

    "You must be the lovely La."

    Tristan could clearly see the disgusted expression on La''s face, she was currently trying her best to not make any sound with said expression.

    Following that, Uriel made his way to him, and he swore if the short fat elf dared to grab his arm, he would kick him, killing him on the spot.

    Fortunately or unfortunately, the elf only gave him a light bow while saying his name, "Sir Tristan."

    The fact that the town mayor knew both of their names, with them only appearing in the town yesterday, made Tristan even more suspicious. He only just gave out his name to the Magus Guild a few hours ago, and the elf already took information from that. It meant that this mayor either was very well informed or took special interest in them.

    Tristan did not want to waste time. Therefore, he immediately cut all the pleasantries and dived into the point. "Spill it. What do you want with us? We have absolutely no knowledge of any murder."

    Uriel was startled with Tristan''s straightforward attitude for a moment before he revealed a grin, "Please, Sir Tristan. You don''t need to lie, I know that you kill a person. Your sister''s excellent performance can provide a lot of memorable witnesses"

    "I have no idea what you are talking about." Tristan answered with normal expression. This is some of the basic knowledge that he had learned during his 4 years of ''advance study''. Unless they showed you real evidence, deny everything until the end.

    Uriel still looked calm, as if he already expected it. Then, he unexpectedly said something that aroused Tristan''s interest, "Don''t worry, Sir Tristan. I don''t really care about one dead drunk human. It was his own foolishness that resulted in his doom. However, I could not say the same with you and your sister, Sir Tristan. I am deeply interested in you two."

    "Why?"

    The elf turned around, and with his back facing Tristan, the smile on his face grew even wider than before, "Tell me, Sir Tristan. Are you an outcast or an ounder?"

 Chapter 31 - Outlander

    Outcast or Ounder.

    Knowing that his sister was almost captured yesterday for being called an ounder, Tristan couldn''t help but be curious about that word. Hence, he had asked what the meaning of that word was during his information gathering.

    Ounder, to put it simply, were those who came from outside of this world, so in Earth''s terms they would be called an Alien. Which ment both him and La could be counted as an ounder. After all, they indeed came from a different world.

    Moreover, Tristan found out that his and La''s case were not umon. It appeared that the Kingdom had been known to capture any ounder spotted in their territory, where they would be brought to the capital.

    Now, as for the new word, an Outcast, this was the first time Tristan heard of the word. Therefore, he was hesitant to answer as he still did not know the meaning of that. So for precaution, just to be safe, he might as well use the background story he had prepared.

    "I am neither." said Tristan firmly.

    The fat elf was startled by the unexpected answer, hence he asked, "Is that so? If so, please enlighten me.. Who are you really?"

    With a straight expression, Tristan spoke out the words he had prepared, "I am an emissary of the Vanyar Kingdom, and I am here for a quest." Seeing that Uriel wanted to ask more, he immediately cut the elf off, "As for the details, I apologize, this is all that I can say."

    Vanyar Kingdown was the name he heard from that elf girl, the master of that white tiger. This excuse was the best he coulde up with, with the limited information he had. Tristan had nothing to lose from this, on the other hand, he really wanted to know how this town mayor would react to his words.

    "Aaah! Friends from the Vanyar Kingdom.. How''s Prince Serene? Is he well?" asked Uriel with a smile.

    Tristan frowned and said, "Do you mean PrinCESS Serene,? She''s well, and Stop testing me. I am what I said I am."

    Honestly, Tristan felt fortunate that the young female elf spoke out her name, otherwise his excuse would have gone to void.

    ''What a stroke of luck!'' Tristan thought to himself.

    The fat elf just gave him a grin, as he seemed to be satisfied with the answer. However, Tristan could notice there was something hidden behind such a smile, something that did not feel quite right.

    He observed the elf carefully and saw Uriel touch the strange-looking ring on his finger. Immediately after, an item appeared in his hand out of thin air.

    Even though the item looked a little bit foreign to him at first nce, Tristan instinctively knew that it was some kind of a handgun.

    When Uriel proceeded to lift the handgun to the air, Tristan already made his advance. Using his top speed, he rushed towards the fat elf. The elf was shocked by Tristan''s action and responded by firing the gun.

    Aser-like light was flying towards Tristan''s running figure. The scorching heat emanated from it showed that it couldn''t be taken lightly. For a moment, Tristan was sure that he would be injured if the shot hit him. Luckily, the aim was a little bit off as the light only grazed past Tristan''s body.

    Heaving a sigh of relief inwardly, Tristan hiked his speed even more as he appeared in front of the fat elf, grabbed the hand which held the gun with one of his hands, while the other aimed toward the Uriel'' neck.

    Making sure the elf could not move an inch, Tristan got close to his ears and whispered, "If you make a wrong move, I will break your neck."

    Loud sounds were heard from outside of the room, followed by a group of peopleing inside. Because of the noise Tristan and Uriel caused, the guards outside had made their way into the room, afraid that something bad happened. Among them, there was also the captain who brought Tristan here.

    "Lord Uriel, are you alright?" As he said so, the captain gestured to his men to prepare their weapons.

    Noticing his men''s actions, Uriel quickly shouted, "Get out, get out! I''m fine! I am just joking around with my friend here! Hahaha! Get out now. Don''t worry."

    Unexpectedly, the guards who already had their hands on their weapons listened to what Uriel said, and swiftly walked out of the room.

    Tristan removed the gun from Uriel''s hand and threw it towards La, "Check it out."

    The still shocked La quickly recovered herself, and caught the flying object clumsily. Then, she examined and tried to operate it, "I am ny-nine percent sure this is a gun, Tris."

    Uriel, on the other hand, despite having his neck still clutched by Tristan,ughed, "Hahaha, I knew it! You are an ounder."

    Curious about the reason he was exposed, Tristan asked, "What gave it away?"

    Uriel calmly answered, "Serene, although is a princess, none of the Vanyar elf called her that."

    Tristan looked at the fat elf in his head, and nodded his head, "I see.. I will keep that in mind for the next person that asked the same question.."

    Realizing the meaning behind Tristan''s words, Uriel immediately lost his calm demeanor and hurriedly said, "Wait.. wait! Don''t misunderstand!"

    Tristan stopped himself from clenching his hand, and looked at Uriel with a questioning gaze.

    "I took out the weapon not to shoot you. You surprised me, and I unconsciously fired it. That''s all, really! Moreover, now that I know you are an ounder, we can help each other. Please hear me out!"

    Tristan somehow found the fat elf amusing every second that passed by.

    "Speak fast, or your head will roll.."

 Chapter 32 - Bargain

    The Mayor started to exin his reason

    "First¡­ You need to know that although the king has been capturing ounders, there was never any order to hurt them. Second, our kingdom has a very close friendship with the elves. We need to think twice before even considering hurting you."

    Tristan pondered what he said, and he found that it matched with the way all the guards treated him. He also noticed that the mayor dared to talk to him without any security around.

    "Another reason to not hurt me is tied to the first reason¡­ Although I''m only a half elf, if there is news about anything happening to me, it would be a big deal and investigations would beunched ordingly. That situation would be unfavorable for you, don''t you agree?"

    The fat elf gave a conniving grin.

    "So¡­ Letting me go would be the best course of action for both of us. Let me go, and we can speak like civilized beings."

    Tristan already had the upper hand in this situation. He possesses overwhelming physical power, and La is currently holding a gun with one finger ready to press the trigger. Though he could see what the fat elf was getting at, he will not let room for surprises.

    "No! Continue... Tell us, what do you want?"

    "I¡­ I want information¡­ Like¡­ where you from?... How did you manage toe here?"

    Tristan tightens his grab on the elf neck

    "You think I''m stupid?" Tristan narrowed his eyes. "Don''t you fucking lie to me!"

    "Okay, okay!" The fat elf seems frightened; He eyed the weapon in La''s hand and continued. "You see¡­ The item your sister holding is an ounder weapon, one of many precious things that ounders normally brought with them¡­ the truth is... I am hoping if you have information regarding how I can ess more of them,"

    Tristan saw the fat elf give a greedy smirk, wider than the one he had before, and he smiled. Greed...This is something he could certainly work with.

    "So, do you have any such information for me?" The fat elf asked.

    Tristan quickly thought about the Cursaac facility, the ship, and the space knights. He has a lot of information he could use as a bargaining chip. Though he has no idea about their current condition, it was at least something he could use to satisfy the fat elf. Everything is at stake in this exchange, and Tristan needs to sacrifice something.

    "Yes, I actually have¡­ A whole ship of them."

    The fat elf''s eyes widened, and he rubbed his hands in excitement.

    "Let me hear you... What can you offer for them?" Tristan asked while letting Uriel go from his arm

    The elf walked back to his seat, sat down, and stared at Tristan. "I can offer you a new identity as my citizen. You will be granted protection as stated by ourws."

    Though the offer certainly piqued his interest, he knows the elf could give him more than that.

    "Not good enough, I would rather kill you and rob whatever in your possession right now!"

    "Alright, alright! Fine¡­ How about I provide you with an estate of your own in thisnd, and maybe some coins depending on how valuable your information ends up being."

    At first nce, it was definitely a better offer. But Tristan became even more suspicious. As they said, if something is too good to be true, it probably is.

    "I don''t believe you¡­" Tristan stared at the elf. "Those things we found might end up being useless, and if you don''t like what you are seeing, you can just take back whatever you are offering!"

    The elf''s face fell for a few moments before he collected his confidence back and answered.

    "Well, if the information has no value, there will be no coin for both of us. The citizenship would be useful to you, yes, but it will also be useful to me, as having one more elf in the town and someone as talented in magic as your sister would be good for the town. As for my protection, it''ll mostly be for your benefit, and as long as you don''t lie about your information, I will never break my word."

    Tristan could sense the sincerity in the elf''s words. The offer would give him something he needed, but Tristan still found himself having a hard time trusting the elf, as he sensed that the elf was still hiding something from him.

    Tristan suddenly had a sh of inspiration.

    He actually thought that he could lend the mayor''s power to return to the site and find out more information about home. This way, even if he failed to find anything, he would still be a benefit from it.

    "Alright, I agree, and I will lead you to the ce. However, you have to give me time, as there are things I need to do first. One week at most. That is the best I can offer you."

    The mayor quickly shook his head. "No¡­ No, that is far too long."

    Tristan asked for one week not because he had an orc job to finish for the adventure guild. The truth is, he doesn''t really care about the mission itself. What he really needed was blood essence, and by acquiring more blood essence from the orc, he would have a better chance to defend himself in case the mayor decided to backstab himter.

    "I suggest you agree, or all our deals are off," said Tristan firmly

    The elf''s smile faltered, but he simply leaned back to his chair and said. "Alright then, but in the meantime, I will ask one of my men to apany you¡­ Therefore, if you decide to go missing or my men went missing, then I will know, and I can report you to the capital."

    Tristan walked around the room, thinking about his options. It might actually be a good idea to have someone apany him, as the person could serve as his guide and someone who can lessen suspicion. With the mayor''s man at his side, Tristan could hide behind the mayor as an excuse if the situation calls for it.

    "Alright, sounds fair to me."

    The elf nodded and smiled in approval, which Tristan felt unhappy about.

    "Ah, onest thing¡­"

    The smile disappeared from the elf''s face instantly.

    "Let me borrow that gun for protection, and the ring you used before it seems very useful as well¡­ In addition, give me some coins, to¡­ you know, to cover for this one week''s expenses."

    Tristan apanied the request with a shameless smile and a threat behind it. This was definitely a daylight robbery and the elf was forced to agree.

 Chapter 33 - Gun And Spell

    "I am Barry, captain of the fifth division."

    The guard that was assigned to him was a young, energetic man with short brown hair that perfected his soldier look.

    "Alright, Barry." Tristan greeted the young man as a start, which earned him a vigorous nod from him. pping his hand, he continued, "from now on, you will only be answering to mymand. Do you understand?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Tristan nodded his head as he looked at the young man before him. Pointing at the ring on his finger, he said, "First, tell me how to use this ring."

    This ring was exactly the one that Uriel previously wore, which is currently in Tristan''s possession. He remembered the sight of the town mayor lending the ring to him, the bitter expression that clearly represented his heavy heart.

    Apparently, the ring was called a storage ring, and its function was just like what its name implied, storing things. After a simple blood ritual exined by the young captain, the artifact could open up an individual space inside, allowing him to store up to 2 cubic meters worth of objects.

    Sensing the empty space, Tristan unconsciously let out a smile, "This is a very useful thing."

    He decided to put his sword inside the ring in order to make him less conspicuous. After all, the huge thing always attracted the attention of everyone whoy their eyes on it.

    Other than the ring, Tristan also received the gun and a pouch of coins from his threat-request. When he checked the pouch, he estimated that there were 50 silver coins or so inside. It was apparent that the fat elf was really stingy with his coins.

    The moment the two of them came out of the building, Tristan decided they needed to go back to the Magus Guild, to settle their previous regrets. They had to go there to buy the previously unaffordable spell scrolls.

    They were quickly led by the same female attendant to the library, and presented the same spells they saw before.

    Out of the five that was avable to buy, the one that was extremely useful in Tristan''s opinion was the healing-type spell, [Healing Ray - Rank 2], which cost 30 silver coins. He bought the spell for La, which immediately made his current money to under fifty percent of its previous amount.

    Afterwards, Tristan took the chance to ask the attendant about fire element spells. He wanted to buy one of the cheapest ones, to let him try the theory that he thought.

    [Fire Touch - Rank 1 Fire Spell]

    The spell only cost 5 silver coins, much cheaper whenpared to the Rank 1 Light element spells.

    La gave a look to Tristan and shed a smile, as if she was supporting him to be able to cast spells. However, Tristan knew her better than anyone else. As expected, the young girl quickly transformed her ''encouraging'' smile into one of the teasing one.

    Tristan prudently decided to ignore her taunt, and proceeded into an important matter at hand.

    Both of them quickly went ahead and paid for the spells. Tristan gave La her Rank 2 spell. and began following the instructions on it.

    A few minutester, Tristan was attracted to a sudden lighting from beside him. Turning his head, he could see La''s hand was releasing a bright light.

    "WOW! This is so exciting, Tris!! I love this!" said La, waving her glowing hand left and right.

    The female attendant who was near them was quite shocked to see that La managed to show apparent progress within the span of minutes.

    After congratting his excited sister, Tristan returned his attention back to his own spell. Suddenly, a familiar notification appeared on his mind.

    [You have learnt Fire Element Spell - Fire Touch]

    [You have insufficient Blood Essence]

    Even though he could not use the spell at the moment, the notification at least gave him more assurance. From it, Tristan spected that he just needed enough Blood Essence to cast spells. Therefore, this only made his dilemma about the solution to sufficient and steady supply of Blood Essence even more urgent.

    While Tristan still struggling thinking of ways to deal with the blood essence, his sister cant stop talking about her newfound spells.

    Turning his head to the attendant, a thought shed through his mind. Tristan wondered if there was a spell that could glue his sister''s mouth shut.

    After thanking the female attendant, Tristan asked Barry if there was any suggestion on what to buy if they were heading out for a quest.

    Barry took them to a store where they could buy general items needed for adventure, such as tents, nkets, pots and pans, lighters, food ingredients, and more. Tristan then went ahead and bought enough stuff to let themst for a few days.

    Next, they made their way to a weapon shop, where Tristan bought a sword, a dagger and a grey leather armor for La. He decided to use all the remaining silver coins they had on La.

    Tristan didn''t regret his decision in the slightest, as he would do anything for his sister''s safety. Moreover, he believed he didn''t need any equipment to protect himself as long as there was enough Blood Essence.

    Later on, Barry took the two siblings to an empty residence located at one corner of the town. A ce that was prepared by the Mayor.

    On the afternoon of that same day, Barry was forced by the protective brother to teach La the basic technique of wielding a sword and dagger for her self defense.

    "Thank you for taking the time to teach me, Barry."

    "It''s my honor, Maam."

    "What the hell. I am younger than you! Call me Miss or just La"

    "Yes miss La"

    "..."

    Unfortunately, the training did notst long because La had difficulty learning to use these two weapons. She was annoyed that she could not learn the essence of the technique. Therefore, she forced Tristan to give her the gun he took from Uriel.

    "Who needs a sword when i have this beauty?"

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The handgun shoots energy bullets that were not inferior to bullets back on Earth.

    Thus, the sword and dagger training turned into shooting practice. Barry was running around the field at the residence, positioning a target for La to hit. Much to Barry''splete surprise, she managed to hit the targets with ny-nine percent uracy, which, honestly, was scary.

    The sight of La firing shot after shot at the targets reminded Tristan of when their cop stepfather show them how to use guns just to show off his power and intimidate them. Fortunately, now it has be a useful lesson.

    It looked like there was still something good that came out of their stepfather, after all.

    Seeing his sister able to do magic, and skilled in shooting, Tristan began to think that maybe, his sister was better suited to this world than he was.

    After firing dozens of shots, La finally felt fatigued. When she checked her status, it appeared that the gun uses her spirit energy as its source of power.

    This feature brought her disadvantages as well as advantages. One of its disadvantages was that the weapon would be extremely tiring to use and La needed to control how much she fired it. On the other hand, she wouldn''t need bullets to use it.

    The next day, the three of them went to the Adventure Guild to meet up for the job.

 Chapter 34 - Seven

    When the next day came, Tristan, La, and Barry met the other four adventurers in the guild as promised.

    The four adventurers sat together in a circle. Upon hearing footsteps nearby, they all turned their head, and saw Tristaning in with another person.

    "Now, who is this?" Borin leaned close and looked at Barry from top to bottom.

    "My name is Barry, captain of Erantell guards," Barry answered, a little perturbed by Borin''s behavior

    They were going on a quest located outside of the town, and as it was not an official quest, Barry came without wearing his uniform, Instead, he wore standard brown leather armor with a sword strapped to his side, making him look just like a normal adventurer.

    Borin kept staring at Barry in doubt. There was nothing to indicate that Barry was such a seasoned adventurer, and the group leader was reluctant to bring an inexperienced adventurer into such a dangerous quest.

    "Yes, he''s not lying." Tristan added. "The mayor forced me to bring this guy along¡­ I hope you guys are alright with this, I''m sure he could make himself useful."

    "Yes, if it''s battles you''re concerned with, I can help." Barry said with a t expression.

    "¡­"

    An awkward silence followed.

    Seth, the Lancer, was the one to break the silence. He walked closer to the two of them and touched Borin''s shoulder. "It''s alright, he cane, but don''t expect us to divide the reward by 7."

    Tristan looked at Seth and responded. "Well, that''s a little bit unfair. He''s a guard captain, his experience in that position would be very useful for our current job. In addition¡­" Tristan looked at his sister. "My sweet sister here.. she can cast a healing spell."

    The word ''healing'' instantly attracted everyone''s attention, but Seth believes that Tristan was trying to fool them.

    Even knowing this, Tristan still doesn''t really care, he continuously without shame tried to tip the scales in his favor and get more of the dividend.

    Barry sighed and answered. "Actually, I don''t need-"

    Knowing what Barry was going to say, Tristan quickly cut in "- he don''t NEED your concern. He''s a great fighter, and you have the skills to back it up, don''t you Barry?"

    "Well, that¡­ I''m a pretty decent fighter, so yes." Barry nodded before staring at Tristan.

    La merely looked at her brother from a little bit afar and shook her head. Her brother''s decision to force the leader to give them an increased share of the reward made her quite ashamed. However, Borin decided to ept his request.

    Sethined that his share was getting smaller, but Boris reminded that from the information he had managed to gather, there is a possibility of them having to fight over 50 orcs, and thus more people would mean a safer job and better chances of getting out of this situation alive.

    Piyo, the short guy in a cape, chose to not say anything. He told them that he would follow what his brother decided on.

    Meanwhile, Herrera doesn''t seem to care. The beautiful short-haired magician merely stared at Tristan and gave him a flirtatious smile, while asionally nodding in agreement as if pretending she was listening. While the group was deep in discussion, the woman took up a piece of an item that looked like a cigarette, held it in between her fingers, and summoned a small ember of fire magic on the tip of her other hand.

    Herrera blew a cloud of smoke towards Tristan and offered him a piece.

    Tristan decided to stop paying attention to the ongoing discussion and joined her in the corner. Unfortunately Tristan was unable to show off his fire spells.

    Tristan''s prison years made him unable to avoid indulging in such a thing, as it was one of the few ways he could entertain himself in prison. He took a long drag, savoring the taste, when he realized.

    "Damn, this is weed.."

    ------

    The 7 of them walked to the west for around two hours before they reached the shore. There was nothing but blue as far as the eyes can see.

    The waves move in a rhythmic pattern, creating the atmosphere of a soothing beach. They walked along the shore until they found a small port, nked with a dozen wooden houses all around.

    "We have reached Epheria port," said Barry, trying to be a good tour guide for Tristan.

    Apparently, they need to take a boat to reach their destination.

    "Why do we need to take a boat? Is it really that far?"

    "Our options are 2 days by horse riding or a day by a boat ride"

    "I see."

    Now that he was closer, Tristan could see the port properly. He was surprised to see that even such a small port was heavily guarded,plete with a watchtower and wooden palisades set up on the ground.

    Barry looked at Tristan, saw his confusion, and exin that there is a huge threat across the ocean from the east. The Barbarian tribes would oftene to raid the ce or the small viges around them, and it was crucial that even such a small town should have a working defensive system.

    The group headed to one of the half a dozen boats that were waiting on the shore.

    "The cost for the ride is 6 silver coins for all of us, so let''s share it. 3 coins each?" said Borin

    Tristan was standing right next to him, but pretending not to see or listen to anything. He was prepared for another argument before It was Barry who jumped in and covered the half portion of the cost.

    Seeing this actually made Tristan wonder how much money Barry had.

 Chapter 35 - Companion

    The boat sailed down to the southern area of the sea. The ride was rtively smooth, and Tristan enjoyed the cool ocean wind. Without the orcs and elves, this ce would be a pristine, beautiful world worth living in.

    Tristan spent his time on the ship getting to know more about the group. Like the famous saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. By knowing more about them then Tristan can have the advantage.

    The four of them were actually a newly-formed adventurer group made because of a simr quest. Depending on the type of quests, some could be finished individually. However, the more dangerous quests usually would require a group. Though it was more dangerous, the rewards they would receive uponpletion were usually worth it, so they decided to form a group.

    Borin actually had something that happened in the past with orcs. That made him obsessed with taking the same quest over and over again with his kid brother Piyo, who has been helping him.

    Meanwhile, Seth and Herrera carried no burden like that. They merely joined the group for easy money and for travel. ording to Seth, the brothers leading the team carried a secret that made their quests feel much easier.

    After getting to knowing the adventure team members, Tristan decided he should find out more about Barry..

    Barry joined the Erantell Guards'' recruitment around three years ago, and he was just promoted to captainst month, at the age of 19. It was such a significant achievement, for it marked his status as the youngest guard who made it to Captain in the whole Arkadia Kingdom,

    Barry always spent his time training, as he wanted to join the Knights at the capital. Not only would the pay be better there, but he would also make his family proud.

    "What do the knights do?" asked Tristan

    "Protect the king and the kingdom, of course"

    From Barry''s exnation, it was clear that this world was constantly under threat. This kingdom alone had to face barbarians from across the eastern sea, while orcs prowl the southern side and dark spawn lurk in the north, always waiting for a moment to strike.

    "Dark Spawn?"

    "Yes sir... They are the group of orcs and goblins united under the leadership of the dark elves"

    Barry starts exining the geography of the Arkadia kingdom and everything around it, including where the territories of the dark elves, orcs, goblins, and barbarians are located.

    Tristan felt even more hopeless. This world would probably have no rxing days, there goes his n to just rx in this strange world. He now has more reason to find the way back home next week when he returns to the Cursaac site.

    Half a day passed, and the boat steered in the direction of the inds. It followed the rivers for another few hours before reaching its destination.

    C Vige, the ce that ordered the job.

    It was a small rural vige located near the river. Judging from the sparse amount of houses and the abundance of wild nts growing all around them, the vige should have no more than 100 residents. Even deep inside the small vige, the rushing sounds of the river could still be heard,bining with the rustling of leaves and the wind to create soothing background noise.

    They were given a warm wee as if they were heroes returning from a long journey and given a small feast to celebrate their victory. The festivities were a soothing break from their long journey.

    During the festival, the vige elder talked about the details of the quest to the group. The vige had known about the presence of an orc camp in the forest for quite a while, and before all this, they lived in an unspoken truce where one would not disturb the other. But, something seems to have changed recently, and the orcs had started to venture out of the forest to steal their food and scare the children. A few days ago, some young men from the vige were killed, the esction quickly led to the quest. Considering the amount of reward and the size of the town, it seems like the vige elder had offered the entire town''s savings

    After the feast, they were escorted into arge house with half a dozen rooms for them to stay in. The house was divided into two floors, Arge dining room took most of the first floor,bined with the living room and all the bedrooms on the top floor.

    "We are all safe here, so no need to worry go get some rest. You''ll need all of your strength for tomorrow''s job." Borin said

    Tristan asked La to sleep in the same room but she declined before he could get his question out, "Tris, I''m 18 already! I don''t want you to treat me like a kid anymore, you understand!." La walked upstairs into one room and closed the door without waiting for Tristan''s answer.

    Unable to retort, Tristan could only settle for the second room next to hers, while depending on his enhanced hearing to keep his sister safe.

    But when he was about to go inside the room, he saw a figure approaching him from the corner of his eyes.

    Tristan turned around and looked at the figure. It was the purple haired beauty Hererra the fire magician.

    "The beds here are really cold, you know. I can apany you tonight if you want?" She gave Tristan a flirtatious wink. Her true intention was no mystery.

 Chapter 36 - Inviting **

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Tristan opened the door to his room and stepped aside to let the beautiful magician in.

    The woman smiled in approval, walked in gracefully, and stood in the middle of the narrow bedroom.

    Everyone could see from a mile away what her true intentions were from the offer to apany him, and from the way she carried herself, it seems that the woman is an expert in matters like this.

    Herrera stood in the middle of the room and stretched, showing off her beautiful figure. Her half-lidded gaze was apanied with a flirtatious smile, as if inviting Tristan to prove himself and make the next move.

    Of course, Tristan would jump for a chance at such a thrilling night with the promise of a release. Besides, he was locked up for 4 years in prison. Being in such a ce as a developing young man was probably only one step better than outright torture. However, he can''t rx yet as he knows nothing about his new body.

    Can elves have sex?

    Tristan restrained the urges to ravish the beautiful woman right then and there. Instead, he calmly walked closer to her, and inhaled. The scent of her enchanting aroma overwhelmed his senses, and were he someone of less restraint, he would probably take her to the bed this instant.

    Despite the raging need stirring within him, Tristan walked away from her and took a seat on the chair near the table.

    The woman turned around, her gaze lingering on his body and following his movements. She bit the corner of her lips and rubbed her thighs while staring at him.

    Though she was experienced, it seems that she was loath to take the initiative. Instead, she waits for Tristan''s next move.

    They stood merely three steps apart from each other, allowing Tristan to appreciate every curve of her figure. The woman possessed short, lush purple hair reaching her corbone, allowing her to show off each dip and curve of her pristine neck to the world. The middle part of her ck dress hung low and tantalizing, showing off the upper tip of her cleavage.

    With a firm, domineering tone, Tristan smirked and said.

    "Take off your dress"

    Amanding, powerful order from an equally strong elf. Perhaps, someone less experienced would only see Tristan''s order as ramblings of a deluded elf. However, the woman was different. She was able to see the promise of a wonderful night.

    The woman''s smile widened. She reached up to her shoulders and slid off the straps of her dress, giving Tristan a full view of her breasts. If a man somehow managed to keep his wits when she was still clothed, the sight of the two firm, pristine, and alluring mounds would surely drive him crazy.

    Tristan was not such a person. The sight of the partially-undressed woman stirred the inferno of desire welling within him.

    However, the heat stirring within his heart seems content to stay there and send his mind into overdrive with lewd, shameful what-ifs. Though Tristan felt his desire welling up, the lower parts of his body did not heat up as fast as it should.

    What is the difference between an elf''s body and a human''s?

    Was this slowed-down sensation the fault of his new body?

    Was it caused by his time in prison? Or was it something else?

    Tristan''s face still looked calm while the inferno burned within him. His expression did not deter Herrera one bit, and she walked closer to him. Her smooth hair tickled the side of his head before she whispered, each word sending hot, needy breaths onto his ear.

    "I know, for elves this takes a little bit longer, but¡­" The woman smirked behind his ear. "I am ready for a challenge... Sir elf, please stand up"

    Tristan followed her lead and stood, while she slowly removed his clothes.

    With his clothes now strewn on the bedroom floor, Herrera was now able to see Tristan''s perfectly sculpted muscles. She touched the muscles on Tristan''s stomach with light feathery touches, before moving towards his chest and down to his navel.

    "Ah, such muscles¡­ You make me want to eat you up right this instant¡­"

    Herrera touched Tristan''s shoulders, turned him around, and let him sit on the bed, while she knelt in front of him and removed his pants. When she saw the still limp, but well-endowed member, Herrera licked her lips before touching it with her right hand.

    She started pumping, up and down, coaxing the member to its full length before taking it into her mouth.

    Though Tristan was of considerable size in this body, the woman had no problems taking him into her mouth. Each movement gave Tristan an immense amount of pleasure, the gentle touches of her tongue only adding to the sensation.

    Tristan would be lying if he said he doesn''t want this. However, more than his delight of having a beautiful woman giving him pleasure, Tristan was more pleased that he still has control over the most important part of his body.

    "Does it feel good, sir elf?" The woman separated her mouth from his member with a loud, wet kissing noise, and smiled at him. "Don''t you worry, this night is not over yet."

    Without waiting for Tristan''s answer, the woman started ying with his member again, like a child whose parents gave her a new, exciting toy.

 Chapter 37 - Release **

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Before he was locked up in prison, Tristan has had his fair share of experience with women.

    After all, which self-respecting 17-year old American teenager doesn''t?

    However, none of the women he had bedded before were as beautiful as the woman currently pleasuring him. She was the most beautiful one yet.

    In addition, it has been four (four!) very long and grueling years. Perhaps theck of pleasure during that time has affected his judgement.

    Herrera gave his member onest good lick before looking up at him. Though she said nothing, her gaze conveyed it all.

    The time for games was over, and now, it was time for the main event.

    Tristan grabbed the woman''s shoulders, pulled her up, and brought her near the table.

    Before he pulls her over to be seated on the corner of the table, thest thing he saw was the woman''s excited smile¡­

    "Whoa, sir¡­ You''re different from the other elves, aren''t you? So rough-"

    Before she managed to finish her question, Tristan had already thrust his member up to the hilt.

    The woman moaned in ecstasy, which only spurred him on. "Yes¡­ Yes¡­"

    Tristan pumped faster and harder into her, while ying with her breasts using his fingers and grabbing her cheek with his other arm.

    The woman continued to moan, her expression in utter ecstasy. To hold in her screaming, she put Tristan''s finger into her mouth and sucked it, while asionally biting it in reflex.

    They continued on and on for one hour without stopping, and finally, Tristan felt her body start to tremble beneath him.

    "Ah¡­ Ah¡­ I am¡­"

    Herrera''s vision blurred for a minute, her ecstasy and sweat mixing into one. Tristan felt his lower body became soaked, but he still had yet to achieve his release.

    Tristan pulled out, turned the woman over, and restrained both of her arms on the table. Once again, he started thrusting into her, this time from behind.

    "Yes¡­ Again¡­ Again¡­" The woman moaned, her drool wetting the table as Tristan continued to try to achieve his momentum.

    Their lovemaking kept going for another hour while Tristan enjoyed the sensation of his skin rubbing against her smooth, sweat-soaked skin. He couldn''t exin how or why, but all he knew is that sex felt much, much different from what he used to do in his youth.

    He kept on going and going, chasing a release that felt so close yet so far at the same time. Even though he had spent some time in this body, he had yet to get the chance to explore his new body in this way, and thus he was unfamiliar with its¡­ intricacies.

    He continued thrusting into her, again and again, and he felt his lower body be soaked again. This was the third time the woman received hers.

    Her expression was still one of pure ecstasy, but she no longer spoke or grunted out her pleasure. It seems that she was at the end of her energy.

    "Are¡­ you¡­ satisfied¡­ sir¡­ elf?" She managed to grunt out with thest of her energy.

    Tristan looked at the woman, before deciding to continue. He carried her onto the soft bed andid her in a spread-eagle position.

    "No¡­ yes¡­ no¡­ don''t¡­ stop¡­"

    The woman seems to have lost her senses to the pleasure, while Tristan kept on stimting her lower body while chasing for his own relief. Tristan wanted to know how much his new body could take it.

    Hours passed, each tick of the clock, unfortunately only made him even more worried. Though he had felt the tingles of pleasure from the act so far, his release had started to slip farther and farther away¡­

    Time passed far too quickly for his liking, and before he knew it, sunlight had started to shine in from the gaps in his window. Far from pleasure, Tristan felt annoyed, as he did not get the release he was craving for hours.

    The woman below him seemed to have spent all her energy. She didn''t move at all, only her rhythmic slow breathing and stuttering showed Tristan that she was still alive. She kept on muttering nonsense in her sleep, even as Tristan pulled out and took all his clothes scattered on the floor.

    He started to wear his clothes and let out a long sigh of disappointment. It seems that his high battle power had granted him stamina that not even an all-nighter of sex could made him feel anything other than annoyance.

    He wasn''t even exhausted. It was as ifst night was merely a long roleying session. After making sure that he looked decent enough, Tristan walked out of the room.

    He went down the stairs to the first floor, washed his hands, and casually started eating breakfast prepared by the host.

    Not even one bite into his meal, Tristan saw his sister walk down the stairs with an annoyed expression. Upon seeing Tristan, she narrowed her eyes at him, causing Tristan to wince.

    Tristan raised both his arms in surrender and asked. "What is it?"

    "You fucking animal, you still had the audacity to ask even after what happened!? Of course, I couldn''t sleep thanks to all those noises!"

    La huffed and turned away, while Tristan could only grin before continuing to eat his breakfast. One by one, the other members of the group had started to join them at the table.

    They finished their meal, and started to prepare for the journey ahead. All of a sudden, Borin called everyone and said,

    "Harera is¡­ tired. Therefore, she can''t join in for the quest today."

    La narrowed her eyes at Tristan. "And that is whose fault, again¡­?"

    Tristan looked away, coughed, and replied. "Ahem, then, isn''t it a good thing that we brought extra people with us?."

 Chapter 38 - Vanyar

    The Southern part of the Arcadian Kingdom was filled with lush forests of evergreen, its leaves spreading wide and almost covering one-third of the whole continent.

    In the utmost southern part, where snow periodically fell and nketed the leaves and the ground in white, the most ancient of the trees grew away from the affairs of men. Each tree stretched tall, its height rivaling even the capital pce.

    This was also the area where the Vanyar elves reside.

    The trees in that area are tall, each with thick bark. Thebination of those factors made the area the best living ce. Usually, the elves live either inside the bark or on the upper side of the trees.

    In the center of the verdant Vanyar kingdom, a crystal pce stood tall and shone under the rays of the sunlight. The pce was built across several of the bigger trees.

    Within one of its balconies, a group of elves in silver armor stood in a neat row while. They all watched as a beautiful, blonde-haired elf tamed arge white tiger.

    Rooooarrrr!

    "Mina! Mina, listen to me. It''s been a few days, what happened? It''s me, Serene."

    Rooooarrrr! Rooooarrrr!

    The white tiger kept struggling and roaring despite being bound by chains. There was no indication the beast even heard what thedy said.

    "That lying elf! What did he do to you? Just wait, when I find him¡­ he''ll regret doing this to Mina and I!"

    Suddenly, sounds of marching alerted the woman, and she turned her head to see the silver-armored soldiers stand apart to make way before nodding their head in respect. Right as they parted, a stunning elf woman walked in. She has long blonde hair simr to Serene, but she wore a long dress that glitters with silver under the light.

    Serene looked at the woman for a moment before kneeling and putting one of her hands on her chest.

    "My respect to you, my queen, for you have finally returned."

    Thedy smiled at the girl, helped her stand, ruffled her hair, and talk in a calm manner "Daughter, you can stop being so tense around me"

    Serene nodded and asked. "My queen, is there anything I could assist you with?"

    The queen looked at her daughter, frowned, and sighed in resignation. "Serene... I heard you had some trouble on yourst patrol, and I came to see what happened."

    Serena stared at the raging beast in chains, and the queen approached the tiger without a hint of fear. Rather, her eyes had a glint of interest.

    "Poor creature¡­ Something happened to her.." said the queen

    The queen looked at the tiger''s empty eyes for a moment, before her smile faltered and turned into a frown.

    "What happened, my queen?" Serena asked upon seeing the reaction.

    The queen raised her hand and pointed her index finger at the tiger''s forehead, right between its eyes. A bright light entered the creature, and within a few seconds, the light came back. However, the light was no longer pristine, for it had been tainted with a red glint reminiscent of a ruby.

    Upon seeing the crimson light, the queen took a few steps back.

    "This is¡­ This is Blood Magic!" The queen eximed, disbelief evident in her expression.

    Serene quickly walked towards her mother''s side and touched her shoulders to calm her down. "Mother, what happened?"

    The queen looked at the disappearing red light, took a few deep breaths, and looked at Serene with a serious expression "Serene, tell me¡­ tell me what happened during your patrol?"

    Serena talked about how she was sent to explore the forbidden ruins of Aesir, and how she managed to capture a group of around 30 ounder humans during her patrol mission.

    The queen listened attentively, not a trace of her yfulness in ce. Everyone present knew that such a thing has never happened before, at least not in their view. It was clear that the situation has escted beyond what they previously thought

    "We captured 30 humans, five were too hard to deal with and we had to put them in the dungeon, while the rest were treated as usual in ordance to our treaty with King Can¡­ Ah, speaking of him, I was wondering if we should send the prisoners back to their kingdom."

    The queen shook her head, uninterested with all the politics. "That is not what I wish to know, my dear daughter¡­ Tell me; was there an elf among those you have captured?"

    "No, but I did encounter an elf during my mission there. I think he was an outcast from some other collective."

    "No, it is not." The queen looked at the still-raging beast. "This elf is different"

    "An ounder elf?" Serene raised her eyebrows. "We have never encountered an ounder elf before, and I know no cases that confirm such a thing is possible¡­"

    Serene talked about that elf, about how she found the elf guarding a human, about how she decided to trust him, and what happened afterwards.

    Just like before, the queen listened attentively. From her expression, Serene could tell that the queen was really bothered with something.

    "What could I do to help ease your concern, my queen?" Serene asked.

    The queen looked at her daughter''s eyes and said. "Serene, it''s with great importance that I speak to him, bring me the elf. This will be your quest"

    Serene kneeled before her mother, put her hand on her chest, and spoke solemnly. "Yes, my queen, I will do as you havemanded."

    Serene walked out of the balcony and ordered her team to begin preparing for the mission.

    Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Serene, the queen walked to the edge of the balcony and looked up towards the sky in a despondent expression. Not even one person was there to witness her moment of weakness.

    "Has the time finallye?"

 Chapter 39 - Orc Camp

    Huahuu!!!

    Tristan sneezed and rubbed his itchy nose.

    "Did someone talk about me just now?, or am I just exhausted for staying uptest night? Damn! being naked all night isn''t wise at all¡­" Tristan muttered to himself and rubbed his hands in an attempt for warmth.

    "But, can an elf really get the flu? ...I really need to kidnap an elf next time and ask about this new body of mine... especially about sex¡­ Arrrgghh! All this is driving me nuts¡­"

    The vige was getting farther and farther away behind them. Their leader walked at the front of the group while asionally ncing at a map. On said map, one ce was marked with an ''X'', indicating the location for their mission.

    They walked for half a day before arriving at the edge of a dense forest. They looked around, checked their surroundings, and stepped inside, careful to avoid any fallen leaves on the ground.

    "Okay, soon we will reach the area indicated by the map, that is the orc territory we need to deal with for our quest. Let''s talk strategy first." Borin said.

    The group gathered around arge tree. Seth stands silent in anticipation and anxiety, while Piyo the short guy was nowhere to be found.

    "My brother went to scout ahead, he will be back soon" said Borin realizing Tristan observation

    La and Barry sat across from Tristan, and they both were busyughing and talking about something together. Though Tristan had to admit it was nice to see his sisterughing, the view disturbs him somehow.

    Sensing Tristan''s re, La turned to look at him and waved as a gesture to ask him toe closer.

    "Hey, Tris! This Barry is an example of a perfect gentleman. He picked some fruits for me and cared for my health." La gestured at the fruit she was holding "Not like a certain someone who annoyed my sleep!"

    "You''re being too kind, miss-"

    "La. Just call me La, Barry."

    "Yeah, of course¡­ Miss La."

    "¡­"

    While they were talking, there was a slight rustling of leaves. Everyone turned around and saw Piyo the short guy emerge from the underbrush. Immediately, he came closer to the leader and gave them all the information he had obtained.

    The orc camp was not too far from them, and there are around forty orcs inside the camp, give or take 10-20 on ount of them being out of the camp or unseen. ording to Piyo, half of them are young, and they only need to be concerned with the other half, which are the orc warriors.

    "These orcs have around 30 to 40 battle powers, just don''t be careless, and this should be an easy job"

    Tristan eyed Piyo in slight interest. It was clear that the little guy is skilled at gathering information, but obviously, it was all due to the thing he has on his wrist.

    "Considering the low numbers, there shouldn''t be any orc champion to worry about, but we still need to exercise caution." Borin said.

    Tristan, on the other hand, was not too worried. He had his share of experience in fighting orcs, and even with his reduced battle power, he was sure he could face them all at the same time

    However, he was still concerned about his sister''s safety. He reminded Barry to stay close and guard La from potential dangers.

    "Alright, considering the situation, it''s better for us to rush them and kill all of them as fast as possible before they get any chances to surround us. We''re lower in numbers, but we have the element of surprise on our side, it should be easy to take them out in one fell swoop if we y our cards right. Do you guys understand?" Borin announced.

    Tristan was stunned into silence. What kind of strategy was that? That is not a strategy at all.

    But he decided to swallow his doubts for now. He wanted to see what those adventurers are capable of.

    "Alright then, you guys ready?"

    No one answered, but the sounds of metal started to echo in the area. Borin pulled his sword from the scabbard and took out his shield, while Seth took the long spear strapped on his back. Meanwhile, Piyo pulled out a pair of twin small crossbows made of carved wood.

    Tristan nced at his sister onest time. Oddly, though her expression looked a bit anxious, there was no trace of fear in her gaze. Tristan exhaled in relief, he told her to stay at the back and be careful.

    "Let''s go¡­ Follow me!" Borin raised his sword andmanded.

    The group raised their weapons as well, before running to follow their leader. As usual, Borin ran at the front, followed by Piyo and Seth behind him while the rest ran behind the three. Within a few minutes, they arrived at the camp.

    It was a lush clearing filled with simple structures made of wood, with a few green creatures standing at the entrance to serve as guards. The creatures looked ugly, with dirty green skin and fangs protruding from their lower jaw. They each holding sharp weapons, ives, or wooden clubs in their hands.

    Upon hearing the group''s voice, a few of the green creatures looked at their direction before shouting a loud, ear-piercing shriek to warn the other in their camp.

    "Chhiiiwilkkk!!"

    The battle with the orcs has finally started

 Chapter 40 - Unleash

    "Chhiiiwilkkk!!"

    Piercing shriek resounded through the air as the nearby green monster was screaming due to being pierced in the body by Seth''s spear that came out of nowhere.

    Saatt!

    When Tristan looked at the current condition of the said monster, he was secretly amazed by Seth''s prowess. The spear was thrown by him from a distance of 50 meters. Even so, not only did it hit perfectly on its intended target, it was still strong enough to st the monster into the air, nailing it to the ground.

    After receiving such a devastating throw, the monster was unmoving, obviously severely injured.

    Seth leaped to the air, doing a somersault in the process before he descended right on top of the nailed monster. Taking advantage of the momentum the gravity gave him, he delivered a stomp on the monster''s head, causing it to be crushed under his feet. Afterwards, Seth pulled his spear out of the now dead monster.

    "Chhiiwickl!!

    The orc who was next to the dead one was enraged as it shes the saber on its hand towards Seth. s, the orc''s attack was destined to be a failure as it was quickly blocked by Borin which evidently had already begun to move the moment Seth threw the spear.

    nk!

    The crisp sound of metal shing with each other was heard. While the orc was knocked back by rebound of its strike, Borin quickly turned his body around andunched a sword sweep towards the monster''s hip.

    Satt!!

    Blood sttered to the ground as the sword went into the flesh and nearly cut the orc''s hip apart. Screaming in pain the orc knelt on the ground before Borin unhesitantly separated its head from its shoulders.

    In an instant, the two orcs that stood in front were dead, under the spear and shield duo. However, before the group could rest easy, Piyo, who had been channeling his concentration fully on the gadget on his hand, suddenly said, "There are a dozen of them approaching. Be prepared!"

    At this moment, Tristan quickly took out hisrge sword out of the interspatial ring. He was waiting, his gait showed that he was ready to attack whatever came out of the camp in front of them. Naturally, he also did not forget to position La behind him, lest she got into harm''s way.

    "Chhiiwickl!! Chhiiwickl!! Chhiiwickl!!"

    10 simr green monstrosities wereing out, allpletely equipped and rushing towards the group apanied by a fearless scream they themselves did.

    Half of them went towards Borin and the other two people, while the other half ced their focus on Tristan''s group, charging with even greater intensity than the former.

    nk!

    An ax swinging from one of the orcs was parried perfectly by Tristan, courtesy of the ymore in his hand.

    Losing its bnce due to the sheer momentum it received, Tristan took advantage of the opportunity as the weapon in his hand rotated, effortlessly cleaving the green monster in two like a hot knife cut through butter.

    The powerful gust of wind due to the sh and his ease at dispatching the orc to the underworld quickly caught the attention of everyone else. It was apparent that they were in shock, seeing how easy it was for Tristan to split the orc.

    After all, even Borin only managed to cut the orc''s body halfway through, and that was considering he aimed at the hip, one of the more fragile parts of the body.

    As for Tristan himself, the moment the sword cut through the monster, he realized that this green-skinned monster was weaker than the grey-skinned ones he fought in Cursaac''s ce. Their appearances were simr, but their prowess were worlds apart.

    Inwardly, Tristan grinned widely, thinking that the quest was too easy even if he had to fight on his own. Fortunately, before he could dive deeper into his reverie, the other orcs already arrived and sent their attacks at him.

    Another two orcs jumped in from the left and the right, with their weapons brandished. Seeing that, Tristan decided to speed up to the one on the right, piercing its body with his stab. He then spun his body by pivoting on his right leg.

    The spin made the sword that was stuck in the orc''s bodye out, and Tristan continued his move by doing another sweeping motion to the orc that came from the left. The orc that thought it was about to avenge itspanion was surprised to see Tristan''s smooth transition and fell into panic as it tried to retreat.

    s, it did not have enough time as Tristan''s sword arrived before it, dividing its body into the upper and bottom parts.

    Within just a few simple moves Tristan easily took care of three orcs. He stares at his ymore that is washed by the blood of the orcs and the corpse. This time he didn''t kill for survival, he killed by choice and he found that the thrill excited him.

    Tristan watched the other two orcs that went towards La and Barry.

    Barry surprisingly showed a good stance and was able to hold both orcs by himself. It was clear that his sword skills were not ordinary. When Tristan did aparison, he thought that Barry''s strength and sword skill should not be inferior to Borin''s skills.

    While Barry was taking care of the two orcs, holding them in ce, the two poor orcs still did not realize the tragic fate that would befell them.

    BANNGG!!

    A shot from La managed to hit one of the orc at its shoulder. It created quite a big hole and forced the green monster to drop its weapons as its body flung backwards.

    With one of them down, Barry had an easier time as he began to dominate thest orc.

    The poor orc was getting pummelled until it was bashed by Barry''s shield, throwing it back a few meters following its brethren.

    BANGG!! BANGG!!

    This time a double shot and both hit the bashed orc and made the orc kneel on the ground before finally being finished by Barry''s sword.

    Seeing that both Barry and La were doing well, Tristan felt he could start unleashing his power. All this time, he felt an extreme urge in his body, telling him to kill more of those monsters.

    Within minutes the 10 advance orc were dead on the ground.

    "Let''s move on!!" shouted Borin when he saw that the situation was resolved.

    Tristan confidently walked forward, following the three. Now that he was inside the orc camp, he could clearly see two dozen orcs shouting in rage.

    "Ciwiwwck!! "Ciwiwwck!!"

    Scanning his gaze across the rows of orc, Borin suddenly stopped when he saw one figure that was particrly striking among them.

    "Orc Champion! Hell! This is not going to be an easy fight, huh?"

    The sh against this crowd of orcs was not avoidable, but right before it happened, a notification appeared in Tristan''s mind.

    [Warning Host require Blood Essence for sustenance]

    "!!!"

    ''Dammit! Fuck! Why now!"

 Chapter 41 - Orc Champion

    At the moment, the group hadnded themselves in a four against one situation as there were two dozens orc standing before them.

    Looking at their savage expression, Tristan knew that those orc could not be underestimated. It also did not help that the damned Blood Essence deficiency would choose to royally screw him over at this exact moment.

    Among them, half wore some kind of armor. They were slightly taller than the rest and looked more ferocious. These orcs seemed to be what Piyo called as adult warrior orcs.

    The prowess of these orcs were proven by how they were able to block, parry, and follow every action that Borin and Seth made. While the two were busyunching attack after attack, Piyo on the other hand seemed to be in a frenzy as he fired his crossbow continuously towards one particr orc.

    The biggest orc among the horde, the Orc Champion. This particr orc has muscles bulking all over its body, two long tusk that rise to almost reach its nose. The aura shown by the orc could make any normal fighter tremble in fear. With arge ax at hand he came charging towards them.

    Piyo''s bolt bombardments did not have any impact on the said orc, Piyo was visibly frustrated.

    "How the hell could an Orc Champion appear in such a small camp?!" shouted Borin while still fighting against three adult orcs at the same time.

    As for Tristan, he still had his own share of different problems.

    [Warning! Blood Essence is badly needed!]

    Because of the warning notification, Tristan had been holding himself at the back. Currently, he was considering the option to return back to the entrance and used his Blood Extraction skill on the orc corpses outside. However, he was in hesitation as he wasn''t sure about leaving La with these people and the dozens of orcs, alone and surrounded.

    Thinking for a few seconds more, Tristan shook his head furiously and cursed inwardly, "Argh!! I should just quickly finish this!"

    Once his mind made up the thought, Tristan immediately charged towards one of the orcs who was about to attack Barry.

    BAM!

    A loud sound resounded as Tristan rammed his body into the orc, before proceeding to send a sh to it.

    Splattt!!

    A clean downward swing, and another orc sessfully fell to the ground with its body separated from top to bottom. As he dashed past the orc''s fallen body, Tristan tried to use his extraction skill. Unfortunately, it feels very difficult for him to do it while being attack from all sides.

    This left him with no choice but to just kill as many orc as physically possible. Hence, the reasoning for the current sight of Tristan zooming around the orcs, shing and stabbing the orc mercilessly.

    Satt!! Satt!!

    Tristan hastened his attacks, and as he killed the orcs left and right, in Borin and the others'' eyes, he had turned into a frightening killing machine, creating ughter and massacre everywhere he passed.

    While Tristan was having his killings, his focus was suddenly disrupted by Piyo who rushed close to him. "I need you to take care of this one!" said Piyo while pointing his thumb behind. Looking at Piyo''s back, Tristan saw a massive orc was running after him. Correct, the damned Orc Champion.

    The Orc Champion was holding two enormous axes on his hand that probably weighed hundreds of pounds. However, it was able to swing them around easily and effortlessly as if they were feathers.

    Piyo went over Tristan and hid behind him while continuing to fire more of his crossbow. The bolts, however, appeared to just shallowly pierced the orc''s skin, and this brought the raging orc towards their direction. After doing the deed, Piyo ran the other way, wanting to help his brothers.

    "What the f*ck man!?" Tristan was even further annoyed by the short guy.

    nkk!!

    Crisp sound was heard as the ax was parried by the ymore in Tristan''s hand. The fight then quickly turned into a battle of strength.

    As he fought against the Orc Champion, Tristan found out that this particr orc was a couple times stronger than its normal counterpart. It was even stronger than the grey one he fought at Cursaac''s ce.

    s, when the battle was in critical stage, Tristan was interrupted by another notification that came out to ruin him, magnanimously.

    [Warning! Host body badly needs Blood Essence!]

    "Yes!! Yes!! I am trying my best here! Can you just shut up?!" Tristan said inwardly as he dashed and pushed the Orc Champion back, causing it to kneel on the ground. Tristan had won the tug of strength, and this was the opportunity to finish the huge orc once and for all.

    "Time for you to die!"

    Tristan raised his sword high as he prepared to reap this Orc Champion''s life. But then, he suddenly felt that the massive sword on his hand was a lot heavier than before.

    [Warning! Your body is suffering a drawback due to theck of Blood Essence]

    [Battle power decreased by 50 points]

    [Current battle power 50]

    "Fuxxxxx!!"

    It was an insane drop in his fighting strength as it dropped to half what it used to be. With his current fighting strength, Tristan even felt that he could drop the sword that was raised at any time because of its current weight.

    Due to the dy caused by his decreased strength, the Orc Champion managed to bounce back and regain its footing. It then continued to fight against Tristan. But this time, he was not stupid enough to fight the monstrosity in contest of strength.

    Hence, instead of charging and shing against the Orc Champion again like a warrior, Tristan opted to run back towards where La and Barry were.

    "Grawll!! Grwall!! Chiwwickk!!"

    Half a dozen of orcs as well as the Orc Champion; rushed forward and followed the retreating Tristan.

    "Barry! Tag me! Let''s switch up!"

    Tristan ran back and stood next to Barry, hoping that he would go and fight the orcs. Meanwhile, he would watch the progress of the battle.

    And if things went south, he would grab La and run.

    Oblivious to Tristan''s thought, Barry answered with confidence, "Yes, sir!"

    When Barry rushed to fight the Orc Champion, La was shouting at her brother, "What the hell are you doing, Tris?! Why did you bring that thing to fight Barry!?"

    "Just to see how strong that guy is. That''s all!" answered Tristan with a straight face.

    "I don''t like it! Not one bit!"

    At first, Tristan thought that Barry would not be able to handle the Orc Champion. But unexpectedly, he was able to. In fact, it looked like he was on par with the monstrous orc.

    The guy appears to be more useful than he thought

    ...

    While Tristan was doing his round of sightseeing, La herself was still firing her gun to the approaching orcs.

    Realizing that there were no orcs currently around him, Tristan had no reason to dy using his skill. He stabbed the ymore to the ground, raised both of his hands and used the skill.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Clumps of red mist began to form from the corpses strewn around Tristan, and slowly flew into his arm.

    [Received 100 mixed blood cells]

    [10 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 50 mixed blood cells]

    [5 Blood Essences extracted]

    The increasing number of Blood Essence brought joy to Tristan, but not long after, his moment was suddenly interrupted by a dozen orcs that came from the front entrance. This orc reinforcement must be those who just came back from the patrol.

    "Chiiwwillkk!! Cwhiwiik!"

 Chapter 42 - Brawl

    [Tristan]

    [Battle power 50 - critical]

    [Blood Elf Monarch - second stage]

    [Blood essence - 25]

    With his limited blood extraction, Tristan was finally able to get some points on his blood essence, however, his battle power has not returned yet.

    Ten more orcs came in from the gate, each snarling and armed to the teeth with a variety of crude yet still threatening weapons. With them in the fray, now his exit n has beenpromised. Without finishing the newly iing orcs, there would be no escape.

    Bang!! Bang!!

    Two shots rang in the air, and another orc dropped to the ground, tainting thend with a sticky puddle of blood.

    From the corner of his eyes, Tristan saw that La''s face had turned even paler. The dozens of shots had already taken a toll on her. Meanwhile, a passing nce at Barry revealed that the captain was upied on fending off the new champion orcs, while Borin and the others are all busy with their respective opponents.

    Tristan gritted his teeth, readied himself, and reached for his weapon. There was no choice but to fight those iing orcs all by himself.

    In his current state, it was clear that the heavy ymore was no longer suitable for him. Fueled with adrenaline, Tristan thought quickly and decided to store his ymore before taking out the sword he bought beforehand.

    The sword was nowhere near as heavy as the ymore, meaning he would lose a significant amount of attacking power buthe would still be able to retain his speed as if he was back on his previous strength.

    He gripped the sword tight on one hand, and a small dagger on the other, before charging at the orcs with a loud battle cry.

    nk!

    Swish!

    St!

    He no longer had his battle power advantage, thus the battle had turned into a test of wits and skill, Though Tristan had no sword skills nor experience wielding one, he patched his weakness with sharp wit.

    He quickly jumps towards the closest orc, parry the saber with his sword and stab the orc eyes with his dagger. He didn''t pull the knife nor let go of the orc, instead he pushed the dying orc towards the others and used its body as his shield.

    Threwing his body weight to the front towards two other orcs, making them stumble and fall to the ground.

    St!

    He made a wide swing and hurt two of the closest sword before finally able to swung his sword towards one and critically sh its neck. The orc gasped and tried to w on his throat, before dying in a puddle of blood.

    However, although Tristan was able to kill the orc, his sword was stuck in the neck of the dead creature.

    He was defenseless and now in the center, right in the line of sight of three orcs. The three creatures roared and jumped at him at the same time.

    Tristan threw the dagger he had in his hand, and the dagger stabbed right through one orc''s head, killing him on the spot.

    He then dodged the attack by leaning to the side before start hitting with his bare hand. Without his weapons, the fight had turned into a brawl, just like the fights he had faced and witnessed almost every day in prison before.

    Thanks to his 50 battle power, Tristan still had the speed advantage, and he used that power to dodge, kick, and punch the orcs every time he had a chance.

    St!

    A spear was able to pierce his chest.

    Tristan felt a sharp pain. Instantly, his knees buckled, and he fell down kneeling on one hand. One orc saw a chance and swung down a massive saber towards his head.

    Before the orc was able to kill him, a hole opened in its head.

    Bang! Bang!

    Another hole appeared in its chest. As the orc stumbled down and fell lifeless, Tristan saw La standing behind the orc, her body trembling and her face covered with sweat. It was clear, La used thest of her strength to stand steady enough to make those two shots.

    Before Tristan was able to sigh in relief, he saw Barry was thrown across his line of vision by the orc champion. Blood sttered as Barry''s back hit the nearest hut.

    Attracted by the sound of La''sst shot, the huge orc started to swing its axe before charging towards her.

    "ARRRGGGHHHH!!!"

    Tristan let out another battle cry, braved the pain, and broke the spear sticking out of his chest, before swinging it and charging towards the orc champion. He jumped as high as he could, with the spear head on his hand, and stabbed the champion orc in the neck.

    Grollll!

    The orc howled in pain, but the strike seemed to be insufficient to kill the monster, as it turned its attention towards Tristan with rage-filled eyes. It stopped charging, grabbed Tristan''s head, and tried to crush his head open with a pair ofrge hands.

    "Argh!"

    Tristan screamed in pain, he tried to grab the orc''s hand and outmatch its strength. Try as he might, however, he was unable to make his opponent''s hands budge at all. The orc''s skin felt as hard as stone, and its crushing grip felt like heavy machinery.

    His head started to hurt as the orc''srge hands crushed it harder. Through the pain, Tristan suddenly thought of something that might able to help him out of this trouble.

    Tristan concentrated and chanted a few sentence, and a notification came into his mind.

    [20 Blood Essence used]

    [Fire Touch - Enhanced]

    Energy started to coalesce from the air and onto his fingers and palms, and slowly but surely, the air started to get hotter and hotter. The orc''s thick skin started to give under the heat of his touch, and before he realized it, the touch had melted the orc''s two hands into a puddle of burning skin, blood, and bone. The smell from the puddle was unbearable.

    Despite the smell and the heat, Tristan grinned with joy. Unwilling to let this opportunity go, Tristan quickly grabbed the orc''s neck and let the heat on his hands do the work.

    The orc''s eyes started to shine, and mes started toe out of its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. The skin and bone melted next, until the orc champion fell with blood gushing from all the 6 holes of its head.

    The orc champion that brought trouble to them so far had finally died under his hand.

 Chapter 43 - Youngling

    The orc champion fell to the ground and died, spreading a puddle of blood and dust all around it. After witnessing their dead champion, the rest of the orcs gathered in front of a particr hut.

    Borin, Seth, and Piyo had also finished the orc groups targeting them. They swung their weapon to the side to get rid of the remaining blood before walking closer to the hut.

    It was clear, the moment the orc champion fell, the battle was already over.

    No longer fueled by adrenaline, Tristan felt a sharp pain in his chest due to the stab wound from the spear. He looked around and searched for La amidst the carnage.

    Finally, he found her being busy healing the heavily wounded Barry with a warm, golden light. When the light shone on his wounds, they disappeared bit by bit.

    "La!" Tristan gritted his teeth. "What are you doing? I''m hurting here!"

    "Of course brother," La said in-between ragged breaths.

    Hearing his brother hurting, La decided to leave the half-healed Barry, stood up and walked back towards her brother.

    Just like before, golden light shone from La''s hands and caressed the wounds all over his body, letting them close up little by little. The healing felt simr to having the morning sun revitalize your body, warm,fortable, and made him feel safe. As the wounds closed up, Tristan felt the pain in his limbs and chest diminish bit by bit before disappearing entirely.

    "This is amazing." Tristan praised. He had seen La do it, but feeling his wounds close was something else entirely.

    "You owe me some gold coins for this, Tris¡­" La muttered. Though she was tired, it was clear that she was not above joking around with her brother.

    "¡­"

    Tristan looked in the direction of Borin and Seth, Meanwhile, Piyo was nowhere to be seen.

    "Brother Borin, look at what I found!"

    Piyo came out of the hut and shouted in an excited manner.

    Tristan thought Piyo found some kind of valuable treasure. Instead, they saw eight short figurese out of the tent. All of them look like normal kids, except with green skin.

    "Ah, those are orc younglings!" Borin shouted.

    "Not just any youngling, these are all high orcs!" Piyo said.

    "Really? Hahaha, this really is a find!" Borinughed, his expression more excited than ever.

    Tristan stared at the small children standing in line outside the tent, mentallyparing the children with the orcs and the orc champion he had to fight earlier. This was the first time he heard that there is a youngling.

    ¡­ Well, honestly, it was to be expected that they have a youngling. Though they look very different as adults, there was no way they just sprout that big out of nowhere.

    The orc younglings are no more than one meter tall and they had the physique of human children. Tristan was still having a hard time believing that the human-like kids he saw in front of his eyes could grow into the big, scary orcs simr to the ones they fought earlier.

    "That''s because they''re high orcs." Barry said, while limping towards them.

    "High orc?" La raised her eyebrows.

    "Yes most orcs grow underground like mushrooms, but rarely, every once in a while there are high orcs that are born among them. These special orcs look a little bit more like humans" Barry continued "seeing 8 of them in one ce like this¡­ No wonder this ce was guarded by an orc champion."

    Beyond the green skin and the fangs protruding from their lower jaw, Tristan could agree that all 8 of them look like normal 8 to 10 year old kids.

    While Tristan was observing them, Borin approached one of the kids and drew his sword. In one swing, he cut off one kid''s clothing and let the whole crew see the kid''s naked body.

    "Hah, this one is male¡­"

    Borin calmly walked towards the next kid and did the same thing.

    "Now, jackpot! This one is a female!"

    The orc kids narrowed their eyes and stomped their feet in anger, but they did not dare say anything.

    On their behalf, Tristan and La looked more disturbed than anything. While Tristan was able to hold his tongue, the same can''t be said for La, who shouted in anger.

    "What the hell are you doing!?"

    Surprised, Borin turned around and raised his hand. "Hey, calm down girl, they are just orcs, no matter how they look."

    "But still they are KIDS!, stop it!" La screamed in anger.

    One of the orc kids decided to take the chance as Borin was distracted. The kid quickly separated himself from the others and made a run for it.

    However, Piyo noticed the attempt. The short guy unleashed multiple arrows from his crossbow and hit the running kid on the back.

    Ssshhhht! Sshhhst!

    Two arrows hit the kid. The kid dropped to the ground, small arrows sticking out of his back. As the kid was dying, it kept on gasping for air, before finally, he went limp and unmoving. The act spurred the rage of the other kids, and they all snarled, preparing for a ughter to their deaths.

    Borin shouted his orders and swung his sword."Kill them! Kill them all!"

    nk!!

    Tristan parried Borin''s sword with one of the orcs'' sabers.

    "My sister told you to stop, are you fucking deaf!?"

 Chapter 44 - Negotiate

    "Don''t you stop me, elf!!" shouted Borin in anger as he gave the sword that was blocked by Tristan with even more strength. s, it did not budge even one bit.

    Instead, Tristan pushed him back a few meters, before proceeding to stand in front of the group of orc younglings.

    La, on the other hand, rushed towards the one who was hurt by the arrow, which was currentlyying on the ground, grimacing in pain. The moment she reached the orc youngling. She immediately began to heal it.

    Seeing all this happening right before him, Borin was annoyed, extremely so. The expression that the man had right now was one that Tristan had not seen yet, one that he did not expect woulde from the previously easy-going man.

    Trying to hold his anger, which was apparent from his gritting teeth, Borin said, "Sir elf, these High orcs.. they are the worst of them all. Please step aside and let me kill these abominations. I.. I will give all my share of the job reward to you. Agreed?"

    Tristan put on a firm expression and said, "No! Not children... I will not let you kill these kids."

    Upon hearing that, Borin exploded, "You are not being reasonable, sir elf! Those little monsters will not hesitate to kill you in your sleep when they have the chance to do so!"

    s, the ''persuasion'' did not seem to have any effect on Tristan at all. "Maybe they will¡­ maybe they won''t¡­"

    For Tristan, who grew up in an orphanage where it waspletely filled with kids, this was just something that he could not do or let anyone do it in front of his eyes. Hurting defenseless kids is his bottom line.

    Borin tried to persuade Tristan one more time, hoping that he would back down, "Sir elf.. I will fight you if I have to."

    "Stop talking and start fighting."

    When he heard Tristan''s words, Borin hesitated. He looked to the others.

    "What about you, Seth?! You don''t like orcs, do you?"

    Hearing the rhetorical question, Seth shot Borin a look, "No one who is sane would like orcs. But I don''t like an unwinnable fight even more."

    "Dammit Seth! What about you? Barry, captain of the guards. These orcs will endanger the citizens in the future, and you know this! Please help me convince this elf!"

    Barry appeared to be thinking about the matter. "Yes, I agree with you, Mr Borin."

    Hearing this, Borin smiled triumphantly, thinking that another person finally would help him. Unfortunately, Barry was not done yet.

    "But my duty is toplete my mission, and my mission is protecting Sir Tristan here."

    "Arrrrggghhhh!" Borin was extremely frustrated that he wanted to rip something apart. He turned towards hisst hope and asked, "Piyo! What do you think?!"

    "If you ask me this matter yesterday, I would say no.. to fight this elf it is. He''s too strong, hence it''s too risky. But it appears that he was hurt or something happened in the fight before as his battle power has dropped to 50. We can win against him."

    "Alright!" replied Borin as he pped his hand, seeming excited.

    Before Borin could begin the fight, Piyo added, "Just make sure that the captain is not helping him. As for that girl, she''s too tired to do anything"

    Borin nodded his head, as a sign he understood.

    "Seth! You don''t need to fight him. If you can just make sure that guard is not bothering us, you can have the whole reward!"

    "That actually sounds like a good deal!" said Seth full of enthusiasm as he pulled out his spear and took his stance facing toward Barry.

    Tristan was not sure if he could win against these two with the condition he was currently in. Without his overwhelming advantage in battle power, he was sure that anything could happen in the battle.

    Time to use his head.

    Tristan proceeded to shout at Seth, who was watching Barry''s actions closely, "Hey Seth! Are you nning to kill the Erantell guard captain? Really?"

    Hearing that, Seth obviously denied the usation, "No! Of course not! That would be stupid of me. I will be hunted by-"

    Before Seth could finish his words, Tristan added, "That''s right! What about adding an elf to the list? How much trouble will you get? You can start imagining!"

    Realizing Tristan''s intention, Borin swiftly intervened, "Don''t listen to him, Seth!, we are not nning to kill anyone!"

    "Toote Seth! you are in trouble already!"

    Seeing the hesitant expression on Seth''s face, Tristan delivered his final blow, " I just need you and Barry to hold down those two for two minutes. Then, I guarantee you will not be in trouble!... I will even give you Borin''s share of the reward. How about that? I am sure you are a reasonable guy."

    Upon hearing that, Seth decided to change his stance towards the two brothers."

    "Seth, you!!"

    Tristan smiled when he saw that.

    "Now all of you can start fighting."

    Barry quickly made the first move as he dashed towards the two brothers, followed by Seth behind him. Maintaining his smile, Tristan observed the four of them fight as he leisurely walked towards the biggest corpse in the area.

    Tristan bet on himself that the Orc Champion would have much more Blood Essencepared to others.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Just like the previous sight, thin reddish mist started toe out of the orc''s massive body before it floated towards Tristan, who absorbed itpletely. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw the notification appearing in his mind.

    [Received 200 Mid quality blood cells]

    [100 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Use 100 Blood Essences to regain your first stage strength?]

    Finally, music to his ear.

    "YES!"

 Chapter 45 - Secret Skill

    Tristan immediately felt a refreshing sensation coursing through his entire body, to every veins and blood vessels it had. The feeling of familiar power once again could be sensed as he felt his body heating up and could perceive as if the whole body was having a transformation.

    [Battle Power increased by 50 points]

    [Current Battle Power 100]

    When Tristan saw that notification in his mind, he was a little bit disappointed that he did not regain his full battle power, and only managed to gain his previous -still- weakened state. Even so, this mere 100 battle power in Tristan''s opinion was more than enough to defeat those two adventurers who challenged him.

    Piyo''s attention was caught by the sudden beeping sound that came from his little device. When he checked it, his expression turned aghast as he immediately cast his gaze towards Tristan, who was currently smirking at him, or rather, at the two of them.

    "He yed us, brother! His battle power increased!"

    Piyo quickly took off the coat that was covering his body, and Tristan could see there were two small boxes on both sides of his waist. He immediately snapped his two small crossbows into them, and the boxes seemed to attach onto the crossbows.

    "Die, you freak!!" shouted Piyo while aiming both crossbows at Tristan.

    Seeing the clear intention to attack him, Tristan quickly prepared himself to dodge or block the attacks, depending on the situation. He knew better than to underestimate something that he had no knowledge of, lest he would pay dearly for it.

    *swish* *swish*

    Two bolts were fired from Piyo''s crossbows, wheezing to Tristan at breakneck speed.

    Seeing the iing bolts, Tristan''s first instinct was to deflect them away using his ymore, and so he did. Unfortunately, the reality did not go as nned.

    Booomm!! Booomm!!

    Two eruption of sts urred right before Tristan as the fired bolts were unexpectedly the explosive kind. Fortunately, the explosion was only strong enough to push Tristan back a few steps.

    "Dammit!! He received the bolts head on and still came out unscathed?!" curse Piyo

    Even though he did not receive considerable damage from the bolts, Tristan would not let Piyo get another round of those bolts off. He was lucky that he had a very durable weapon in his hand. He was sure that if the bolts managed to hit his body directly, then he would definitely be injured.

    Swish!

    Tristan dashed forward at great speed, aiming tond a strike on Piyo. However, Borin who was already expecting his move already stood in front of Piyo with his shield positioned.

    nk!!

    Loud metallic sound was heard through the camp as the sword hit the shield. Tristan''s blow was quite heavy and it immediately made Borin frown. On the other hand, Tristan was about to put more strength onto the sword when the full-armored man in front of him gritted his teeth and shouted, "Battle art! Strength Up!"

    Immediately after, Tristan could feel a significant increase from Borin as the resistance he felt from the shield was stronger than previously. He even sensed that his sword was slightly being pushed back. But unfortunately, it was still cut short to out-strength him.

    "So, is this your secret skill?"

    Tristan previously was a little worried when he heard that the two brothers have their secret skill. Now, it looked like he worried over nothing. Seeing that Borin was silent, Tristan sighed inwardly and said, "If there''s nothing else, I will end this now!"

    Borin slowly knelt on the ground as his shield was pushed down by Tristan. Eventually, he screamed in pain before dropping his shield as he was unable to hold the immense pressure he had to withstand.

    Tristan swung the sword towards the kneeling man. At thest second, he decided to flip his sword and use the blunt side of the sword to smash Borin, instead of cutting him.

    Borin was sted by the colossal impact of the smash hold, flying backward until his body dropped to the ground. He was no longer moving, probably unconscious.

    Now, only the little brother left.

    Turning his gaze toward Piyo, Tristan calmly said, "Just give up or you will regret it."

    Surprisingly, Piyo once again reloaded his crossbows with the boxes on his waist.

    "That thing will not work on me!" shouted Tristan.

    Unexpectedly, Piyo smirked at his words, "Yes I know!" he replied as he began aiming the crossbows. But instead of aiming at Tristan, the short guy aimed the crossbows towards the orc younglings that were clustered together.

    "Fuxx!!"

    Until this moment, Tristan did not realize he had it in him.

    Seeing the danger that would befall to those clueless orc kids, he dropped the heavy sword and dashed towards them as fast as he could, all in order to stop the bolts with his body.

    BOOOM!!

    Smokes and dusts rose to the air as Tristan was thrown to the ground, rolling a few times before stopping right in front of the shocked kids. His body was bleeding, especially the parts where the bolts directly hit.

    Looking at Tristan''s pathetic state, Piyoughed. "Hahahha! That''s how you fight using your brain!"

    Piyo reloaded his crossbows and was about to fire it one more time

    When suddenly, a loud sound was heard.

    BANG!

    Follow by blood sttered on Piyo''s head and his body fell to the ground, motionless.

    La, who took the shot, walked over to Piyo''s body and saw part of his head that has a burning hole and his brain sttered all over the ground.

    Seeing the lifeless body caused by her own hand brought La a mixed feeling. Thus, she cursed in her rage.

    "Fight with your brain, my ass!!"

    La then turned around and approached her brother, who just began to get up. Seeing Tristan''s entire body covered in his own blood, she quickly cast the healing spell.

    Tristan saw what his sister did, thus he looked at her with a concerned gaze, When La slowly said.."Yes Tris. I-I killed him... I killed the.."

    He could clearly feel La''s body trembling. Even though she always act tough, Tristan knew this must have shocked her a lot.

    "Don''t worry, sis. He deserved it." said Tristan, in his attempt to alleviate his sister.

    He then turned to Seth and asked, "Are we good, Seth?"

    Noticing the cold glint in Tristan''s eyes, Seth quickly answered, "Yes, yes! Very good, we are good!"

    Barry, on the other hand, already approached the unconscious Borin and tied his body up so that he would not make any trouble when he woke up.

    Lastly, Tristan turned around and looked at the 8 orc younglings. With a wry smile, he said.

    "Now what should I do with you little orcs?"

 Chapter 46 - Rugrats

    "Seth, how do we normally report for jobpletion?" Tristan nced at the fallen corpses scattered outside the tent.

    "Well, I guess for a job like this, a dozen of them will do." Seth shrugged.

    "A dozen¡­ of what?"

    Seth did not answer. He took out a small dagger from his pocket, walked towards the nearest corpse, and cut one of the orc''s tusk, leaving even more blood and the smell of iron in the nauseating ce. "A dozen of these things, as proof that we did indeed eradicate the orc camp they assigned to us."

    "I understand. Can I leave that to you, Seth? I hope you don''t mind." Tristan asked calmly, and Seth nodded before walking towards more corpses and cutting one of their tusk off one by one. Somehow, Seth thencer who had always found something toin about had be an obedientpanion.

    Tristan nced at La and saw her taking care of the injured, half-conscious orc kid lying on the ground, while asionally helping the other kids put on their clothes properly. La was being very attentive to the 8 orc kids, and it seems that the kids had sensed her intention, allowing her to help them without issues.

    Barry saw Tristan staring at them, and yet again, he began to exin, just like a walking encyclopedia.

    "So¡­ Basically, orcs have limited intelligence. Most of them act like animals by following their instincts. However, the same can''t be said for high orcs. They are more like humans, they understand a bit of speech, but their understanding is still limited." Barry pointed at the high orcs. "Although they look like 10 year old kids, actually the Orc body grows three times faster than human, so their intelligence is as good as kids age 3 or 4 at most"

    Tristan noticed that each time Seth cut off one of the corpses'' tusk, the high orc children started to tremble.

    Tristan asked. "Do you think they will hate us? I mean, I realized that we probably just killed their uncles or something¡­"

    "I don''t think so." Barry nced at the kids. "Though orcs can sense the bond of familiarity between each other, they possess no capability of hate and anger beyond the immediate moment, and they don''t have the mental capacity to take revenge like humans do. I''m not too sure about high orcs, but there shouldn''t be much difference."

    "Alright then, that is convenient."

    La ran towards Tristan and Barry while the two were talking. "Brother, what do you think we should do with the kids?"

    "Well, I say we can just leave them alone." Tristan shrugged. "I mean, we did everything we came here for. They''re on their own."

    "Brother, how heartless could you be?!" La shouted. "We can''t leave the kids like this!"

    "No, no, that''s not-" Tristan sighed. "La, remember, we don''t really know much about them, and considering what Barry told me, I''m sure they will be fine. They can fend for themselves."

    "No, brother! Can we just¡­ Deliver them to another camp or something?"

    "Are you crazy?! If they see us walking around with these kids, they will attack us right away!"

    "Whatever happens, brother, we can''t just leave them alone!"

    "Yes, we can and we will!." Tristan said firmly.

    Five minutes all it takes until his resolve crumbled by La''s constant nagging and begging.

    Barry smiled looking at the siblings and talked to Tristan about the nearest orc city from here. It was known that humans can interact with orcs there, and they could reach the city in two days'' journey.

    Tristan still felt reluctant to help the orc children, but for his sister''s sake, he made a decision against his better judgment. He came closer to the orc children and looked at each of them. Somehow, these 8 orc kids with rebellious appearance reminded him of a certain cartoon that is not really suitable for kids.

    "Hey, if you rugrats can understand me, nod!"

    The kids looked at each other in confusion for a second, before looking back at him and nodding at the same time.

    "Alright, my name is Tristan. Tell me your names."

    "Tris¡­tan¡­ Tris¡­ tan¡­" The orc kids said in unison.

    "Not my name!" Tristan rubbed his forehead. "Your names!"

    The kids, yet again, looked at each other in confusion. Barry touched his shoulders and said. "Sir, actually most orcs do not have a name. Names are seen as something you have to earn in orc society, and it can only be earned after they did something remarkable. Basically, for them, names function simrly to titles."

    Tristan sighed, looked at the tallest boy, and said. "Okay, I will now call you Rugrats 1." He looked for the second tallest child and named him Rugrats 2¡­ He repeated the process all the way by their heights up to the two female children named Rugrats 6 and 7. After naming them all, Tristan realized he forgot about the half-unconscious boy, but he didn''t want to go through the trouble of naming them again, so he named thest one Rugrats 8.

    "Okay, I will take you to see your kind afterward. Meanwhile, you all better behave or else you will be punished. Understood?"

    All the kids nodded in agreement, and Tristan sighed in relief. A part of him was proud of the decision he took. Perhaps he had the making to be a good leader. Or so he thought before Barry said

    "Sir Tristan, I heard elves can influence orcs better. It seems that the rumors are true."

    "¡­"

    Tristan was stunned into silence, his short happiness evaporated away with the exnation.

    The next thing La asked Tristan as a gesture of goodwill to the kids, was to bury all the corpses. Not wanting to spend even more energy to debate with her, Tristan told Seth, Barry, and all the little rugrats all to help. Those kids might have the intelligence of three years old children, but they certainly possess enough strength to assist them in moving around therge corpses.

    They dug onerge hole and piled all the bodies in.

    Tristan smiled, this arrangement was better for his n.

    He walked to the huge pile of corpses and chanted in his mind.

    [Blood extraction]

    [Received 2250 mixed-quality blood cells!]

    [300 Blood Essences extracted!]

 Chapter 47 - Loots

    Extracting blood from around 50 orc corpses gave Tristan 300 points of Blood Essence, meaning, he obtained an average of 6 Blood Essence for each orc. The result was pretty decent, especially considering that the human he extracted from before only managed to give him 2 points of Blood Essence.

    This time, Tristan did not bother hiding the fact that he just used his Blood Extraction skill in front of everyone. Though what appeared was not blood, but just a very thin, red mist, everyone in the group must have realized that he just used elf magic of some sort on a pile of corpses. Tristan had no reason to exin the true nature of the mist to the others, but La had noticed it and started to worry. Considering how the goblin called Tristan a ''blood elf'', he could understand why La was worried.

    After extracting the blood essence from the orcs, Tristan walked towards Piyo''s corpse and started to loot his items. He took a pair of small crossbows, something that appeared to be tiny explosive cartridges, along with the item that had caught his interests for a while.

    The thing on Piyo''s wrist that looks just like an oversized wristwatch.

    Tristan unsped the item from the corpse''s wrist and put it on his own. Before he could react, a slight, dim glow appeared on the bracelet and the system installed in his head responded.

    [Connecting to OPR Device]

    [Integrating system]

    [Device Synchronization started!]

    [20%... 60%... 90%... Synchronizationpleted]

    Tristan was caught off-guard by his system''s response. Considering the notifications, it seemed that something beneficial just happened, but on the other hand, this event made him realize that he knew almost nothing about the system installed in his head. What else could this mysterious device in his brain do, and what are the limits?

    Also for it to automatically do this thing without his consent worried him.

    Tristan aimed the device attached to his wrist towards Seth to give it a try.

    [Target scanned]

    [Human, Male]

    [Battle Power: 42]

    "Ah, so it measures someone''sbat prowess and converts it into numbers. Seems simple enough." Tristan mumbled and turned around to aim the device at Barry.

    [Human, Male]

    [Battle Power: 45]

    Barry was a little bit stronger than Seth, which gave him a little bit of relief. Now that he had confirmed the device is safe to use, he aimed it towards his sister

    [Human, Female]

    [Battle Power: 13]

    [Spirit Force: 32]

    Tristan was a little surprised when he saw the numbers. Before, La had told him that she has around 10 battle power and 30 spirit force, but it seems that her power had increased in the span of a few days.

    This made Tristan wonder, how does it actually work?

    Tristan made a mental note to ask the Magus Guild more about it. However, he was more fixated on Piyo''s dead body at the moment. He can''t resist the temptation to do his extraction skill.

    In the end, he decided to give in

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Received 100 mid-quality blood cells]

    [50 Blood Essences extracted]

    It was a decent amount. Though it was not as much as what he obtained from the corpses of the orc champion, it still a pretty big number. From this attempt, Tristan could conclude that a fighter around Piyo''s current level, which is a silver-badge adventurer, would give around 50 blood essence. Logically, a stronger fighter would be able to provide him with more blood essence.

    Tristan grinned at the number of Blood Essence he obtained today. But, his happiness was once again interrupted by an ear-piercing scream full of grief and anger.

    "PIYOO!!! What did you DO! You BASTARDS!"

    It was a scream by Borin, who had just awoken. He could clearly see his little brother''s unmoving body with blooding out from the side of his head.

    "No!!!.. NO!!.. Why... Little Brother... No!!!"

    Seeing the sadness and despair in Borin''s face, Tristan can somehow rte. However, he was more concerned for his own sister right now. Tristan can see his sister facing away so no one can see her face. He knows that La''s heart is screaming in pain right now.

    Tristan pulled out his massive de and walked towards Borin before raising his sword at the man. Meanwhile, Borin did not react, he kept on staring at Tristan with defiance in his gaze.

    Right as Tristan was about to swing down, La shouted in desperation.

    "Triss! Don''t!... don''t!"

    Tears had stained her cheeks and more continued to stream down her face, but each word of what she said wasden with conviction. Tristan could see her determination to stop him, and that was enough to make him lower his sword.

    Meanwhile, Borin became even more enraged.

    "You better KIll me NOW!! Kill ME!! Or Fucking Trust me that I will MAKE You PAY!"

    The Truth is when Tristan found a reason to kill Borin, he felt his urge to kill rise up. This is the same chaotic feeling that he had when he killed the poor man from the tavern. But seeing his sister''s, Tristan pushes himself to restrain the urge.

    All those years in prison, Tristan has seen many inmates, murderers who killed just for a bowl of food, and also those murderers who break after their first kill. Tristan understands the burden of own first kill. He worried that killing the victim''s brother again for her sake might affect badly on her even more.

    He was trapped in between a rock and a hard ce. Releasing the man would just create problems in the future while killing the man would just direct La''s ire towards him.

    Tristan thought for a few seconds, and an idea suddenly came to him. Though he has no idea if this method would work, this could be a good opportunity to experiment on his second skill, considering that he just obtained arge amount of Blood Essence.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, Battle Power 58]

    [Blood Seal would require 200 Blood Essence to take effect]

    ----------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 48 - Influence

    [200 Blood Essence used]

    [Blood Seal would take effect on the intended target..]

    Everyone saw how a thin red mist was emerging from Tristan''s body and slowly began to drift towards the tied-up Borin. La, who clearly saw it, proceeded to question her brother.

    "What are you doing Tris?!"

    The target of the mist, Borin himself, was terrified as he saw it slowly but surely make its way to him, touching his skin. The mist broke into several clumps with some of them going directly into his skin, while thergest clumps gathered together like smoke and invaded all the orifices on his face.

    "What''s- !? FuK!brh!!"

    Barry, as well as Seth, became dead silent as they watched the sight of Borin being overrun by those mists. Seth was terrified beyond belief.

    As for Tristan, just like what he previously experienced with the white tiger, he could feel as if there was an invisible string that connected the two of them, him and Borin.

    Next, a torrent of thoughts came into Tristan''s mind as he could ''see'' all his inner thoughts. He could clearly feel the despair Borin had for the death of his brother, and the zing rage towards him as well.

    With a slight displeased feeling from Tristan, he could sense that the thought was gone from Borin''s mind.

    A notification came into his mind.

    [You have a sessful Blood Seal]

    At the same time, Borin''s expression, which previously was filled with rage and despair, turned into a calm one, as if nothing had happened and his brother''s dead body was not a few feet away from him. He just silently sat there, still tightly bound by the ropes.

    Borin''s sudden, 180 degree change brought shock to everyone.

    He then began to take off the ropes that bound Borin''s body. After what they saw previously, none of them dare toment on what Tristan was doing to Borin.

    After being released, Borin calmly stood there, looking at Tristan as if nothing happened. The previous crazy, rage-driven man was gone, exchanged with this eerily calm man.

    Seeing how Borin was currently, Tristan nodded his head inwardly. He then quickly tried to see how the skill affected the man. He began by asking questions and Borin appeared to answer everything he was being asked without hesitation, calmly and truthfully.

    Seeing all of this happening right in front of him, Seth became terrified and fell into a state of panic. Pointing his shaking finger at Tristan, he stammered, "Yo-You!! You are! A demon, aren''t you?!!"

    Seth quickly tried to run away, and Tristan used this opportunity to test Borin''s potential.

    "Stop him."

    With two words from him, Borin took off as he gave chase to Seth, intercepting the man who ran towards the exit.

    "What!! ..What are you!!? What do you want?!!" Seth hysterically screamed as he saw Borin was getting closer and closer to him.

    Borin leaped to the air and tackled Seth, making the two of them crash to the ground. Then, a brawl happened between the two as they struggled and wrestled with each other.

    With his lower Battle Power, Seth found it hard to resist Borin. He became even more panicked and took out his spear. When he saw that, Tristan swiftly threw a sword to Borin, the one the man previously used.

    The fight quickly escted further, as the two of them fought against each other like they were nemesis. Tristan watched all of this with a smile hung on his lips.

    La quietly approached the smiling Tristan, her expression speechless. Looking at her still confused about what happened, Tristan decided to tell her about the skill he has. Upon hearing it, La became silent.

    Noticing her silence, Tristan asked, "Would you rather me to kill him instead?"

    "No... I dont know Tris... but... This just seems really cruel.."

    When he heard that, Tristan ordered Borin to stop through their connection. In an instant, Borin stopped fighting Seth.

    "Seth, don''t go! please.., I''m just ying with you. Please Stay"

    Tristan''s said the word in such a calm manner terrified him even more.

    Seth, who was already sweating buckets, immediately hit the ground on his knees, "Ye..Yes¡­ Mister elf, I will not go... Please, please spare me."

    Tristan walked towards Borin, who once again was calmly standing still. He grinned, satisfied with the Blood Seal effect. However, he still wanted to know the extent of the skill.

    Standing in front of Borin, Tristan was delving deep into his own mind, and trying to use the [Blood Seal] skill on the guy again. In an instant, a notification appeared on his mind.

    [Will you remove the Blood Seal from the target?]

    "Aaah!" Tristan suddenly eximed, confusing La, Barry, and Seth.

    Oblivious to their current thoughts, he was extremely delighted to have such an option. Although he knew that he would probably waste his Blood Essence because of this, he felt it would be better to understand these skills as soon as possible.

    "Yes."

    Momentster, the familiar mist wasing out of Borin''s body and returning to Tristan.

    [Blood Seal has been removed]

    [Your Blood Essences has returned]

    [You have received 100 Blood Essences]

    [Current Blood Essence 255]

    It annoyed him that only half of his initial Blood Essence returned, but this was actually much better than what Tristan expected.

    A few secondster, Borin finally snapped back to his usual self, but this time, it wasn''t anger that appeared on his face. It was an overwhelming fear.

    Looking at the pure horror on Borin''s face, Tristan smiled again. He realized two things about his skill from this experiment.

    First, the removal of the skill did not kill its target. Second, the target seemed to remember what had happened, either partially or fully. Whatever it was, Tristan did not really care.

    Tristan hesitated for a second, he makes some calctions and his decision lead to a new mist that quickly entered Borin''s body again.

    [You have a sessful Blood Seal]

    [200 Blood Essences used]

    [Current Blood Essence 55]

    The main reason he used the skill on Borin again was mainly for further experimentation. There were still many questions that remain to be answered. Like, how long he could hold his influence over Borin, or how many targets he could have with the skill; all of this would take a lot more trial and error to figure out.

    He needs to know how many days this 55 blood essence could sustain him until he found a new target to kill. If he was somehow unable to, he still has this blood bag walking around with 100 blood essence next to him.

    After making sure that Borin was under his control, Tristan casually turned around and spoke toward the group.

    "I guess we are done here. Let''s go back to get our reward."

 Chapter 49 - Return To The Village

    The decision has been made. The remaining members of the group, including the mind-controlled Borin and the 8 orc kids, all went towards the direction of C Vige, the vige that ordered the quest.

    Although Barry had suggested against the decision of bringing the orc kids to the vige for obvious reasons, one nce from La was enough to stop the words in his throat. Besides, it was almost dark, and as their unofficial leader, Tristan couldn''t let the decision to leave children unattended no matter what their race was.

    Their choices were either staying a night outside the vige or to return and risk the vigers'' reaction towards the orc kids. Tristan decided to choose thetter.

    As predicted, their arrival apanied by the orc kids brought mixed feelings into the vige. However, due to their sess in eradicating the orc camp, the vigers collectively decided to let theme into the vige and stay the night.

    There was no wee, no celebration. Tristan certainly did not need it, per se, but the clearly different treatment annoyed him.

    Tristan decided to keep a level head, deal with his angerter, and ask about the rewards for the eradication. When he got the answer that he could only im the reward in the nearest adventure guild, he became even more annoyed.

    Fortunately the vige elder still allowed the group to stay at the empty residence where they stayed previously.

    Right as Tristan and the group walked inside the ce, Tristan was weed by Herrera, the beautiful purple-haired mage.

    "Ah, you are all back! I have been waiting. I have to say, it''s quite lonely here by myself." Although she acted as if she weed everyone, her gaze was fixed on Tristan the whole time, something that did not go unnoticed by the other team members. But, though they had noticed it, none of them chose to speak up.

    Herrera asked about how the job went, and about Piyo''s whereabouts. Right as the question left her lips, everyone went quiet. Some looked away at the mention of his name.

    "Ah, bad news, was it? Well, at least you all came back safe and sound. That is one silver lining." Herrera quickly said after realizing the burgeoning awkwardness between them.

    The woman took Tristan''s hand, winked, and pulled herself towards him. She escorted Tristan to a long table with the rest of the group following behind him.

    Right as they arrived at the table, the scent of a sumptuous feast can be smelt by everyone there. The entire long table was full with various meat dishes, vegetables, and a te of sliced fruit. There was so much food, it was even enough for the orc kids.

    After Tristan took his seat, Herrera immediately sat right between Tristan and La. Her bodynguage showed that she tried to distance La a bit from Tristan.

    "How is the food, Sir Tristan?" Herrera asked, while pressing her body against him. "I hope it is to your liking?"

    "Yeah, thank you." Tristan gave a simple answer, not sure how to react to her tant flirting. "You''re a good cook."

    Herrera''s face reddened upon hearing thepliment. She pressed her face closer to Tristan''s arm, letting him feel the warmth on her face, and said. "Sir Tristan, if you like it, I can provide you with this, every day and night, for the rest of our life¡­"

    Tristan was busy eating, and thus he merely nodded in response. The nonchnt response made the woman be more excited.

    Meanwhile, La narrowed her eyes at the purple-haired woman in annoyance. Not only is she interrupting dinner with her flirting towards her brother, La could also see how lovestruck she was, and she felt nothing but disgust thanks to it.

    "Slut.." she whispers to herself

    "What was it, little sister?"

    "Who hell are you calling little sister?!"

    "Of course you are¡­ you are the sister of my beloved and you are¡­ little"

    Hererra said it by ncing at her body... Which annoyed her even more.

    Fortunately, before a fight broke out, Tristan stood up and asked Barry for more information about the orc city he mentioned.

    Barry unfurled a small map depicting the territory of Arcadia Kingdom and pointed at the southernmost border.

    "This is our current location." Barry said.

    The c vige is located south of Erantell, while the capital city is further north. Spread out on the west are the evergreen forest meanwhile, blue oceans cover the eastern territory, as where they will be heading the down south was marked as "Chaotic ins"

    "Alright then, which orc settlement would be the closest to our current position?" Tristan raised his eyebrows.

    "Around here." Barry pointed at the chaotic ins, and exined that most of the area belongs to the orcs. He suggested to take a boat and sailing along the coast to find a settlement nearby. It would be faster and easier, and they wouldn''t be exposed to unnecessary danger.

    "Alright, I agree. That will be our n."

    Tristan was quite d that the eight orc children were more obedient than he thought. They appeared to be willing to listen to La and him without too much fuss.

    As thete night starts to creep ever closer, the eight orc children are huddled together, resting in one room sharing it. From the outside where Tristan and La peeked in, they looked like sardines being pressed close together.

    While Tristan was staring at the sleeping kids, La looked at him and smiled.

    "Did they remind you of something, Tris?"

    Tristan did not answer, he merely nodded. La was certainly right, the scene did remind Tristan of himself when he was still at the orphanage. In order to keep himself warm during the colder months, he would huddle together with the other children like that.

    After a few minutes, Tristan and La closed the door as quietly as they could, before he went to his room for a well-deserved rest. La said good night to him before entering her own room, and he did the same.

    Right after he entered, Tristan saw the fire magician Herrera was already waiting for him. Shey syed on his bed, wearing a thin, ck dress that entuated her curves.

    "Sir Tristan¡­" with a teasing sound, she beckoned him. "Yesterday was the best I ever had... no one can everpare¡­ let me feel your touch again tonight..."

    Tristan approached the girl, put both hands on her shoulders, and lifted her up to a sitting position.

    "Yes, Sir Tristan¡­ I am ready, nowe at me.." Herrera smiled, a smile that faded the moment Tristan carried her bridal style.

    Took her out of the room, gave a long sigh, and said.

    "I need my fucking rest!"

    He dropped her and mmed the door closed.

 Chapter 50 - Beaten Up

    It appeared to be quite some time since Tristan was able to get a good night''s sleep.

    Ever since he arrived in this world, he always fell into an alert state because of his vignce towards the surroundings as well as his protectiveness towards his sister.

    Unfortunately, very early in the morning, he was bothered by some noises that came from outside the window, breaking him from dream.

    "You filthy little orc!"

    "Go away!!"

    Tristan, stillying on the bed, gave a long sigh to the air, "Why can''t I just have some peace?"

    He really wished he could sleep another hour or two but the tension outside seemed to rise quickly as the noises were bing louder.

    Tristan heaved another sigh before he slowly got up from the bed, clearly reluctant to part from it, put on his clothes, and opened the door as he walked out of the residence.

    Outside, his eyes were greeted by the sight of dozens of vigers who seemed to be doing their best screaming and shouting towards the orc younglings.

    "We don''t want your kind here!"

    Despite the bombardment of harsh words, the 8 rugrats were not afraid, but none of them returned the gesture either. They were being yelled and cursed at by the vigers.

    Craackk!!

    A rock came flying out of the crowd of vigers and hit one of the rugrats, the seventh, the female and shortest among them all. This immediately rmed the other seven.

    Tristan was startled, but decided to watch the show quietly.

    When one was thrown, the others swiftly followed. More rocks were thrown at the rugrats.

    Tristan could tell that none of the rocks really hurt those orc younglings. What interested him the most was rugrat 1, the tallest of the eight positioned itself in front of the group, trying to take all the rocks for the others.

    Seeing that, Tristan murmured, "Interesting.."

    Rugrat 2 appeared to be enraged by the treatment they received and looked like it wanted to charge towards the vigers. However, rugrat 6, the tall female, was holding him down, helped by the other rugrats.

    Seeing the scene actually warmed Tristan''s heart a little. Without their different, green skin, these rugrats were just like what he used to be. Hated by society, shunned by the surroundings.

    Tristan then heard La was rushing out of the house through his enhanced hearing. When she looked at the scene, she was about to scream when Tristan quickly stopped her from doing so.

    "Tris! This is¡­!"

    Tristan grabbed his sister''s shoulder, trying to calm her down, "Just be quiet, I will handle this."

    After making sure that his sister was clear that he was the one who would solve the issue, Tristan slowly approached the crowd and made his way to the middle. When the crowds saw the iing elf, the ruckus suddenly died down as they stopped throwing the rocks.

    Tristan faced the crowd and asked, "Who among you threw the rocks?"

    Such a question asked by an adventurer who managed to ''clean'' the orcs made all of them quiet. They were not sure what the elf would do, hence they kept silent lest they said the wrong things.

    However, it appeared that some among them did not think the same.

    "Me! I did! The orcs killed my brother! I hate them!! I want them out of the vige!" Turning his head to the source, Tristan spotted a burly man with clear hatred on his face.

    Hearing the man''s words, two other people bravely said the same thing.

    When Tristan noticed that there would be more people that want to speak up, he raised his hand and said, "Alright, alright!" Pointing his finger towards the three people, Tristan gestured, "You threee forward."

    At first, they hesitated to approach, but seeing the gaze Tristan currently had, the three reluctantly came forward. Tristan turned around and pointed at the rugrats, or rather, rugrat 1, and beckoned him to alsoe forward.

    When the four figures arrived, Tristan then said, "Now, the three of you can fight this one orc. Seems fair right?! But no weapon allowed. Do you agree?"

    The three people who first worried that the elf would scold them quickly brightened up. They swiftly nodded their heads in agreement, while rugrat 1 looked confused about the situation.

    Before the young orc could grasp what had happened, one of the men kicked him in the guts.

    The other two followed up and the three men began to punch and kick the young orc.

    After facilitating the fight, Tristan took a few steps back and watched the beating unfold.

    The spectacle caused La, who unknowingly had stood next to him, to be angry.

    After receiving several blows, the young orc who was now lying on the ground, was continuously being kicked over and over by the three vigers. Tristan gazed at the three people and could not even see a shred of guilt nor mercy in their face. They did not even feel remorse from injuring the young orc.

    Tristan used the gadget on his hand to check their information. All three adult males had battle power around 15 to 20, but the same could not be said for the young orc.

    [High Orc, Male]

    [Battle Power 30]

    Even though it was still an infant, it already had such a high battle power. But for some reason, the young orc just defended himself and did not even try to fight back.

    While rugrat 1 was getting beaten up, the other young orcs began to make a ruckus.

    Craackkk!

    A crisp, loud sound was heard, one that sounded when a bone was broken. The young orc began spitting blood due to the injuries he received, but he still continued to only defend.

    Looking at the miserable state of the young orc, La grabbed Tristan and said, "Brother!! Stop this!!"

    "Just wait.."

    After a few more hits the young orc finallyy unmoving on the ground. On the other hand, the three vigers looked tired and decided to take a break. Noticing that the situation was clear,

    Tristan approached the beaten orc and whispered a word, "You are just a big coward, aren''t you?"

    Tristan could clearly see that the young orc''s body was trembling.

    "If you do not do something, they wille for your brother and sister.. One.. by.. One."

    "UURRRGHHH!" the young orc shouted in rage as he heard Tristan''s words and imagined it happening.

    "That''s it.. Get up! Go get them."

    The young orc, even though having bruises all over his body, swiftly got up to his feets. His eyes emanated an intense gaze.

    The three vigers who saw the damned orc get up charged at him again but, this time, the orc decided to fight back.

    The previously one sided beating immediately became a brawl, a three against one at that. The four figures were fighting fiercely, giving and trading hits with each other. Hit after hit, blow after blow, and finally it concluded.

    A few minutester, the young orc became thest one standing, while the three meny on the ground, grimacing in pain.

    The young orc, with blood spilling from across his body, lifted his head and shouted out loud while the other seven orc younglings cheered their eldest brother.

    All of a sudden, a viger rushed out of the crowd, carrying a saber. He ran towards the young orc and swung the weapon in his hands

    St!

    A rain of blood appeared, followed by a flying arm.

    The other orc younglings who clearly saw the entire process screamed hysterically.

    "I said no weapon!!" said Tristan as he cut the attacker''s hand off.

    Annoyed, Tristan red at the crowd and shouted, "Show is over!! Get lost!!"

    Afterwards Tristan walk towards the Rugrats and said "Next time Fight or Flee choose one don''t hesitate!"

    La quickly dashed towards the injured young orc and healed its wounds. Meanwhile, Tristan returned to the house to find some breakfast.

 Chapter 51 - Aboard

    Barry negotiated back and forth with the boatman, until atst, he came back to the group. His face was one of utter frustration.

    "The boatsman will take us to our destination for 30 silver." He said.

    "What?!" Tristan shouted, unable to contain his bewilderment. "It only costs 6 silver for a trip from Epheria Port to this vige. How did the cost end up 5 times higher than that?"

    "Unfortunately sir, the Ephenia Port and C Vige is amon route that is rtively safe. Currently, we are asking them to sail out from their usual route, and it''s a bit more dangerous as we''re going to be sailing out of the kingdom border."

    Tristan nced and saw the ship captain''s grinning face from the corner of his eye. His wooden boat, although average in size, seemed to have holes and mold all over. Even from a fair distance, it was clear that the captain had scammed them.

    Tristan wanted to save his money, to the point he thought about using [Blood Seal] on the captain for the entire duration of their journey. Unfortunately, he didn''t have that much blood essence, to begin with. Moreover, this morning he woke up to find that 5 points of Blood Essence had been used, something he would have to live with every day it seems.

    "Uurrggh¡­"

    To be fair, although they had not received the reward for their quest, Tristan still had 20 sets of weapons he could sell after looting the dead orcs. Unfortunately, the vige also had no need to buy such items. Thus, their only option was to sell the scraps at Erantellter. However, before that could be done, the weapons were just baggage shared between Borin and Seth.

    "Sir Tristan, how about I help you take the loot to Erantell? I can collect the reward while I''m at it¡­" Seth smiled and winked.

    Knowing his intentions, Tristan did not immediately approve. He merely turned towards Seth and said.

    "Seth.. the only way I can trust you with that is if you are willing to be my blood puppet. Do you want it?" Seth quickly turned pale and gulped. "no sir¡­" He quickly shook his head. "I''d rather follow you to the orc country, sir¡­"

    "Good choice, Seth"

    Tristan needed as much manpower as he could get if he was going to explore the wilderness. Among them was Herrera. The fire magician apparently didn''t need to be persuaded or any incentives at all. She had attached herself to be Tristan''s assistant forcefully.

    Even knowing about their next destination into dangerous territory or the fact about Tristan''s skill that made Borin into a living puppet didn''t scare her.

    In fact, Herrera offered herself as Tristan''s ve if Tristan could provide her with a certain reward.

    [Human - Female]

    [Battle Power: 25]

    [Spirit force: 90]

    [Rank 3 fire magician]

    Tristan did not expect to see that Herrera had such good stats. He could make her guide him in the ways of magic, fire spells, and so on. Not to mention, she is a decent cook.

    "Hey, Barry." Tristan called, "How long would this journey take?"

    "If everything goes as nned, we should be back to Erantell in three days, sir. Right in time for your promise to the mayor."

    Finally, for the matter of 30 silver payments, Tristan shamelessly took out some money from Borin''s pocket and gave it to the captain. The siblings had a total of 2 gold coins and a few silvers.

    "I am sure Borin doesn''t mind," Tristan said to himself

    With all things set, the group of 6 plus 8 orc younglings went aboard.

    The orc children looked down at the churning waters and held each other tight, they gripped the edge of the boat hard and tried not to let their fear show. It was equal parts adorable and surreal.

    All preparations were set, The captain and half a dozen crew pulled out the anchor, set out the sail, and steered towards the water

    "Set sail!!"

    The boat sailed to the east at a decent speed. After sailing through the river for a few hours, finally they met up to the vast sea. From there, they started sailing southeast and moved further across the shore.

    Tristan enjoyed the open blue scenery, the sound of the water sshing on the boat, and the cool ocean breeze on his skin. He thought perhaps one day he could just spend his days as the captain of a ship and sail across the world.

    The boat kept sailing even as the sun started to dip lower on the eastern horizon. Everyone took turns sleeping, and finally, dawn came.

    When the sun started rising, the boat crew started running around the deck in a panic. Right as Tristan was about to ask the captain frantically running around, the boat lurched to the side, forcing everyone to hold on.

    "What happened?!"

    "A raid sir! Barbarian raid!" The captain answered, his breath ragged and sweat covering his body.

    Tristan saw gray smoke rising in the distance while from the west they saw tworge ships moving towards them at great speeds. The ships were packed with people carrying weapons and shouting battle cries toward them.

    "We are turning back sir!" The captain said.

    Before Tristan could answer, Barry shouted.

    "Watch out" Barry raised his shield to the air as fire arrows started to rain down on their boat. The dried and rotting wood started to burn, fire spreading to every direction, propelled by the wind.

 Chapter 52 - Stranded

    "There''s a fire on the deck!!"

    There were only less than a dozen ming arrows that managed to hit the deck and the sail, but the fire spread too quickly for the sailors to handle.

    Noticing that the situation would turn even more grave if it kept going, the captain shouted, "Put down the fire!! Quick!"

    Unfortunately, he only had 5 crew helping on the ship, and one of them even got shot by an arrow, effectively removing him from the list. The rest were upied with setting their burning sail in order to let the ship turn around. Hence, the mes were left free, making their journey to burn the ship''s wooden floor to ashes.

    Tristan stared at the east direction far to the ocean, and saw therge ships were getting closer with every passing second. The bow of the massive ship was taken by arge statue of some kind of animal bearing its sharp-looking fangs, evidently giving it an intimidating look to those whoy eyes on it.

    Anyway, whoever those people were, they definitely did note with peaceful intentions. Well, it should be the case as the first thing they did the moment they spotted Tristan''s ship was sending a rain of ming arrows.

    Tristan returned his attention back to the ship deck, where the sailors were currently trying their best to extinguish the mes that were raging there.

    One of the seamen, who identally looked over to the other ship, was horrified as he shouted, "They are gaining on us! Captain, they are gaining on us!"

    Tristan saw all this unfold before his eyes, and tried to think of a way to save them from the current precarious situation. Turning his head to his side, where the voluptuous Herrera was, Tristan asked, "Herrera, do you have a spell that can put down fire?"

    Herrera was speechless, "... Sir, I am a fire magician.. What do you think, sir? ¡­ If I take action, it will only burn the ship down faster.."

    Tristan inwardly smacked his head for asking such a stupid question. He then tried to think of another method.

    When the other ship got close enough for Tristan to observe its deck, he could see the people on that ship were all wearing heavy armor. Most had helmets with many ornaments on top of it.

    Realizing that, an idea shed through Tristan''s mind as he suddenly said to Herrera, "What about burning the enemy ship? How about that? Can you do it?"

    "Of course! That, I definitely can!" answered Herrera full of vigor as she immediately cast a spell.

    [Fire Ball - Tier 3 Fire Spell]

    A sphere of me was slowly materializing on top of Herrera''s hand while showing the world its scorching temperature.

    The moment the spellpletely took effect, Herrera immediately threw it across, to the other ship.

    BOOM!

    The spell did an arc as itnded on the deck, sting those that were around the area of impact. Immediately after, the enemy ship also caught fire. The spell was so effective that the me sshed over the ship''s sail and quickly burned the enemy ship''s entire upper deck.

    "Yes! Nice job, Herrera!"

    Tristan was so happy with the result that he hugged Herrera, causing the said woman to blush in happiness.

    There were still dozens of ming arrows thatnded on the deck, but the ship crew quickly put them down before they could spread further. On the other hand, the enemy ship seemed to have slowed down as they had to take care of their now burning ship.

    As a result, the distance between the two ships was getting further apart, until the enemy ship disappeared from the horizon and Tristan was unable to see it anymore.

    Unfortunately, when Tristan thought they would be able to continue on with their journey, the ship captain said something that broke that thought, "Sir, we cannot sail for long. We need to port up and fix the ship. As you can see, the sail is pretty ruined from the fire and the lower deck has water leaks."

    Tristan nodded his head, "Do what you must do."

    The ship immediately turned the bow, chose the closest route to reach the river, as it had no capability to remain on the ocean any longer. With each hour passed, Tristan could clearly feel that the ship speed became even slower. When he walked around the ship to see the degree of destruction, he saw the lower deck nearly drowned by water.

    Fortunately, after another hour of sailing through the river, they finally found a settlement near the bank. Actually, the ce looked more like a fort than a settlement.

    "This is Fort Redstone." said Barry.

    Noticing the strange expression on his face, Tristan asked, "Why? Is it dangerous?"

    Barry subtly nodded, "Fort Redstone used to be the Kingdom''s southernmost defense point, but it was taken over by the orcs years ago."

    Looking at the pitiful state of the ship they were in, Tristan said with a helpless smile, "I guess we have no choice, do we? Anyone have any other bright ideas?"

    The panicked Seth said they should just abandon the ship on the other side of the river and just run back north on foot.

    "That could work actually, but there are half a dozen orc settlements between this fort and Erantell" said Barry.

    The closer the ship came to the fort, the clearer Tristan could see whaty within it. There were at least a few dozen familiar green creatures, all standing across the fort walls with their weapons brandished.

    Tristan saw the impressive amount of orcs stationed on the walls, and thought there might be a few dozen more around.

    "How bad is our situation, Barry?"

    "Pretty bad sir, we are afterall quiet far from the kingdom border"

    "Well, let''s hope those rugrats will be a free pass ticket for us."

    The ship finally docked at the side of the fort, on the shore where there were a few dozen orcs already waiting. Tristan could see a few of them were as big as the Orc Champion he once fought. Hence, he assumed they must be the same kind.

    Tristan stood at the bow of the ship and beckoned the 8 rugrats to stand next to him, "Wee in peace. We are here to deliver these young orcs home."

    "Chiiwikkk!! Chriiwikll!!"

    He could only hear a ruckus among all the orcs on the shore. The orcs seemed to be discussing the rugrats as Tristan could see fingers pointed at them. The rowdymotion continued until one tall but slender orc walked through them.

    A female orc with long red hair holding huge ives.

 Chapter 53 - Orc Chief

    "Re''ka Gul Tov''osh!"

    Tristan watched as the tall female orc with long red hair having a conversation with the orc younglings, using anguage that the system unfortunately was unable to trante. Hence, he could only stand there doing nothing.

    After a few minutes of talking with the orc younglings, the female orc finally returned her attention to Tristan.

    "Gesh''nuka!... The younglings¡­ speak gud things about you, elf."

    The opening words which started with the oguage threw Tristan a little bit, but he eventually heaved a sigh of relief when he clearly understood thetter part of the words. He nodded his head with a smile as a response to the female orc''s words.

    The female orc then proceeded to check out the rest of the group. After doing so, she pointed her finger at Tristan. "Youe with me, Speak to warchief!"

    Roughly understanding what the female orc wanted, Tristan decided to bring Barry and La with him, while he ordered the others to wait and watch the ship being repaired. The three of them immediately followed the female orc.

    As the group walked through inside the wall, Tristan could see that all the orcs that they passed by would give the female orc a nod as a gesture of respect, which proved that she had some level of prestige in this ce.

    They went past the fort entrance and arrived at arge open area where Tristan could see dozens of orcs fighting against each other. It appeared they were currently at the courtyard where the orcs usually trained their soldiers. Tristan watched the training with interest as they walked by.

    A few minutester, the group finally went inside the keep into the main hall of the fort, where Tristan could see a huge green-skinned creature sitting on the throne at the end of it. The creature was slightly bigger than the Orc Champion, and had 4 tusks on its face which made it look more intimidating than its brethren.

    At least that was the case for La as the moment sheid her eyes on the creature, she subconsciously took a step back and hid behind her brother. On the contrary, Tristan looked at the orc with a calm gaze.

    Tristan was observing it, as he needed to know what he had to face off against. Meanwhile, the orc sat calmly on its throne, staring at the newly arrived group.

    "Dub''Thak¡­ elf..!"

    The creature, which apparently was the orcs'' warchief, appeared to be a little taken back when he saw them as he stood up and cast his gaze across the group. Tristan noticed that the warchief seemed agitated about their arrival. Fortunately, the female orc approached him and they began talking about something.

    From its body''s characteristics, Tristan was sure that this warchief was not a high orc. It appears only a high orc is able tomunicate clearly. Out of curiosity, he decided to secretly activate the scanner, using it to analyze the huge creature in front of them.

    [Orc, Warchief]

    [Battle Power 128]

    Looking at the number on the scanner, this warchief was definitely stronger than Tristan. Hence, he decided to not mess with him. While he was at it, Tristan decided to check out the red-haired female orc.

    [High Orc, Champion, female]

    [Battle Power 82]

    [Spirit Power 10]

    Tristan was quite surprised to see that not only was the female orc a high orc, she also had a spirit power on her stats.

    After the two orcs finished talking in the oguage, the warchief approached Tristan.

    "Groowwlll"

    Getting into close proximity with the warchief, Tristan could clearly smell the stinking breath that came out from the massive green creature standing in front of him.

    "Elf, human. Kill orcs growll!"

    Tristan was confused as he heard the indecipherable, riddle-like words that the orc warchief blurted out. Fortunately, the female orc was kind enough to rephrase the words afterward, "Our chief Ghral asked if you really kill and destroyed an orc camp."

    A light bulb appeared on top of Tristan''s head as he stared back at the orc and confidently nodded, "Yes, we did."

    Tristan swore he could hear the breath of the orc in front of him starting to get faster. For a moment, he wondered if the orc would attack him right here right now. He was preparing to pull out his ymore and delivered a ''gift'' to the orc right away when the orc said more words.

    "Kog''z.. strong elf... Help. Attack human.. Aaz''no!"

    The female orc once again repeated the orc warchief''s words with a somewhat coherent sentence, "The chief think you are strong and wish you to help fight human"

    Tristan took a few moments to process the female orc''s words, and he was dumbfounded when he did so. He even wondered if what the female orc said was wrong and she misinterpreted the warchief''s words. Did the orc just request them to fight against humans?

    Luckily, Barry seemed to understand what the female orc meant as he exined it to Tristan, "Sir, I think what they mean with ''human'' is the human barbarian. You probably don''t know this, but the orcs have been known to be constantly at war with the barbarians. The group that attacked our ship are the barbarians"

    Upon hearing that, Tristan sped his hand in realization, "Aahh! That makes more sense."

    He then turned towards the female orc and quickly acted tough, "How much? We are not cheap!" said Tristan.

    After a certain,plicated, tranted, back and forth discussion; Tristan and the orc warchief finally came into an agreement.

    He and the others would stay at the fort for 5 days, defending it against the human barbarians until the reinforcements from other tribes came. Afterward, the orcs would give them safe passage by sea ornd.

    Tristan pushed for more rewards and was given a bag full of gold coins. The bag was covered in blood, but he did not care. Money was still money.

    Apparently, those barbarian from the west had been constantly attacking the orc settlement for so long and recently their attacks had intensified. Hence, the female orc believed there would be a huge attack iing so they needed as much manpower as they could find.

    For Tristan, his main reason to help these orcs was definitely the opportunity to gather more Blood Essence for himself. Looking at the warchief''s high battle power made him more determined on getting his initial strength back, and the best ce to do so was the warzone itself. Hence, his agreement.

    When the meeting was done, the female orc looked at Tristan and said,

    "Thank you, for saving the youngling. I am Karra."

 Chapter 54 - Lie And Deceive

    "What?! Five days?!"

    Seth was the first to sputter out aint in shock. In response, Tristan nced towards him and narrowed his eyes, causing the man to instantly pale and fall into silence. He looked away from Tristan, not wanting to get the brunt end of his wrath.

    The news Tristan brought was that they have to spend the next five days defending the fort. Meaning, they will have to keep their wits about them.

    Other than Seth, none of the other seems to be against this decision

    Barry was assigned to protect him, so he will follow. Herrera ignored everything that was exined about it and blindly nodded in agreement as long as she could follow Tristan. As for Borin he definitely has no opinions at the moment.

    "Just consider it as another adventurer job, guys¡­no biggie" Tristan said with a straight face.

    Although they seem to be in agreement, Tristan felt that the group was still ufortable with the decision Especially La.

    "Are you sure about this, Tris?"

    Tristan breathes a long sigh and decides to say.

    "Actually, I have reason to believe, if we don''t help them, they will kill us right away... so we really don''t have a choice do we?"

    After saying it no one questioned Tristan''s decision anymore.

    Although Tristan doesn''t believe what he just said, it''s not really a lie if there is still a possibility it could happen right? Tristan thought to himself justifying what he just said.

    The fact they had to stay and ept the job really benefited Tristan, as another battle meant he could collect more blood essence. However, there was always the chance something would go wrong.

    Therefore a backup strategy or an escape n is always needed.

    Tristan approached the boat and saw the captain. He and his crew were still busy working, patching the boat with wood and whatever sturdy-looking materials they could find nearby.

    Tristan walked around the boat once, looking at it from all angles before asking the captain about the time the boat could be fixed. The captain informed them the process would take one or two days.

    To make things go smoother, Tristan put one gold coin in the captain''s pocket.

    "More wille, just follow the n" Tristan said to the captain

    These are more than enough to bring joy for the captain and his crew.

    Tristan assured the group once again that he considered their safety as priority, and he promised to pave the way for escape as soon as things go out of control.

    When he finished checking out the boat, The day was almost over. The group was given one of the half a dozen houses that was located inside the fort.

    It was just an empty abandoned house, but it wasrge enough for the whole group to stay together.

    Later on when night came, there was a knock on the door. It was the eight rugrats, all of whom came delivering dinner for the group.

    Tristan can see the young orcs tried to show them gratitude, he even can swear that the young orcs seem reluctant to part with them. Somehow they reminded him of the stray puppies that he had fed when he was small, only green and bigger.

    Right as the young orcs left, La approached Tristan and apologized. From the looks of it, she believed that they are currently in this predicament thanks to her selfish behavior, but she also admitted that she foundfort in seeing the young orcs safe and sound, and hoped her brother would feel the same, at least.

    Tristan actually feels things are more beneficial for him, so he was not angry at all but seeing the situation he said.

    "Yes.. this really is a troublesome situation for us, sis¡­ we might not make it out of this ce alive. Therefore, next time you should listen to me more¡­ agreed?"

    La noded and smiled before moving to her spot for rest. Out of the corner of his eyes, Tristan saw Barry approaching him.

    "Sir elf, I wonder if you really believe that the orcs will kill us if we don''t help them?"

    "Yes Barry i think they will¡­" another lie, but like they say about a good lie, you fake it till you made it

    "Why you ask? What do you think?"

    "Actually from my experience, orcs can''t actually lie and deceive. But if what they say about the attack is true, then we are in big trouble."

    "I see, thank you for the input Barry" Tristan than realized Barry was reluctant to say something else

    "If there''s something else you better say it"

    "Yes sir Tristan, i must inform you that I have reported our situation to the mayor."

    Hearing that, Tristan was stunned, "Report? When? How?"

    Barry showed him a small object that he had been holding in his hand all along, a ck stone the size of his palm with some sort of runes engraved on its surface. From his exnation, Tristan found out that it was some sort of two waymunication device.

    Barry looked away from Tristan and apologized about the matter as it was his mission to always report to the mayor.

    From his expression, Tristan was clearly annoyed by the fact that his every move was disclosed to the fat elf, but he understood. After all, he had promised some information to the mayor, and he has to provide his part. It would be a massive loss for the mayor if he decided to leave without doing so.

    A momentter, the stone was glowing right in front of his eyes. Seeing that, Barry quickly responded as he grabbed it with his two hands. Immediately after, he said, "I just received a reply from the mayor, he decided to send help. They wille in a few days"

    Hearing this made Tristan even more excited.

    If a three-way battle happened in this ce, wouldn''t the bloodbath be even more beneficial for him?

 Chapter 55 - Fort Redstone

    It was hard to sleep. Everyone tossed and turned on their beds, and that was not just because the beds were minimal and ufortable. No matter how they look at it, they were in a fort full of green-skinned creatures, and even if they took shifts for night watch, none of them could feel safe

    Herrera took this chance ying a damsel in distress trying to be close to Tristan. Not that he can''t appreciate a beautiful girl being all over him but currently he has something bothering him.

    He found it rather odd that the Mayor would send troops to help them. It''s not like they are someone important, they are in fact just a group of adventurers behind enemy lines.

    Even though the mayor has an interest in his ''ounder'' information, Tristan still finds it weird that the mayor would go to such lengths just for this information. Are the ounder weapons really that valuable?

    When the sun started to peek out from the edge of the sky, Tristan woke up from his slumber and decided to check the orcs'' defenses and fighting forces.

    Fort Redstone was a decently-sized structure, around as wide as a baseball field. The gentle sound of the running river could be heard on the northern side, leading into a moat covering the west sides of the fort.

    In the middle stood the structure where the warchief resides, a 10-meter high stone keep. Some of the walls had cracks in them.

    As for the wall going all around the fort, it was also made of stone and about three meters tall. The wall was reinforced with shrapnel and other kinds of odd knick knacks.

    Round towers about 6 meters high stood, one on each, of the three sides of the fort. While the front gate facing the east was packed with a gatehouse,plete with its own wooden drawbridge.

    It was a ssic medieval fort. The simrities made Tristan wonder if there was any connection between this world and earth; within each world''s history.

    Tristan looked around the fort, looking for what structures they could use to better defend the ce and which things he had to look out for. As well as things that could be improvised to attack their enemies. From his initial check, he realized that although the fort looked impressive from afar, it was actually in very poor condition.

    There were cracks and rubbles all over the ce, which made him wonder about the age of the fort.

    As he walked towards the eastern wall, he was shocked to see a huge hole three meters wide in one part of the wall.

    What the fuck?! Why is this part left open?"

    Unfortunately, that was not the only problem he found about the fort.

    The eastern roundtower was unusable, it had been turned into a storage room full of rubble and junk. The well which is supposed to be the vital part of the fort in case of siege was empty and finally, the worst of all, the drawbridge and the main gate were broken and unusable. They were not even able to close the gate.

    "¡­"

    Tristan was stunned into silence.

    Right then, Tristan realized that this ce was just an abandoned fort. The ce was merely used as a settlement rather than a defensive structure, and thus, the parts that could aid them in defense were never maintained.

    The more Tristan took a look at his current situation, the more he lost his initial confidence to defend the ce.

    He decided to try finding Ghral the warchief to talk more about the weakness of the fort. He spent several minutes asking around, but apparently, he was currently away hunting.

    "¡­"

    Tristan sighed. "Great, at a time like this, even the leader goes away for hunting. How bad could this situation get?"

    Well, at least there was one bright side ¨C the fort was filled with hundreds of strong fighters. Although when he tried to ask around, none of the orcs knew how many orcs were here in the fort.

    Karra was helpful enough to apany him to look around and show the orc warriors to him.

    With this Tristan got Barry to help by counting the green skinned people he saw, while he went around using his scanner to get a rough estimate of their strength and numbers.

    Today he just learned that there are two orc categories. One was called gretchin, which refers to a ''regr'' orc, while the warrior orc was called the grunts.

    The Gretchin are orcs that are young and those who have more bestial physical appearance and lesser strength. They were treated as lower-ss orcs and forced to do manualbor to contribute to the horde''s well-being.

    From the note Barry read before, it seems that the gretchin were suspected to be more crafty than the grunts

    As for the champion, it is the veteran who manages to evolve their physique to the next level.

    In the end, Tristan found a total of 311 orcs gathered at the fort

    [Gretchin: 68]

    [Grunt: 238]

    [Champion: 3]

    Other than their physical looks, Tristan could see from his scanner that the gretchin''s battle power range is around 20. The grunts are around the 40 battle power. While the champions ranged from 60 to 80 battle power.

    Adding Ghral the Warchief, High Orc Karra, and the young high orcs, those are the forces that will defend the fort.

    Considering the condition of the fort and the number of orcs, Tristan can only hope that the opponent wille in a lesser number.

    When he was just thinking about the opponent, suddenly a loud sound could be heard from outside the fort.

    THHOOOTTTHHHHH

    The echo of a loud horn rang from the east. From where he stood, Tristan was able to see hundreds of figures gathering atop the hill, All heavily armed.

    There are at least twice the number of the orcs at the fort. Tristan honestly thought that he would have some time to prepare or rest. But time was not so kind for him and the battle to defend Fort Redstone was about to start.

    -------------

    Dear Blood Elf Monarch readers,

    Thank you for taking the time to read the novel up to this chapter. I am pleased to announce that with the novel being part of the Spiritypetition,it was contracted by WebNovel. With the contractes premium chapters that will start from the next chapter. This would mean coins or fast passes to unlock chapters. But it also means that I would put my heart and effort into this novel with better content and a faster release rate.

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    Your Sincerely, Avans

 Chapter 56 - Charge

    Tooooeeeetttthhhh

    A continuous roaring sound was echoing in the air at full st, one that wasing from a horn.

    Standing on top of the fort wall, Tristan could see hundreds of figures were gradually showing up from the top of the hill. More and more of them emerged from the back of it, and made a long line as they stood steadily with their round shield brandished on their chests.

    When the horn stopped its sound, these hundreds of barbarian began hitting their shields with their weapons. Various kinds of weapons; swords, axes, spears, hammers, and so on banged on the sturdy shield, causing a rhythmic yet intimidating thumping sound.

    Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

    Tristan could see half of those barbarian were wearing aplete full heavy armor from head to the top. Their helmets had two horns as its ornament, while their lower and upper armor were engraved with a distinct pattern. Their current appearance looked extremely simr to the people who were on the ship that attacked him previously.

    While those who wore the armor looked thoroughly equipped, the remaining of them only wore the lower armor, leaving their chestpletely open.

    Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

    Those barbarian appeared to be waiting as they lined up in rows on the high ground while they kept making the taunting sound.

    Looking at those people and the fact that he had no knowledge of them beside their earlier brief conflict made Tristan a little bit anxious. Hence, he nned to be really careful about this.

    Before he came, Tristan had ordered all of the people who came together with him to stay and guard his sister, except for Borin, who would be his sidekick today. Thus, the reason for the current sight of them walking towards the group of orcs gathered in the yard.

    When the horn was first heard, all the orcs who were hanging outside of the fort immediately went inside and gathered, excluding those who were tasked to repair the ship. Looking at the gathering orcs, Tristan wondered how the orcs would react to the assault.

    Unexpectedly, he did not catch the shadow of the orc warchief. Instead, he watched as the familiar female orc stepped forward and beckoned to the orcs. It seemed that with warchief Grahl''s absence, the leadership naturally fell upon Karra''s shoulders.

    At the moment, the red-haired female orc was standing in front of the warrior orcs with her body fully equipped in armor. Coupled with the massive ive in her hand, Karra''s current appearance was truly awe-inspiring as she stood there like a firm tower.

    Tristan could clearly see the admiration and reverence the Grunts directed toward Karra from their gazes and gestures.

    "Lok Tar!! Kog Z!!"

    Currently, Tristan could see Karra was yelling words that were unfathomable for him energetically. It was apparent that she was trying to increase the orcs'' spirit before they went into the battle. Hearing the loud yell, all the orcs began clustering together, while also voicing the yell with even stronger vigor.

    These orc warriors were seen shouting, yelling, and walking shoulder-to-shoulder; showing a frightening level of excitement as if there was nothing more important than the iing battle in front of them.

    Much to his surprise, Tristan suddenly saw Karra begin moving to the main gate with a stern gaze and stable steps. Seeing that, he realized what the orcs wanted to do and his face could not help but change because of that.

    "What!? They are going for an offence?! They must be crazy!"

    Before Karrapletely walked out of the gate, Tristan quickly intercepted to stop the female orc.

    "Stop!! Are you crazy!? Those people have the higher ground and are fully organized. It''s a stupid idea to charge in just like that!!" said Tristan rapidly, scared that the female orc would ignore his words if he did not speak fast enough.

    However, instead of listening, Karra red at Tristan and shouted, "Move, elf!! We don''t care! We are not afraid!!"

    The two hundred warrior orcs behind her began shouting in response to her shout.

    "Chhiiwikkkl!!! Chiwwiklk!!"

    Seeing this, Tristan shook his head. Now he could imagine how these orcs were made as the embodiment of big muscles but no brains. Noticing that Karra wanted to move forward, he quickly stopped her again.

    "Wait!! Wait!! Karra, please listen to me! You have the advantage to take defense in this fort. There''s no need for you to go for the offensive and risk losing your men!"

    Hearing that, the female orc unexpectedly stopped in her tracks. It seemed that Tristan''s persuasion took effect on her. Unfortunately, the next thing that happened immediately destroyed it.

    TOOOEETTHHHH!!

    The horn sound echoed through the air one more time, and Tristan could clearly hear the thumping by the barbarian became even more loud.

    Then, the orcs became unsettled by the sound; they started grumbling, a few even started to fight with each other without any apparent reason. Seeing the sight, Tristan suddenly thought that this might be exactly what the enemy was after.

    It was said that the orcs had been fighting against the barbarians for years. They must have used this tactic to lure the orcs out into the traps that had been prepared.

    Tristan could clearly see that even though Karra was considering his words, he knew that the orcs behind her were not going to listen no matter how ''logical'' his words were. One of the Orc Champions even began to shout in fury.

    Even so, Tristan still tried to not let this group of frenzied orcs go.

    "Karra! At least wait until the warchief returns if you want to attack, alright?!"

    Thest sentence he spoke seemed to convince the red-haired orc, but the same could not be said for the other orcs. All of a sudden, the 200 hundred and more Grunts fell into chaos shouting in full spirit. Tristan turned around and understood the reason why.

    Ghral, the warchief, just came out of the forest, riding at the back of some kind of a big wolf right outside the fort and directly charged towards the barbarians. By himself.

    Seeing that, the 200 plus Grunts ignored Tristan and Karra, immediately charging out following the warchief. Heck, he was almost trampled to death by the uncontroble charge.

    Tristan could only watch as an army of green-skinned creatures running uphill to charge on the barbarians.

 Chapter 57 - Shield Wall

    With a quick nce, Tristan could see that their opponent''s group was at least twice as big as them. So, there are around 500 barbarians that will be shing with the orcs.

    Grahl let out a loud battle cry, apanied with the other orcs'' battle cries, and ran forward riding his massive wolf mount. He directed his wolf to jump forward each hand with his battle axe raised.

    The jump left deep w marks on the ground.

    Seeing the approaching wolf, the barbarians in the front held their shields to intercept the attack. But the wolf and warchief broke the defensive line open without effort, throwing a few of them away just like bowling pins.

    The sight made the 200 grunts ted, their morale increased thanks to the deed. They all ran faster and charged the enemy line together.

    From among the shouting and the ng of weapons, Tristan could hear gleefulughter.

    Tristan shook his head. Though the bravery of the orcs was quite something to be admired, he personally would rather be safe than sorry.

    As the group started charging up the hill, Tristan decided to slow down his charge and hold back in order to observe the orcs from afar, apanied by Borin standing behind him. As usual, Borin''s eyes looked ssy and empty, there was no soul or emotion to be seen behind the creepy gaze.

    The hill did not bother the orcs at all, as they kept on running with the aid of their bottomless stamina. Though they were fast, they were intercepted with close-knit, tight defensive lines made of round shields. The opponents held their shield shoulder to shoulder, making the defense much stronger than before.

    Braaaaakkkkk!!!!

    A loud sound of impact could be heard, and Tristan saw the side of the line was crushed by the warchief and his battle wolf. However, the rest of the line looked intact, a testament of humans'', or the so-called ''barbarians'' ingenuity.

    Using crude tools and some aid of science, they were able to hold against the charge of orcs almost twice their size.

    The barbarians wore odd-looking battle gear made of a mix of fur, leather, and metallic tes intermingled into one without a distinct pattern. Some had bits of fur on their shoulders, some had fur decorations lining their hips with all leather armor, while a few were decked out in full te armor decorated with luxurious fur. One thing was the same among them - that is, their heads were adorned with a helmet decorated with a pair of wicked-looking horn protrusions on it. It was clear, the barbarians were far from being mere "savage warriors".

    They could understand how to apply tactics in battle. They could taunt the orcs using the orcs'' instincts. They could work together to create such an excellent, powerful shield line capable of holding against the much stronger orcs'' attacks.

    Braaakkkkkk!!!

    Again, Grahl and his battle wolf managed to break the barbarians'' formation, this time on the back side. Now, the shield wall formation had two holes.

    For a few seconds, voices could be heard from inside the wall, and within that time, their opponents were able to close up the gap quickly.

    Karra danced with her huge ives at the center of the enemy formation, each quick strike felled several of the enemy. Meanwhile, the other 200 orcs attacked in a wild iling, with neither tactics nor technique.

    Even though it was a very unfavorable situation for the orcs, Tristan could see how these orcs were still able to fight, against all odds, with their brute strength alone. While observing the fight, Tristan even saw an orc still able to fight with very little difficulty even though two spears were pierced through its torso.

    The orcs'' enthusiasm made Tristan even more tempted to join the battle right away. But he wouldn''t. Now was not the time, and their safety would be of utmost priority. Tristan stayed far in the back and kept on observing.

    After jumping away to catch his breath, the warchief returned with his battle wolf in tow, each of the animal''s steps leaving deep paw prints on the ground. In response, half a dozen men approached him.

    The men wore no armor, they merely had simple clothing covering their lower body. However, almost every inch of their skin was covered in blue tattoos.

    The men moved quickly, and Grahl''s charge was halted

    nk! nk!

    One of the men used a massive spear to stab the wolf, throwing Grahl on the ground.

    Grawl rolled away and jumped up, before immediately fighting the six warriors who surrounded him. The warchief held up his axe and swung hard to the side, removing one of the blue tattooed fighters'' heads. In response, the other five jumped closer together and muttered a chant Tristan could not hear, causing the tattoos on their skin to turn into glowing blue lines. Tristan stared at them and used his scanner to check their strength.

    [Human male]

    [Battle power 68]

    It appears these blue tattooed warriors each have a simr strength level to Borin. Thanks to the sudden increase of power, the barbarians were able to hold down the warchief this time.

    Tristan looked around and saw that the tattooed warriors were not just fast. Their movements seemed random, jerky, and unpredictable as if they were strung on strings, and they were scattered among the lines. Some fought with Karra and the other three orcs champions in the middle.

    Thanks to what he saw, Tristan became sure that this fight unfolding before his eyes was not a mere sh without thought between two parties. It was clear that the so-called barbarians employed a very calcted strategy.

    If he were in the position of the puppet master controlling the flow of the battle, he would have prepared a killing move to obliterate them in one fell swoop.

    Right as Tristan finished his thoughts, another horn can be heard echoing.

    Tooooeeeetttthhhh!!.

    It was the distinct sound of a war horning from a different direction from the first one. Tristan looked at the southern hill, where he heard the clopping of horses and the sounds of footsteps getting closer, and he saw another 200 barbarian reinforcements charging towards them from their right side.

 Chapter 58 - His Move

    What the barbarians did at the moment was definitely an excellent strategic maneuver to defeat the orcs. With this, they would be able to deal a decisive blow to the orcs without leaving a sliver of a chance for thetter to retreat or even run away as they were pincered by the former from two directions.

    The more than 200 recently arrived barbarians quickly charged towards Tristan and the orc''s from the south. They ran wildly, causing the ground to shake while also screaming their lungs out like madmen.

    Looking at their current state, Tristan couldn''t help but think they were indeed a bunch of madmen. Even so, the sight of hundreds of armored, muscr men still brought a cold chill down his back. He knew that the orcs would suffer greatly by this.

    Momentster, the barbarian''s ambush force reached the orcs. The sh between the two sides quickly killed dozens of Grunts that were fighting on the right side of the line.

    "Got"tha!! Chiwwiilkkk!"

    One of the Orc Champions that was fighting on the rightne was screaming as dozens of barbarian fighters, including some of the blue-tattooed warriors, surrounded him. Several different weapons wereing at him, all with the intent to send him to the afterlife.

    Tristan could see that the valiant orc didn''t scream out of chaos nor panic. None of those emotions. Rather, he screamed out a battle cry, one that was fully suffused with excitement. The orc screamed his lungs off as he swung the battle ax in his hand, as if now was the best moment of his life.

    Hence, Tristan could slowly see the right side of the line turning into a scene of massacre, a bloodbath. The Grunts on that sidepletely fell into a frenzied state while the barbarians were pretty much the same as well.

    Seeing this, at first Tristan was d that he did not join the fray right away. His logical and rational thinking saved him, preventing him fromnding in harm''s way. But on the other hand, he began to feel the inherent urge that gradually affected his judgement when he saw all the fights and blood across the battlefield.

    Initially, Tristan thought that the more death happened from each side, the more he would benefit from as there would be many more corpses he could absorb the Blood Essence from.

    However, a thought that suddenly shed into his mind changed Tristan''s decision. He believed that if he still didn''t do anything now, then when the orcs lost the battle, Tristan would fall into a dangerous situation.

    The thought was enough to make him, who was hesitant, surrender to his urge. So, without wasting any more time, Tristan immediately conducted his move.

    He took out the massive ymore out of his storage ring and called upon Borin. He instructed the captain guard to watch his back as the two of them dashed forward, darting toward the right side.

    Saatt!! Spatt!!

    Very quickly, Tristan joined the right side and began killing any barbarian who jumped inside the line. Borin also did what he was instructed to as he sent every barbarian who tried to attack Tristan from behind on their way to the afterlife.

    Most of these barbarian fighters who were armed to the teeth were weaker than the Grunts. Hence, Tristan had absolutely no trouble splitting them apart one by one.

    The duo were wreaking havoc through the battlefield, attracting the attention of the orcs and barbarians alike.

    Actually, this was Tristan''s first time being on a battlefield and participating in it. But somehow, he felt his body naturally move, following the flow of the battle as he cut down every barbarian that stood in his way.

    Blood sttered and pained screams scattered all over the battlefield, and of course, still being as careful as possible, Tristan kept his position around the middle of the line while continuing to kill every barbarian nearby.

    The reason he chose to hold wasn''t just because there were more orcs that could be his shield, but also because the middle part would help him better for casting his skill.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Clumps of red mist began to form from the corpses strewn around Tristan and they gradually converged towards him beforepletely absorbed into his arm.

    [Received 400 mixed blood cells]

    [50 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 150 mixed blood cells]

    [30 Blood Essences extracted]

    ¡­

    While continuing to maintain his act of shing and cutting down the barbarians, Tristan could see his Blood Essences reserve slowly increase. He was absorbing both the barbarians'' and orcs'' alike, which greatly increased the speed of his recovery.

    And even though he already got arge amount, there were still dozens of themying on the ground, untouched and waiting for him to take them in.

    This was exactly why he was here, the reason he agreed to help the orcs. Every life the orcs, the barbarians, and he took; every blood he drew from their corpses, giving him the highest level of excitement, one that he had never felt before.

    Tristan took a second here and there to see the battlefield and realized although he had been a great help, there wasn''t much more left of the orcs on the right side. It became worse when he saw the Orc Champion finally being brought down as its body thaty on the ground was pierced by multiple spears.

    Tristan then could see the blue-tattooed warriors that just took the Orc Champion''s life had finally decided to target him, who ran rampant killing the barbarians all this time.

    Seeing the group of strong men charging toward his direction somehow made Tristan hesitate, but at the same time, his confidence was renewed when a notification appeared in his mind.

    [Use 500 Blood Essences to regain your second stage strength?]

    "YES! Definitely! Hahahaha! Very good timing indeed!" shouted Tristan boisterously.

    [Battle Power increased by 50 points]

    [Your current battle power is 150]

    A deluge of energy arose and flowed through his veins as the long-lost strength came back to his being.

    Tristan shouted out loud in excitement as he dashed forward.

    "GET OVER HERE!!"

 Chapter 59 - Slaughter

    The situation turned chaotic as 600 greenskins and humans alike fought on the hills. Corpses piled up and intermingled on the ground, painting the grassynd red with fresh blood.

    The sharp smell of iron mixed with a symphony of shing des, apanied by battle cries and screams echoing all over the ins.

    It looks less like a battle, and more like a ughter. Everything looked so one-sided in favor of the humans 4 to 1, but one figure on the orcs'' side stood out from the rest, ughtering humans left and right to tip the battle in the orcs'' favor.

    A white-haired elf shed all around, decimating every single opponent who dared to stand against him. With each swing of his massive de, screams of agony followed.

    Said elf was not only faster and stronger than other opponents, he also held a superior weapon that could crush and cut its opponents easily.

    St!

    The de sliced the air, sending limbs flying and painting the clothes of those shing with shades of red before their corpses joined the sea of blood and flesh trampled beneath their feet.

    It was a bloodbath.

    None of the barbarians could hold a candle against the elf named Tristan. He kept on shing, each fallen enemy bing the fuel to set the mes of his excitement aze. In his trance, he was undefeatable.

    In the middle of this carnage, half a dozen blue tattooed warriors charged at him at the same time. With one coordinated movement, they jumped up and brought down their weapons, trying to overwhelm Tristan with sheer numbers.

    But Tristan was not himself, the excitement and urges mixed together and trapped him in a trance of madness and ughter.

    "Who wants to go first?!" He shouted with a wicked smile

    Right as the words left his mouth, Tristan shed to the right, splitting one of the blue-tattooed warriors right at the waist and left him to die with eyes wide open. Another was kicked hard enough to shatter bones and thrown like a ragdoll next to the fallen one.

    The other three tried again, this time they jumped to attack him from the back.

    Tristan let out a chilling, amusedugh in response.

    "Ah, such a ssic attack."

    Tristan was not fast enough to dodge all three of them, he chose and one of the attackers pierced his shoulder with their barbarian sword. As expected, the attack missed his vital organs.

    St! Blood sttered to the side of his opponent''s face and Tristan''s cheeks.

    The blue-tattooed warrior smiled in joy, seeing his efforts to hurt the elf had paid off and he managed to wound Tristan. But, the smile was wiped off his face the moment Tristan gripped his sword arm and squeezed it hard, until the cracking of shattered bones could be heard.

    Aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh!

    Tristan pulled out the sword and the blue-tattooed warrior with it, and mmed his opponent to the ground before stabbing the barbarian''s head with the weight of his massive sword.

    His scream was partly due to the pain, but the excitement overpowered him, making the pain invisible and showing the opponents a creepy grin sttered with blood instead.

    The other four previously fearless blue-tattooed warriors were shaken. They were unable to believe such a monstrous elf existed.

    They froze for a split second due to hesitation, but that time was enough to spell their doom. Tristan charged forward in the blink of an eye and swung down hisrge sword, bisecting another two warriors and left them to die with eyes wide open.

    Watching their powerful blue-tattooed warriors getting massacred one after another, the other barbarians started to unconsciously take a few steps back.

    The barbarians'' fear was the orcs'' excitement. The battle slowly but surely swung in their favor.

    Cchiiiwiilkkl!! Chwiiwiikk!!

    What was left of the green-skinned orcs on the right side started to get up and shout with renewed morale. Their strength seemed to return, and one after another, they started to push back against the shaken barbarians.

    Tristan was lost in the haze of his excitement, to the point he no longer cared about blood extraction.

    Kill¡­

    Kill¡­

    Kill more, ughter more, drink in the despair of his enemies.

    Tristan decided to move out to the center, where the female orc was busy fighting.

    With every step he took, one barbarian died beneath his feet, creating a trail of dead bodies with their faces trampled. After carving the path, Tristan saw a particr barbarian standing at the back of the lines, waiting while apanied by strong-looking barbarians.

    The barbarian wore metallic braiding on the chest, with chains made of gold adorning his shoulder.

    Tristan could clearly tell from the way the barbarian carried himself and the guards all around that he was their leader.

    Tristan shed a mischievous smile and used his sword to carve the way through the enemy''s shield wall, attempting to pave a way and ughter the leader to lower the barbarians'' morale.

    Saattt! Stttt!

    While Tristan was busy taking his time to ughter the enemies, a loud sound drew everyone''s attention, be it barbarians and orcs alike.

    Thhhooeeetttttt!

    Even with their difference inmunication, everyone could tell the horn was blown not tomence battle, but to retreat. The long, almost sorrowful vibration in the air was a cue for the barbarians to pull their weapons and retreat.

    Of course, the orcs and Tristan would not just let their enemies go that easily. Seeing no downside in chasing them, Tristan decided to dash towards the retreating enemies and cut them all down with the regard of someone mowing an overgrown, dirtywn.

    The cries of circling crows in the air and the color of blood mixing with the reddened skies of the setting sun marked the end of the first battle.

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 60 - Capture

    Grrrrrooolll!!! Chiiwwikk!!

    Retreating with the backs facing the enemy would always be the worst part of any battle. Not only would the enemy charge at the retreater like a lunatic as they could see the glorious win, those retreating would also be prone to letting go of all inhibitions as they could see the horrid defeat.

    Hence, it was known in almost any battle that such a particr move was exactly the time where the casualty number was the highest.

    In modern day on Earth, such a simr urrence would normally be followed with the winner giving a restrain and showing mercy.

    However, for Tristan and these green-skinned orcs, such a rule was pretty much nonexistent. Hence, the reason for the current sight.

    The hundreds of green-skinned Grunts were charging forward simultaneously as they made their way to run down the retreating barbarians. The Grunts in coboration with the Orc Champions were chasing the barbarians until they were all scattered around the battlefield, lost in the sea of corpses.

    As for Tristan, he decided to follow the orcs in their chase but directly aimed for the main prize. He ignored all the other barbarians and gave chase to the one who appeared to be their leader.

    That one figure was unassuming at a nce, but the figures around him made him conspicuous.

    Seeing several blue-tattooed warriors protecting him made Tristan confident in his decision to not let the man go.

    Tristan immediately went into gear and jumped to the air before hended right in front of the man. The man and his bodyguards were so surprised by his sudden arrival that they stopped in their tracks.

    Ignoring the hostile gazes that he received from the blue-tattooed warriors, Tristan locked his vision on the man''s face. And what he saw surprised him.

    Hiding behind such heavy armor and ornaments, the figure that he initially thought of as a man was actually a beauty. A brown-haired woman with attractive features; long curly eyshes, healthy red lips, and supple cheeks with freckles here and there.

    Seeing Tristan and realizing who he was, the woman shouted in anger, "You monster!! What are you?!"

    She drew her sword out and took her fighting stances, while the other three blue-tattooed warriors also brandished their own respective weapon. The gazes and demeanor that they were exuding showed they were ready to fight with Tristan.

    Tristan nced at the three blue-tattooed warriors and realized even though they appeared to be fierce, they were hesitating. They were afraid to fight him.

    Well, that was to be expected. After all, Tristan''s current appearance was truly intimidating.

    His entire body from top to bottom was stained with red that left no spot untouched, causing him to look like an incarnation of the devil. Even the sword in his hand was still dripping blood.

    Oblivious to his current look, Tristan gave a smile to the attractive woman as he calmly started to circle the group.

    The blue tattoos these people had, began to glow as a sign that their boosters were ready to be used at any time. Furthermore, Tristan could see that the woman also had the identical markings on her neck and cheek, which probably meant that she was also using a simr skill.

    "Attackk!!" the woman shouted fiercely as she dashed forward first, beating her bodyguards.

    But before even one step could be taken, one of the blue-tattooed warriors beside her was pierced by a huge sword that was flying out of nowhere and immediately died where he stood.

    Unexpectedly, the sudden attack did not even cause a flinch in this group of people. Instead the woman and the other two warriors became even more courageous. They thought their target to be less threatening when he lost his weapon. Hence, they sped up.

    s, the difference of strength between the two parties was too far apart.

    Tristan easily dodged the lunge the woman sent to him by shifting his body slightly to the left, causing the attack topletely miss its target. And before she could recover her position, hended a strong blow on her back.

    As for the other two, their fate was even more miserable as they didn''t even have a chance tounch an attack because Tristan dashed and sent them flying backwards with a punch to the guts.

    BAM! BAM! BAM!

    The three people were knocked down to the ground, but they quickly got up to their feet and continued their assault towards Tristan.

    Seeing this, Tristan smiled as this was exactly what he wanted. He has been wanting to test the unarmed skill using his newfound strength.

    BAM! BAM! BAM!

    Loud, percussive-like sounds resounded through the air as the woman and blue-tattooed barbarians were beat up by the unarmed Tristan.

    A series of dodging, followed by the counterblow; none of them managed to touch Tristan, not with his current battle power. Tristan weaved around the three people, shifting his position every so often while continuing to send attacks of his own.

    BAM! BAM! Crack!

    When Tristan starts using his full strength the sounds of bones cracking was heard among his punches. Three of them now were seen on thest of their breath

    "The battle is over. Just give up already."

    Tristan said as he looked at the woman kneeling on the ground. He could see the desperation and frustration in her eyes, but strangely, she still refused to give up. The other two people were also pretty much the same.

    "Brave and honorable indeed... But to continue to fight when there is no hope, that is just in stupid."

    Tristan already felt bored ying with them. Therefore, he decided to end this.

    When the three people sent another round of attack to him, Tristan grabbed the two warriors by the neck, each in one of his hands, and headbutt the woman down.

    [Fire Touch]

    zing me materialized on Tristan''s hands, and immediately, it spreaded to the two blue-tattooed warriors. Pained screams were heard as they burned from their neck to their entire bodies. In the end, what was left from them was two ckened bodies.

    Seeing this gruesome sight slowly happening in front of her, the woman finally lost all hope as she let go of the sword in her hand.

    "Kill me." she said.

    Tristan tossed the two bodies aside like throwing out trash and approached the woman.

    "Kill you? ...No, no, no.. I have a different n for you. You, you will teach me everything about your people."

    The woman didn''t flinch, she spat on the ground and said, "Never!"

    Tristan''s smile became even wider when he heard that. He then said with a joking tone, "I am afraid I can be a bit too hard to resist, woman."

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, Battle Power 56]

    [Blood Seal would take 250 Blood Essences to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes¡­ proceed."

    A familiar red mist began toe out of Tristan and entered the woman''s body. She quickly became shocked as she saw all of this happening.

    [You have a sessful Blood Seal]

    [250 Blood Essences used]

    Now, Tristan had another assistant to help him. Though thinking about this, his mind suddenly wandered to Borin, wondering what kind of fate had befell him.

    "Hmm.. I do hope he''s alright.. After all, that''s 200 Blood Essences wasted."

    -------------

    Dear Blood Elf Monarch readers,

    Thank you for taking the time to read the novel up to this chapter. I am pleased to announce that with the novel being part of the Spiritypetition,it was contracted by WebNovel. With the contractes premium chapters that will start from the next chapter. This would mean coins or fast passes to unlock chapters. But it also means that I would put my heart and effort into this novel with better content and a faster release rate.

    If you are a reader of my other novels you would know that I take my writing seriously and would never stop a story until its ending.

    I hope you all are enjoying this novel and are trusting me as the author to give the best experience for you.

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    Your Sincerely, Avans

 Chapter 61 - Feast

    The battle was finally over, with the conclusion of the barbarians''plete defeat.

    Chiwwilkkk!!! Chiwwikll! Chiwwikkl!!

    The surviving green-skinned orcs were shouting their lungs out, roaring their battle cries to the skies, as they celebrated the victory of today''s battle. From the mor and raucousing from them, one could tell they were extremely ecstatic about their victory.

    Tristan returned to the line with a figure following right behind him, his newest addition to his collection of blood puppets, the barbarian woman.

    Some of the orcs watched Tristan with weird gazes when they saw the enemy unexpectedly following calmly behind him, but most of them did not really care. Otherwise, they wouldn''t be shouting like maniacs at the moment.

    They had seen what Tristan did in the battle, and his prowess were worthy of their admiration. Hence, they began chanting his name, in their ownnguage.

    "Golug!! Golug!! Golug!!"

    Tristan didn''t know how to receive such a treatment, therefore he could only stand there and nod his head around. Karra walked over to him and saw his reaction to the chanting.

    "That''s the ck speech¡­ It means ''worthy elf''.. You deserve it, warrior." she said.

    "Golug!! Golug!! Golug!!"

    Tristan was about to say something when something suddenly happened.

    Another shout could be heard from out of nowhere, one that was deeper and more aggressive. Throwing his gaze over to the source, he found that this time the shout came from Grawl, the Orc Warchief.

    The loud shout caught the attention of everyone, causing the excited orcs to stop their craziness.

    Then, with just a few words from the warchief, the surviving Grunts began to disperse while dozens of Gretchin came out of the fort to check out the bodies scattered on the ground. They started to scour the entire battlefield, killing the surviving barbarians and carrying back the wounded orcs.

    While Tristan was enjoying his time watching those Gretchin doing their jobs, Grawl the Orc Warchief walked towards him and said some words, which once again he couldn''t understand.

    "Kha zug! Great Thu Kad!! warrior!"

    After taking a few moments to digest the words, he finally got the gist of it.

    The warchief apparently came to give his admiration and respect to Tristan, for the deeds and contribution in the battle earlier. This made him think that these orcs were quite a simple race. They were straightforward, liked to fight, and respected the strong.

    A momentter, Tristan saw a group of peoplee out of the fort, and one of them in particr was rushing towards him. It was his sister and the others.

    "Tris!" shouted La loudly as she sped up her run. "You look like a mess! Are you hurt?! Where can I heal you?!" said La as she spun Tristan''s body left and right, trying to see if there were any wounds on it.

    Tristan let out a gentle smile seeing the concern his sister showed to him. He began to check out his body, which waspletely covered in blood, and was d when he saw his pierced shoulder had started to heal up by itself.

    It was apparent that he had to put the word ''high regeneration rate'' as part of his body''s special power. Knowing that his body was alright, Tristan stopped La who still continued to spin his body around and said,

    "Don''t worry about me, sis. I''m fine. In fact, I think I only need a shower and I''ll be as good as before." said Tristan with a smile. "Honestly, you guys better find Borin as I have no idea where he is right now."

    s, La didn''t even have the chance to do so as Seth shouted at the same time Tristan finished saying that.

    "Borin''s here!"

    Tristan approached Seth and saw the man was carrying the unconscious Borin. It appeared that the guy was fine and was just knocked out during all the chaos. Hence, Seth, with the help of Barry carried him back to the fort.

    "Brother, this one is?" asked La when she realized there was a woman standing right behind Tristan. She was curious about who she was.

    Tristan didn''t know what to answer his sister. Hence, he turned around and asked, "What''s your name?"

    The barbarian woman opened her mouth and answered calmly, "My name is Astrid."

    Tristan quickly returned to his sister and said, "Alright, she''s Astrid." La rolled her eyes at her brother''s antics, but what Tristan said next surprised her.

    "Astrid, for now you will follow thisdy. Her name is La." The barbarian woman, Astrid, nodded her head at Tristan''s words.

    Seeing the familiar scene, all the people who apanied Tristan knew what he did to the woman, and that still made them amazed and scared at the same time. Well, all of them except Herrera, who was frowning as she looked at the beautiful brown-haired woman.

    Noticing the looks they were giving him, Tristan waved his hand and said, "You all should leave. Do what you have to do. I still have something to do here." added Tristan as he walked away from the group towards the battlefield.

    The thing that Tristan needed to do was none other than extracting Blood Essences from hundreds of corpses that nketed the ground.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Tristan continued to walk around the battlefield while he kept activating his skill. As a result, clumps of red mist could be seen swirling in the air and following his figure before they were absorbed into his arm.

    [Received 700 mixed blood cells]

    [90 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 280 mixed blood cells]

    [42 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 450 mixed blood cells]

    ¡­

    It was a sumptuous feast for Tristan.

    He could clearly feel his body''s needs were fulfilled with every Blood Essence he absorbed.

    The battle between the barbarians and the orcs took many lives from both sides, with a staggering number of 300 from the former while an ample 112 of thetter. From them, Tristan received more than 2000 Blood Essences in total.

    The blue-tattooed warriors gave him around 50 Blood Essences each, while a corpse of Orc Champion yielded 90 Blood Essences for him. All in all, the system enumerated all the Blood Essences he had extracted and showed him the total number in his mind.

    [Blood Essence : 2102]

    That seemed to be afortable number for him, one that would allow him to rx for quite some time. Thus, Tristan walked back to the fort with a wide grin stered on his face.

    -

    Just when Tristan thought that the enemy had been defeated and the job was done, a piece of information from Astridpletely obliterated that idea out of existence.

    Apparently, the female barbarian was just one of the many captains under the leadership of an Earl.

    Tristan was not surprised that there were more barbariansing, but what he didn''t expect was that there were so many others beside her.

    "Five Earls decided toe and join the battle this year, and there were more than 20,000 warriors that epted the call."

    Hearing this information, Barry''s face immediately turned pale.

    "This is no raid! This is an invasion!" said Barry loudly. "And with that number, their target must be Arcadia!"

 Chapter 62 - Decision

    Night had fallen, thest rays of twilight disappearing after they reached the fort. Though everyone was exhausted, the atmosphere was lively. They had won a battle and survived another day, and that was a cause for celebration.

    Tristan did not believe that the green creatures would be able to understand the idea of having fun, but his doubts were instantly dashed the moment the orcs opened up barrels of drinks. Right as the barrels were cracked open, the sweet smell of fermented fruits filled the air.

    "Mead!" Shouted the orc, while waving for the others to partake.

    Tristan watched them celebrate from afar and gave a wry smile. It appears mead is the only one non oguage word they could say. A testament of how much they loved drinking. From the various foods served atop several rows of rotting wooden crates, it seems that they had simr tastes of food to humans. Stewed and grilled meat put on makeshift skewers filled the ce, though, from the odd smell, Tristan doubted the freshness of the ingredients.

    Aside from partaking in food and drinks, fighting seemed to be an eptable pastime for the green-skinned orcs, and brawls almost every hour was a normal urrence. The losing side mighte out losing a few teeth and sometimes an eye, while the winner would get loud cheers and extra drinks, but the fight would always be finished with a toast and a friendly chat.

    However, in contrast to the cheerful celebrations, the elf and the group of humans were frowning. It seems that something bad had happened.

    First, they were unable to find joy knowing there were 20.000 other angry barbarians out there on the chaotic ins.

    Secondly, from Astrid''s information, they now knew the nearest barbarian post from them was merely a day away. Worse, the post seems to be filled with thousands of warriors ready to even out the score. Considering the situation, Astrid believed that another attack, a much bigger one, would arrive within the span of two or three days.

    Third, the worst news of all. The ship Tristan came here with, decided to dupe them, and left the port during themotion of the ongoing battle. Thanks to this deed, Tristan''s already sour mood worsened, and his mind was filled with thoughts on how to torture the captain when he found themter.

    Last but not least, even with all the information pointing the odds were against them, Grawl the warchief didn''t seem afraid. The reports Tristan gave him were merely met with a smirk and a challenge. "Let theme."

    Indeed, the warchief really has the strength and courage to lead. The ferocity he disyed was like a lion defending its pride, and he threw enemies around with the strength of an enraged giant. But unfortunately it was packed with the small brain of a one year old.

    Yesterday''s fight made the orcs lose half of their fighting force, but now they were celebrating willy-nilly, without regard let alone any worry for their lives tomorrow.

    Thanks to the current situation, Tristan was backed into a corner, and for now, there were no good options. Tristan turned to look at the others and whispered.

    "We will leave tomorrow." Tristan sighed. "There is no other way, and considering the situation, braving the orc ins would be better than being sitting ducks here with these idiots."

    As usual, Seth was the fastest one to agree when ites to shirking work, but unlike before, the others quickly agreed with him.

    "That settles it then," Tristan concluded.

    They decided to retire to their rooms early and woke up at first light to pack up. Right as they were about to leave, the Rugrats and female orc Karra showed up, trying to convince them once more. While Tristan could feel the orcs'' desperation and La''s pity to them, no amount of pleading and cute stares from the orcs, and no amount of coins, was worth risking their lives.

    They walked out of the fort towards the north, nning to return to Arcadia as soon as they could.

    Unfortunately, in the middle of their journey, he saw dozens of figures approaching from afar.

    Tristan used his enhanced senses right then and shook his head.

    "Dammit, of course it''s more bad news!"

    The figures he saw were all green-skinned orcs approaching where they stood. Even from here, Tristan could see that a few dozen of them seemed to be suffering from wounds, and some even lost a limb or two.

    As Tristan feared, it appears the orcs came from a camp in the north of the fort. Considering the situation, most likely they were attacked by the barbarians yesterday as well, and they were not as lucky.

    To be sure of their current predicament, Tristan decided to check out the location of nearby camps with the new information from theing orcs. And the result is, they were surrounded.

    "Dammit!! Fuck! Fuck!"

    Realizing how grave their situation was, Tristan quickly racked his mind for ideas they could use to escape with their lives.

    Remembering what Barry did a few days ago, Tristan asked him. "Hey, Barry, what is the situation regarding the reinforcement from the mayor? Can''t you just tell him to send us a boat immediately?"

    "Sir, Actually once we told them our condition, the Mayor was no longer contactable, I am still patiently waiting for the reply"

    "Fuck. This is fucking great!" Not giving up, Tristan came up with another solution. "Barry what are the chances they would let a few humans and an elf pass through unharmed, I mean they surely were just chasing the orcs."

    Barry shook his head and exined there is a little chance they would let humans pass, but these barbarians actually hated elves the most. Something about how elves were invaders of humanity and must be killed on sight, Astrid''s resigned sigh only confirmed it.

    "¡­"

    ----------------------------------

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    Check out our website https://bit.ly/avansweb

 Chapter 63 - Feud

    The barbarian tribes had been at war with the Arcadians for so long that one would have to check the books to remember when it started. The history and feud between the two different parties could be traced up to 4000 years ago.

    Separated by the Great Sea, the Arcadians were established on the West, while the barbarian tribes were situated on the East.

    The onlynd that connected the two was the Chaotic ins, which was located down south.

    The orcs had infested and upied most of thend on the south, the only way for the barbarians to fight the Arcadians was by the sea, which was no small matter.

    Even though the barbarians were great seamen, with the limited transportation methods they had, coupled by the unpredictable sea with its violent waves and terrible storms, it had proved to be difficult for them tounch a massive invasion sessfully. This fact was further strengthened by so many failures they attained throughout the river of time.

    In time, the barbarians had also opted for a different path. Attempting to eradicate the orcs that popted the Chaotic ins. If they managed to aplish this arduous task, then the path to thend of Arcadians would be cleared, and it would allow them to freelyunch invasion at any time.

    s, that was if it happened.

    When the barbarians were about to seed their endeavor, the Arcadians would always appear at the critical moment and join the fray to help the losing orcs. Hence, they failed the campaigns.

    The Arcadians'' help was obviously to keep the barbarians stuck on their own territory, to stay across the sea.

    This kind of hostility had been going on for so long, but no peace had ever been created between the two. That was mainly because just like the orcs, these barbarians loved to fight.

    These barbarian tribes were fighting and waging wars for one purpose, to answer the call of their forefather. In their culture and belief, it was considered as a great honor to join the cause and die on the battlefield.

    "Fucking bunch of lunatics!" cursed Tristan loudly as he bumped his fist to the wall of the house Karra provided for them.

    "Fucking hell! These kinds of people are the hardest type to deal with!" raged Trison after he had extracted all the valuable information that Astrid held.

    Hearing the story made Tristan understand more about the situation, as if the fog of war was cleared in front of his eyes, allowing him to see the crux of the matter.

    This was probably the reason why the mayor would send help and why the orcs could trust humans to help them in their fight against barbarians. This was all because it already happened too many times before, and it would continue to do so.

    It also seemed to be the reason why there hadn''t been any real war against the orcs, even though the Arcadians hated the orcs as well. Sure, there were some skirmishes here and there, but none of them could be counted as war.

    This situation made Tristan recall one famous saying from Earth.

    The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

    For Tristan and the group, their situation remained the same after the battle. They were currently stuck within the fort until it was rundown by the barbarians or until the promised reinforcement came to help. Either way, they could only wait for now.

    "What should we do, Tris?" From her tone, Tristan could tell La was extremely worried.

    "We will find a way, sis. Don''t worry." replied Tristan in his attempt to calm her down.

    At the same time, his brain was running at full capacity, trying to think of ways to deal with the problems at hand.

    Tristan was never the type that would ce his faith upon someone else. That was the case back on Earth, and he nned to do the same here as well.

    He would not pin his hope on the iing reinforcement. Hence, he would need to prepare the others for the next battle.

    From the information he pried from Astrid, the next attack woulde with a number that was many times the previous one. But that didn''t mean that the barbarians would storm the fort with their entire forces.

    She believed that an orc fort with less than 200 fighters in it would only get the attention of two or three captains at most. And with each captain squad numbered around eight hundred to one thousand warriors, that was around one to three thousand barbarians.

    That was an astonishing enemy size and the reason why Tristan cursed so loud earlier.

    Fortunately, Astrid leaked a lot of valuable information about the barbarian troops. She gave a convincing reason, even details on which tribe and which captain would be deployed to the fort Tristan and the others were currently stationed.

    Astrid also imed that she was one of the brightest strategists of the tribe, which literally meant she got a high ess to information. Hence, her confidence in the uracy of her statement.

    Seeing the brown-haired woman, Tristan was secretly very impressed. Not towards the woman, but to his [Blood Seal] skill.

    He still remembered the hateful look the woman had as she saw her two men roasted to death. And here she was, energetically blurting out valuable info about her people with each passing second.

    "This is what a freakin'' OP skill should be. An overpowered one indeed." Tristan thought to himself while nodding his head at thetter.

    Now that he already knew what they would be dealing with, next was to make the best preparation to wee their iing guests.

    First, just to be sure about it, Tristan told Astrid to return to her people, to the enemy camp. He wanted to know the exact number and time of the next attack. Receiving Tristan''s instruction, Astrid nodded and quickly left to be on her way.

    Other than to affirm the intels, Tristan actually wanted to know the extent of his skill as well.

    Would his influence over the woman waver when she was far away from him? That was what he wanted to know. Hence, her return or disappearance would clear Tristan''s curiosity.

    Next, Tristan went and came to Karra as he wanted to know the number of their current forces; those who survived the previous battle and also the ones that just joined from the other tribes.

    [Gretchin : 68]

    [Grunts : 147]

    [Champion : 2]

    These are a very sad numbers. With the death of the grunts and one to the orc champion, They were only two thirds of their previous force. While the enemy woulde in three or even five times the previous number. This meant that the orcs would be fighting a 10 to 1 battle, and that was not a good thing.

    Therefore, Tristan decided that things needed to change. First, was the fort defence. It would be very stupid for him to not take advantage of defence the fort walls provided and attack the barbarians from behind them.

    Tristan remembered some parts of them that would need to be fixed and most importantly the gate''s mechanism that was inoperable.

    He noted that point in his mind as there was not much reason in defending behind the walls if the gate was unable to close and was left wide open.

    Tristan asked if anyone from the group had any idea on how to fix the gate''s broken mechanism. Unfortunately, his question was only answered by shaking heads as none of them had the necessary skill.

    Tristan then turned over to Karra, looking at her before throwing his gaze somewhere again. He was pretty sure the orcs had no idea how. Otherwise, they would have fixed it already.

    Unexpectedly, Karra had a solution to the matter.

    "Follow me" said the female orcs

    Even though unconvinced, Tristan still followed her as they went inside the keep and walked on the stairs that went downwards. They walked past the smelly and dirty dark ground when they suddenly heard a heavy voice echoing the hallway.

    "You!! Who''s there!! Anyone!?"

    Before Tristan could ask, Karra apparently took him towards the voice. When they arrived, he finally realized that this particr part of the dungeon was the ce where they held prisoners. In short, a prison.

    When Tristan approached one of the cells where he could hear the voiceing from, he saw three short figures with huge heads andrge beards. Their appearance reminded him of one race that would always be mentioned in fantasy-themed books, the dwarf.

    One of them looked at Tristan directly in the eye and said,

    "An elf?! Help! Please! Put some sense to those crazy greenskins! Let us go! We will be forever grateful "

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 64 - Dwarves

    This was the first time Tristan saw a dwarf up-close. The only other he ever saw was a certain famous actor in a certain movie about a throne.

    The dwarves locked up in front of them was something else to say the least. They have an average height of four feet, with stout and broad bodies, and thick facial hair.

    "So, are you going to release us, or what?" The dwarf with a red beard asked in a grumpy voice. The other dwarf who spoke to Tristan before quickly stopped his friend from speaking any further by shushing him.

    "Please pardon my colleague''s behavior; he has a reputation for always being grumpy, nothing personal. Let me introduce myself, I am Bifur, and this is Bofur." The dwarf gestured to the red-bearded dwarf with his chin. "We are dwarves from the Ashenforge n."

    Tristan nced at the third dwarf who remained silent. The older look white-bearded dwarf did not even acknowledge his stare.

    "That is our master, Belot, and we are both his apprentices. If you have something to discuss, we will speak on his behalf."

    From what he and the group had gathered so far, the dwarves are known for being a crafty race deft at metallurgy and architecture. Tristan decided not to beat around the bush and asked for help to fix their ruined fort.

    "That sounds like something we could do¡­" Bifur mumbled.

    Tristan was about to sigh in relief, but then the white-bearded dwarf, who had been silent so far during the entire exchange, started to speak up.

    "No. We will not help them"

    Bifur was startled, he turned to look at the white-bearded dwarf and trying to convince him to at least consider the proposal.

    The grumpy dwarf shook his head and said. "Hah! If the master says no, we should follow, Bifur!"

    Apparently, nothing is ever going to be smooth and easy for Tristan. He decided to go for the negotiation route with the most obvious bargaining chip, their freedom.

    "Alright, if you fix the forts, I will definitely release you."

    Tristan saw the white beard seemed to shake his head a little which made the red beard spat at the ground. "Bah! We cannot trust you! Elves are full of trickery!"

    Tristan narrowed his eyes. It seems that the red-bearded dwarf kept testing his patience for no reason. But, he decided against letting his anger known and tried to find another way.

    Persuasion is one of the other fortes that Tristan learned in his years of extra studies or else he would already have died, being one of the youngest and weakest in the prison.

    He gestured to Karra and said

    "Open up, let them go outside"

    She looked at the orcs, and a few grunts came to take them away still in chains, but the decision made the dwarf a little worried

    "What are you trying to do elf!! I tell you it wont work! We are not afraid to die!"

    Tristan led the orcs and dwarves to the main gate. Surprisingly when everyone thought they would be hurt, instead Tristan told the orcs to take off the chains binding the dwarves"

    "Ok freedom is that way. I only need one of you to help fix the fort, the other two can go"

    The dwarves were startled

    "Also I promise the one who stays, only needs to help for a few days. Three days top"

    While the dwarves were still confused, Tristan added with a troubled expression and a long sigh.

    "I also wish to reward the one who stays, unfortunately, we have nothing much to give, but at least we can assure your safety from the barbarians"

    "!!!.. barbarians?"

    "Oohh yes.. did I forget to mention that there was a barbarian invasion going on right now?, you see we just lost hundreds of our friends yesterday, from the warmonger barbarians. Hence the need to fix the fort"

    Hearing it the three dwarfs started to panic and debate among themselves.

    Tristan smirked secretly. First he let the prisoner have a taste of freedom, with the open air after days of being stuck in the dark dungeon should give them a positive reaction. At least, that was what Tristan experienced during his time in prison.

    Second he showed his generous offer while giving them the right incentive which at this moment is fear.

    Although Tristan was not 100% sure it would work, if it doesn''t, he was prepared to resort using violence or even using the blood seal skill to manipte one of the dwarves into doing his bidding. But if at all possible, he would rather not have to waste his limited blood essence.

    But the way it looks, Tristan believes they would agree in fact he would get all three to work for free.

    The master seemed to really consider the offer, and the three of them were about to say their decision. But right as they opened their mouths, a loud shout could be heard from the back.

    "Golug! Az nok!"

    Tristan turned around to look at the source of the noise, and saw the warchief with a few of the warrior orcs standing behind him.

    From the looks of it, the chief and Karra were having a heated debate.

    After a while, the female orc approached Tristan "The chief doesn''t agree with your release of the dwarves"

    "What the hell?! Why?"

    Karra shook her head. "He wouldn''t say the reason, he just disagrees"

    "Fuck! Can you tell him that I did this for them?! This is for our mutual survival"

    The female orc once more had a debate with the warchief and Tristan could see the huge greenskin only turn more irritated.

    Karra was frowning and she said. "I believe the chief just doesn''t like how you are acting as if you are the leader of the camp"

    It was Tristan''s turn to be irritated, at a moment like this the foolish orc worried about such a thing. "Dammit! your leader will be the death of us"

    Karra on the other hand replied with a smile "If you can do better. Maybe you should be our leader then.!"

    Hearing that. Tristan confidently said.

    "Hell Yes!, maybe I should"

 Chapter 65 - Duel

    In reality, the most important factor for a sessful n was good leadership.

    No matter how much preparation or how big of an army one had, without proper leadership and chain ofmand its loss would be imminent if not guaranteed.

    What was the point of fixing the gate if the orcs wouldter decide to just charge out to the enemy like before. Hence, there was no point in defending the fort with only thepanions Tristan had right now. With the measly number of people he had, it was akin to throwing a small pebble into the vast ocean.

    Thus, when the female orc gave him the idea, Tristan confidently epted it.

    Right after, the situation quickly escted. The orcs in the surroundings were fired up while the warchief who stood a few meters from Tristan eyed him with an intense gaze.

    Tristan knew what one had to do when they challenged the leadership of an orc. It has nothing to do with democracy, It was all decided by the fists.

    Tristan''spanions and the dwarves were being sidelined and guarded by a few orcs so they wouldn''t be able to help him. Meanwhile, all the remaining orcs of the camp formed a circle, creating an open area where Tristan and Ghral could face and fight each other to their heart''s content.

    The orc warchief Ghral roared, screaming out what sounded to be cursing words. Then he took off his armor, tore up the piece of fabric that covered his body, before proceeding to spit on both of his palms and turned them into fists.

    His green-colored skin, massive frame, bulging muscles, and the roar earlier made him look intimidating, and his current appearance reminded Tristan of a certain character in a certain hero movie.

    Tristan realized something from the warchief''s demeanor and confirmed it with Karra. Apparently, this kind of battle was typically an unarmed one, but he was allowed to use a weapon if he was afraid he would lose.

    This setting surely made things more difficult for Tristan, but he wasn''t afraid. He took off his upper clothes and followed the chief''s example by also spitting on his palms.

    Tristan''s action unexpectedly made the orcs agitated as their excited cheers resounded through the air. Karra then stepped aside from the arena, which marked the start of the duel.

    [Orc, Warchief]

    [Battle Power 128]

    Tristan rechecked his opponent''s battle power for assurance purposes. Seeing that he was 22 points higher than his opponent increased his confidence on facing the green bulk of muscle standing several meters away.

    "This can''t be too difficult, can it?" Tristan thought to himself as he took his stance.

    At the same time, Ghral made his move.

    He dashed towards Tristan with his two arms opened, ready to give a ''warm hug'' to start off the duel.

    Seeing such a massive figureing towards him, while his every step made the ground tremble violently, would surely make any sane human move out of the way; and dodging was just what Tristan did.

    There was no way in hell that Tristan wished to wrestle against such monstrosity.

    Swissshh! Swiissshh! Faint sounds of air being cut through were heard as Tristan swiftly sidestepped the charging figure.

    The man definitely had a higher speed than the orc, and it would be stupid for him if he didn''t take advantage of any edge he had over thetter.

    Tristan perfectly dodged the charge as the orc''s figure went past his vision. With his dominance in mobility, he would be fine as long as he didn''t miss a step. s, Ghral was still not finished yet.

    The charging orc miraculously stopped in his tracks, turned around, and did another round of dash towards Tristan.

    Seeing how impable the orc did his maneuver, Tristan realized that things would not change if he didn''t do anything. Hence, he decided to go for the offense this time.

    This time, the moment the orc slipped past him, Tristan threw his fist to the orc.

    Bammm!!! A loud sound was heard as Tristan''s blow directlynded itself onto Ghral''s body, just right above his waist.

    But to Tristan''s surprise, he discovered that the orc warchief had such a thick and hard skin that his punch left no visible effect on it. Sure, the orc growled as a sign of pain, but he didn''t think his punch earlier did much to the former.

    When Ghral''s tworge hands once again tried to grab him who still in momentum due to the aftermath of the blow, Tristan swiftly made another maneuver. He circled around the massive body of the orc and arrived at the back of the creature.

    Bammm!! Bammm!! Bammm!!

    A train of heavy punches reached the orc''s wide-open back, enough to make him growling and drop to his knee.

    Tristan quickly pursued the lead as he sent a kick to the back of the orc warchief. But surprisingly, Ghral managed to predict his move even without looking.

    The orc grabbed Tristan''s feet that headed for his back, sessfully locked it. He then leveraged it upwards, sending Tristan''s body smashing to the ground.

    Baaammm!!!

    The impact was so hard that it caused Tristan to bleed out of his mouth.

    A stomp wasing from Ghral to finish the deed, but Tristan quickly used all the strength he could muster to rotate his body and jerk his leg to free himself from the orc''s grasp. Immediately after, Tristan rolled away while quickly getting up to his feet again.

    "What the fuck!? He''s much stronger than I thought!" cursed Tristan as he eyed Ghral.

    Tristan then tried to use a function of the system he once used and it seeded

    [Analyze target''s body..]

    [Battle Power 128]

    [Strength 140]

    [Speed 86]

    [Defense 158]

    From the stats the system showed to him, it was apparent that the main attribute of Ghral was his defense. Looking at the staggering 158 points, Tristan began to regret his decision not to use weapons.

    With such a bulky and powerful defense, how could he defeat the monstrosity before him?

    Tristan worked his brain to its utmost capacity while he continued to dodge Ghral''s assault on him.

    Dozens of dodgester, Tristan''s mind somehownded on a concept that he once learnt at school back on Earth, one that could possibly help him in this situation. Left without any other idea, he decided to carry out the n in his mind. Otherwise, he had lost the duel.

    When Ghral went to charge at him once again, this time, instead of purely dodging the speedy figure, Tristan went ahead and grabbed the orc''s arm while also sending a kick towards his leg. He used the momentum and weight of the orc to send it to the ground.

    Afterwards, Tristan used his feet and two arms'' strength to break the joint of the orc''s arm he was holding.

    Craackk! Crisp, crackling sound was heard, signifying that the deed was aplished.

    "That should do it!" Tristan thought as he backed away from the grimacing orc. He was scared that thetter would attack him in desperate fashion. Hence, he retreated.

    The knocked down orc slowly got up, and Tristan could see one of his arms was dangling around, proof that it was broken.

    Tristan smiled and wanted to do the deed again as he could see the n was working. s, he was startled when Ghral suddenly roared his lung out and his muscles seemed to contract.

    His eyes swiftly turned red as he shouted the orc words that the system tranted as [Berserker Rage].

    Ghral casually grabbed his broken arm with his other, and snapped it back to its initial ce. Tristan was shocked to see the dangling lower part connected to the upper part as if nothing happened. And then, he realized that Ghral''s battle power was slowly rising.

    An incredulous thought popped into his mind.

    "Dammit! Orcs have skills as well?!"

 Chapter 66 - Battle Skill

    [Berserker Rage]

    [Battle power 158]

    Tristan could not believe the number that he was currently seeing, he even double analyzed it just to be sure, and apparently, the number was not wrong.

    All three of the orc''s attributes just increased by a whopping 30 points. This meant that Ghral now had higher battle power than Tristan and he had lost his only edge.

    Seeing Ghraling at him, Tristan once again tried to outmaneuver the orc. But thetter, who previously couldn''t touch the former, managed to keep up and began sending blow after blow.

    Bammm!!

    Bammm!!

    Bammm!!

    The fight suddenly made a sudden turn. All the orc punches managed tond on Tristan''s body. The heavy punches were so powerful that it was able to make him stagger.

    Tristan tried his best to parry and dodge Ghral''s assault, but more of those heavy punches kepting before he could do anything.

    The sound of Tristan''s bones cracking and blood sttering with each punch made all who watched amazed, because none of them would be able to stand after receiving even one of those heavy punches.

    Seeing Tristan being thrashed by the orc warchief, his group ofpanions began to be concerned. Especially La, who was shouting her worry out.

    "Dodge!! Punch back!! What the fuck are you doing Tris?!! Fight back!!"

    The current spectacle, obviously, brought cheers to all the orcs. Seeing the strength of their chief as he overwhelmed Tristan truly excited them, to the point that it almost brought them into frenzy.

    "Chiiwiiikkk!! Cwhiwikkk!!"

    After a dozen barrages of heavy punches, Tristan was finally able to stop one and countered it with a headbutt.

    Baaammm!!! The two figures were separated as the momentum forced them to take a few steps back.

    Tristan wiped the blood that dripped from his mouth while staring at the orc warchief.

    Although the number of their battle power was not that far apart, now that Tristan finally fought someone with simr strength like him, it all came down to techniques and fighting experience. And it was clear that his brawling years in prison could not match the orc''s years of battle experience.

    At a moment like this he really wished he had learned any real martial arts. Karate, taekwondo, judo, or even boxing would do. Unfortunately, he never learned any of those things back on Earth.

    Tristan had no real techniques, but he did have plenty of experience with being beaten to a pulp. Therefore, this kind of situation where he was getting beaten relentlessly and endlessly was nothing new to him. The difference this time was his new Elf body.

    He could clearly feel the pain wrecking all over his body, but somehow his strength never dwindled. It is as if his body was able to absorb all the damage from the punches. That''s why he could still stand even after receiving all those heavy punches. In fact, throughout the beating, Tristan took the time to learn and get used to his opponent.

    After a while, Tristan started to get used to the orc''s fighting style. He began to be able to follow the orc''s movement, which leads to more sessful dodges and counterattacks.

    Baaammm!!!

    A sudden, direct counter punch to his stomach made Ghral move a few steps backwards. It also signified the end of the next barrage of punches, giving Tristan some room to breath.

    With his bloodied body, Tristan stood there and gave a wicked smile to Ghral.

    "Is that all you got? Hahaha! Come! Give me some more and let me give you some too!"

    The sight of Tristan being entirely covered with his own blood but still managing to provoke their chief made the crowds of orcs fall into madness. This kind of disy was exactly the kind that made the orcs'' blood boil.

    "Ghrall!! Grahll!! Grahll!!"

    "Golug!! Golug!! Golug!!"

    Now, the orcs were not only just chanting their warchief''s name, but also Tristan''s nickname; Golug the worthy elf.

    Realizing that his subordinates were cheering the puny figure before him, Ghral shouted a battle cry and punched his own face. The orc''s unexpected actions made Tristan confused for a second, but he still didn''t drop his guard.

    After bashing his own face, Ghral red at Tristan and began screaming as he charged towards thetter again.

    Bammm!! Baammm!!

    BAM!

    This time, with every two punches he received, Tristan managed to give one to Ghral as payment.

    The situation still didn''t look really good for him, but Tristan unexpectedly found the fight bing more enjoyable with every second. After a while, he could even swear that he saw a smile appear on Ghral''s face. It seemed that his opponent also relished in their battle.

    After 10 minutes, hundreds of heavy punches, the huge orc suddenly slowed down on his assault.

    Looking at his exhausted expression, it was clear that Ghral was already at the end of his fuel.

    Tristan concluded that there must be a time limit on his skill as he saw the warchief''s battle power that was shown by the system began to dwindle, returning to the way it was, and go even lower than before.

    With Tristan finally able to get his edge back, he slowly regained his earlier advantage. This was exactly when the orc warchief started to get pushed back.

    The sight gave wonder to everyone. No one, especially the crowds of orcs, expected that the elf''s pale, skinny body could hold out that long against the bulky, muscr orc. Well, funnily enough, not even Tristan expected his body could hold out this long.

    Everyone could clearly see the dozens of swelling and bruises on Tristan''s body. Not to mention his few, if not dozens, of broken and disced bones. Everyone without exception marveled at how the elf was still standing.

    With the way it was going, everyone expected Tristan would be bashed by the orc until he stayed knocked out on the ground.

    But the truth was, after these 10 minutes, Tristan finally felt as if his life force was dwindling before his eyes. He suddenly felt extreme weakness all over his body and his vision began to blur.

    Then, amidst the painful sensations he was feeling, a notification came to Tristan''s mind.

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host needs immediate treatment]

    [Restore health for 500 Blood Essence]

    [Proceed?]

    "No!" Tristan screamed in his mind.

    Definitely no, that was his hard-earned Blood Essence, one that he spilled blood and sweat for. Literally.

    Even though he was hurt, Tristan clearly knew that he wasn''t in a life-threatening situation.

    Moreover, he still had a few alternatives before he had to resort on using his precious Blood Essence.

    He could use his [Heat Touch] spell to catch Ghral off guard, sending him to the underworld via baptism of fire. Or, take out his sword and dispatch the orc on the way with one simple sh.

    Both actions were definitely dishonorable acts, one that shouldn''t bemitted in this situation. But between life, honor, and Blood Essence, Tristan undoubtedly knew what his priority was.

    So, it was definitely a big NO for the costly health restoration.

    Still, the notification made Tristan happy though. It looked like he could depend on this self-restoration feature in the future.

    But for now, Tristan believed he would not need any of those things as he could already see doubt and desperation emerge from his opponent. With his current condition, Tristan didn''t want to risk it with another prolonged fight.

    Hence, he stood tall and shouted with all the energy he had,

    "YOU LOSE, GHRAL!! ACCEPT IT! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!"

    That''s right, Tristan decided to resort to a bluff. The cheapest solution of them all.

    Tristan''s thunderous remark didn''t even need to be tranted as the meaning was clear to all. His energetic shout, his confident smile, his heroic gait; all of this could only mean one thing.

    His action was also quickly supported by the female orc as she began chanting his nickname, and all the other orcs started to follow her, one by one.

    "Golugg!! Golugg!! Golugg!!"

    The chant was echoing through the whole fort and finally, Tristan could see Ghral''s expression change. He slowly approached Tristan, stretched his arms, put a fist on his chest, and then to Tristan''s chest.

    At the same time, Karra quickly shouted something in oguage and knelt on the ground. Meanwhile, all the other orcs amplified their cheers, as they excitedly called out his name.

    Momentster, Karra got up and said to Tristan, "Congrattions. You are now our new chief."

    Tristan had no idea what that would entail, but at least for now he would have full control of the iing battle.

    Looking at his surroundings, Tristan raised his hand to the air and the crowds cheered again.

    Seeing all these greenskins, deep in thought, Tristan had already prepared a series of ns for them.

    ''Hehehe.. There will only be work, work, and work for them. Hahaha! All must work for my benefit.''

    The orcs were still loudly cheering Tristan on, unaware of the fate that awaited them.

 Chapter 67 - Honor

    With his victory, Tristan had be the new chief, and all two hundred plus orcs are now under hismand.

    Now, technically this should increase their chances to weather the siege of the iing barbarians. Each second he wasted here was a second lost from preparation time.

    A lot of things came to mind, but all of them interrupted when Tristan saw Ghral has returned back to approach him. This time, he carried arge, ornate axe made of gleaming metal. The axe was crisp and clean, a contrast to the shoddy, dirty things he used to see all around the ce. Ghral looked down to the ground, knelt with both feet, and offered the axe to Tristan.

    Tristan asked him.

    "Are you giving this to me?"

    Tristan had no idea how to lift an axe properly, let alone wield it effectively in battle. But from the carving and the metal it was made of, it does not take a genius to see that it was quite a valuable item.

    But right as Tristan took the axe, the other orcs turned nervous. The whispers that once reverberated throughout the ce disappeared

    If there was anything Tristan learned from following this band of green-skinned people, it was the fact that they were never quiet. Something is amiss.

    He looked at Karra and pleaded wordlessly for an answer. What he got gave him even more of a headache.

    "Ghral surrenders his life to you, he wants you to kill him."

    "Wait¡­ What!?"

    "It is our tradition." The female orc said.

    From her short exnation, it seems that there weren''t supposed to be two chiefs in one tribe, and the duel was done to ensure that the winner bes the new chief and the old chief''s tribe would follow the new one. But the fate of the old chief is either death or exile.

    "What about joining? Is the old chief joining the new one not on the table?"

    "Yes, but that is a very rare case, it was not honorable to do that"

    "Well then, there''s nothing usual about this situation. Why can''t he?"

    Tristan has just learned that even losing toward a famous orc would rarely result in the losing warchief joining the winning one. Much less for an elf. The only reason Tristan was being offered a challenge for the chief position was that the n recognized him as a worthy golug.

    As for Grahl, he never thought of Tristan as worthy. If he lost, his only fate would certainly be death.

    Tristan had zero knowledge of this particr tradition, and he was pressured by time to make his decision. If only he knew, he would think twice about epting the duel. Now, even if he has control of 200 orcs, the fighting force he could use to defend against the siege of the barbarians was cut by half without the presence of Ghral.

    "My chief, I suggest you decide soon, or Ghral will kill himself to protect his honor."

    "What would happen if I kill him?" This definitely can be an option. Although it''s a waste of such a warrior, at least he might receive arge amount of blood essence from him.

    "I suggest against doing that, my chief." Karra said. "Even though Ghral was sometimes foolish, he had treated us well, and many of us are fond of him in our own way. I have no authority to tell you what to do, but if you kill him, there is a chance the other orcs would hold a grudge. Letting him go as an honorless exile would give more favor to you."

    Tristan can only sigh inwardly. Personally, he thinks this was a stupid and weird tradition, one that he would love more than anything else to tear down with his bare hands. But the situation grew even more pressing, and nothing could be changed with his opinions alone.

    Tristan had a third choice he could try. If he was sessful, he could keep Ghral under hismand. But there was no way to make sure of how much chance of sess he has to actually do this properly.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Orc, Battle power 128]

    [Blood seal would take 1500 blood essence to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    Tristan was bewildered to discover that yes, actually he could. There was no option to do that while he was fighting the elf soldier before, so why was it possible to be used on such a strong orc warlord like Ghral? Though the attempt would take a massive amount of 1500 blood essence, it was certainly worth it. Ghral, though not exactly the smartest person, was as strong as he is.

    [Blood Essence: 2102]

    After a few moments of thinking, he decided to risk it and spend the points.

    "Proceed." He muttered.

    A string of thin, reddish mist came seeping out from the tip of Tristan''s fingers, it was so thin and barely visible if one did not look too close, and none of the orcs seemed concerned. As for Ghral, the orc thought of it just like a flying towards his face.

    Tristan was about to smile in victory, but he got a shocking announcement.

    [Blood Seal result : Failure]

    "What the fuck?! It can fail?" Tristan barely managed to restrain his urges to scream.

    Fortunately, the mist returned back to him, a small blessing in the wake of failure. But when the notification came to him, once again he felt devastated.

    [Blood Essence: 1952]

    He just lost 150 blood essence, which was 10% of the amount he used for the attempt, for nothing at all. Due to how difficult they are to collect, even that rtively small number pained him.

    "Dammit!"

    Not wanting to risk losing a bunch more of the precious resource, Tristan decided to ce the axe back on Ghral''s hands and sentence him to be exiled.

    The huge orc warrior picked up the axe, tore open arge wound on his chest, and called upon his white wolf. The two of them rode away from the fort never to be seen again.

    Tristan was left speechless, and he could do nothing but stare as the fleeing Grahl''s figure became smaller and smaller in the distance. Rather than wanting to gloat about his victory, his thoughts strayed to the 200 green-skinned people he had to lead and the broken fort he still has no way to reinforce.

    It doesn''t feel like a victory, it felt more like being handed someone else''s dirtyundry.

    "I really am fucked, aren''t I¡­"

    --------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 68 - Preparations

    There was no time toment on what had happened. At the moment, Tristan could only try to do the best he could with whatever he currently has.

    Now that he was in full control of the two hundred pluswless, disorganized greenskins, he really should start preparing for the iing battle now. There was no more time for him to waste as barbarian attacks coulde at any time from now on.

    Luckily, he still had one piece of good news, which was that the dwarves finally decided to help. However, what made Tristan unable to help but imprecate was that it was just the two apprentices.

    That''s right. The master apparently decided to take a nap at the keep, throwing the job at the two.

    Sleeping at times like this, the dwarf was probably the bravest of them all as not even Tristan, with his near indestructible body, managed to do so.

    Still, two were always better than one or none at all. Thus, even though he was upset, Tristan was still grateful to the dwarves for their help.

    Without wasting any more time, the former Earthling immediately made the two dwarf apprentices start working right away.

    Bifur, the one with brown beard, was in charge of the main gate, while Bofur, the red bearded one, was in charge of fixing the damaged walls on the west side of the fort.

    The main gate''s problems were mainly mechanical. Hence, Tristan deployed Barry and Seth to help the dwarf because the two at least have some basic knowledge of the matter.

    There was no way he would send the orcs to help him. If he did that, he was afraid the problem would get bigger instead of being solved.

    As for the west wall, the one with a three meter wide gaping hole, that would need a special kind of care to be fixed. Special care meant more time, and time was one suchmodity they currently didn''t have much.

    Bofur himself knew that he didn''t have much time to spend fixing the wall, therefore, he opted for an alternative. After thinking about the matter, he settled his mind on using a temporary wall construct that would be made out of wood.

    When Tristan heard about the idea, he immediately assigned a dozen Gretchin to help out on the arduous task.

    Knowing that they would be fighting against an enemy that was five to ten times their numbers, Tristan could not expect to win by just cowering behind the walls. He needed something else, a trump of some sort.

    Tristan began to storm through his mind, searching for a way to possibly deal with the situation at hand. Then, an idea sprouted within him.

    He summoned Karra and asked her to bring him to the ce where the orcs stored their equipment.

    Tristan remembered some sayings from a military book he read carelessly back on Earth. It said that if one didn''t have the number to fight against the enemy, then one should resort to better strategy or equipment. He already had the former, and now he was going to check thetter.

    Unfortunately, the moment Tristan arrived at the ''warehouse'', if it could be called one due to how neglected the ce was, he was disappointed by the sight that greeted him.

    All this time, the orcs were fighting their enemy with the crudest armor. Heck, Tristan could even see that some of them already had cracks that would make them shatter on impact. And as if the matter wasn''t horrible enough, the amount and quality of weapons they had was also extremely disheartening.

    "There''s no long-range weapon?" Tristan corrected his words the moment he saw some of them, but became depressed again when he saw the amount the orcs have.

    Apart from sturdy walls for protection, what they had to have were long-range weapons, the best weapon for defending during a siege. Unfortunately, other than half a dozen crossbows and limited bolts, there was nothing else.

    It was impossible for them to start creating weapons now, not with the time they had. Hence, Tristan decided to just use the most simple form of long-range weapons: stone and spear.

    The orcs that weren''t helping on the repair of the fort were ordered to pick up stones from the hills around the fort. Tristan''s instruction was: the more the better.

    But of course, he had some requirements with the stones they would be using as weapons. They would need those that weren''t too heavy to throw, but also not too small lest it would not do anything when it hit the opponent.

    With that requirement in mind, a hundred orcs, Grunts and Gretchin alike, both ventured outside crossing through the terrain until the hill area and began collecting rocks.

    Thus, hundreds of stones as big as a person''s head were gathered inside the fort and distributed across the wall.

    Lastly, for the spear, actually it was more like a long spike rather than a spear.

    The rest of those who weren''t assigned yet were sent to the woods. Their job was cutting down the trees and making hundreds of spikes from them. Half of the spikes were put on top of the wall, while the rest on the bottom.

    Tristan smiled as he watched the orcs do the task assigned to them. He couldn''t help but think the race was such a fantastic worker. Not only were they physically advantageous, they also worked without a singleint and a single coin. Such an amazing race.

    When the dark shroud concealed the sky, a figure appeared on the hill, running towards the fort. It was none other than Astrid, who came to bring back information.

    From her, it was confirmed that the next barbarian attack woulde tomorrow at noon, and they brought 2000 men.

    Hearing the news, when the orcs returned from their task and had their dinner, Tristan ordered to bring out all the orcs'' mead supply.

    "Tonight we feast to our heart''s content. Tomorrow we will feast in the blood of our enemy!"

    Even before Karra tranted the words, the orcs already cheered in excitement which made Tristan wonder with two possibilities. Either he''s a natural born leader or the orcs really are just too stupid.

 Chapter 69 - The Plan

    After inciting the orcs'' morale with the best speech he could make and several drums worth of meads, Tristan gathered a few people inside the keep for a briefing in the middle of the night.

    Karra and the two Orc Champions were surely invited as they were the higher-ups of the orcs. There were also Barry, Seth, Herrera and his sister La that came from his side. He also didn''t forget the two under his Blood Seal influence, Borin and Astrid.

    The briefing began with Astrid blurting out the details of the barbarian forces that would attack the fort tomorrow. Everyone who attended the briefing quickly perked their ears, especially Tristan as themander of the uing battle. They were afraid that they would miss the information if they didn''t listen attentively.

    The attack would beunched by three tribes. All led by veteran captains that weren''t worse than Astrid. Each of them brought more than five hundred barbarian warriors to this battle.

    After divulging the number of the barbarians, Astrid proceeded to tell the usual strategy the barbarian used when besieging a fort such as this.

    The barbarians would start the attacks bymencing a barrage of arrows, which would be followed by groups of barbarian bringing siegedders. Under the cover of the arrows, they would then use thedders to scale the high walls of the fort.

    Astrid believed none of the captains had any battering ram or simr equipment to break open the main gate. Hence, she was sure the attack woulde from multiple points through the woodendders.

    Upon hearing the numbers and the exact attack n of the barbarians step by step from Astrid, Tristan could see most of the people at the briefing started to turn pale. He was sure that they were imagining how tomorrow''s battle would be.

    "This sounds like a very well-coordinated n and they are all experienced fighters."mented Barry, who started to lose his usual calm.

    Unsurprisingly, Seth was the one in panic mode. He tried to make Tristan reconsider his decision to fight the barbarians.

    "Sir Tristan¡­ are you sure about this? It''s 10 against 1, after all.. How many of us do you think can survive this tomorrow?"

    As for La, due to her minimal understanding of battle, she didn''t know how to respond. Thus, her feeling towards the iing battle followed the concern of others.

    Tristan himself had no experience with leading any real battle, other than seeing how the protagonist do it in movies and fantasy stories. But much to his surprise, he found the position he had right now, being in charge of someone''s life and death, excited him.

    The others, to be more precise Tristan''spanions, began their endeavor to persuade him, with Seth being the one most passionate about it.

    Seeing this, Tristan tapped the table twice, and that was enough to make everyone silent.

    Before the briefingmenced, Tristan had asked Karra for a detailed map of the fort. The map was currently spreaded out on the table.

    "You all now listen to the n." Tristan began to roughly exin the n he hade up with, with a few pieces of stone.

    The Gretchin would be stationed on top of the walls, and be assigned the task of throwing the stones the orcs had gathered during the day earlier. Meanwhile, the Grunts and the Orc Champions would be on standby, waiting and moving by Tristan''smand.

    Looking directly at Karra and the two Orc Champions, Tristan spoke with the firmest tone he could muster, "Remember! No charging until I say so!"

    As for the rest of the team, including the dwarves and the rugrats they would be defending inside the keep, acting as thest line of defense and of course, protecting La.

    Then, Tristan spoke no more, eliciting reactions from others.

    "That''s¡­ it? That''s all of the n?" Seth was dumbfounded, before he once again fell into panic.

    He could see that there was basically no real strategy on how to fight against the overwhelming number, let alone to overturn it. And once again, the group was ced only to protect La.

    Seeing the looks the others gave him, Tristan opened his mouth again.

    "You all listen, this is the default strategy that we will use. When the battle begins, it''s important to know where your position is. Hence, there is still another n that I have prepared. So, don''t worry and just follow my lead."

    The short briefing was concluded, and they began to disperse.

    Tristan took the time to once again remind La to not participate in the battle by any means. While his sister nodded at his words, Tristan still didn''t feel assured. Hence, he made sure that Barry and Borin would always stay by her side.

    Afterwards, Tristan was approached by Karra, the tall female orc. Even though she showed her respect to him as her chief, she still somehow talked in the same casual manner she used the first time Tristan met her.

    But despite her nonchnt tone, the words she spoke weren''t nonchnt at all.

    "Chief, I hope you realize that we are prepared to fight to the death tomorrow."

    Hearing such a serious statement made the situation turn a little bit awkward for him. After staying silent for a moment, Tristan finally said, "Yes, Karra. I expect nothing less."

    Surprisingly, the female orc wasn''t done yet, "I hope you will not disappoint us by not being willing to do the same!"

    Then, Karra gave her respect before leaving the ce.

    At this moment, Tristan finally realized the high orc was really a different breed than the normal orc. They were not simple at all.

    Now that Tristan thought about it. Karra was the one who was responsible for making him the chief of the tribe. He really needed to keep her in check from time to time, or else things could suddenly go bad, like his rtionship with the orcs for example.

    Tristan did try to check the possibility of making her into his blood puppet. But to make it happen, he would need a whooping 1000 Blood Essences for the cost. Furthermore, the thing that happened to Ghral made him more careful with trying to use Blood Seal on a powerful individual.

    Tristan really wished there was a guide of some sort on using the skill so that he would not waste too much Blood Essence on its application.

    Throwing the Blood Seal matter to the back of his mind, Tristan returned to his room because tomorrow there would be a tough battle to fight.

 Chapter 70 - The Tribes

    The sun shone brightly in the calm, cloudless sky, a contrast to the situation Tristan and the orcs were currently in. The hills of the east, the grassynds of the south, and the barrennd of the west, were all filled with hundreds of warriors all ready to unleash the fury of hell itself onto the Redstone Fort.

    The shields they bear carry the color and symbol of each tribe.

    On the eastern side, the hundreds of warriors with a symbol of a diving bird of prey on their shields. They are ''The Diving Crow'' tribe one of the tribes well known for their swiftness in battle

    On the western side, the warriors are all screaming and lifting their weapons, itching for battle. They kicked dust and sand everywhere, the heat of the noon sun did not affect them at all. On their shields, the symbol of a massive w bathed in crimson red could be seen, these are ''the Red paw'' tribe.

    Last but not least, on the southern side, stood a crowd of warriors staring pensively at the ruined fort in the distance. Their shields bear a symbol of a deer in yellowplete with magnificent antlers, They are ''The Golden Horn'' tribe.

    Combining them all, there were around 2000 strong.

    In front of the Golden Horn tribe, a few dozen men sitting atop horses had gathered.

    It seems that the captain of the other two tribes hade to show their respect to someone in the Golden Horn tribe. A man with a double braided beard.

    "Greetings to you, Jarl Sigurd. I am Akon, captain of the Diving Crow tribe, and I pledge my respect to you." Akon put his hand on his chest as a form of respect.

    Another one, this time a man garbed in a magnificent red cloak, did the same thing. "I am Erik The Red, captain of the Red Paw tribe."

    "Greetings to you too, brave captains." said The Jarl with the golden cloak.

    The two were quite surprised to see the Jarl himself hade to join the battle. Not only did hee, he also brought almost a thousand of his personal warriors. Among them, a man d in gold-ted armor could be seen giving instructions.

    "This must be Scrall the Tall."

    Indeed, as his name implied, the bald man with a tattoo across his face was about one head taller than the others. The height,bined with his muscles, bald head, and scarred face, made the man look extremely intimidating.

    "The Jarl hase to im back the tribe''s honor that was lost in yesterday''s defeat. I extend my gratitude to you two for the assistance."

    The bald man put his hand on his chest as a form of respect, and the other two did the same. In ordance with thew, when an Jarl deigns toe to the battlefield, he will be given the honor to act as the suprememander of the battle, and the two captains must follow hismand. If they refuse to follow, they will not be allowed to join the battle.

    In total, there was an army of two thousand battle ready warriors, half in yellow symbols while the rest were either blue or red. Despite their differences, they were all ready to decimate the fort.

    Jarl Sigurd pulled out his extravagant sword and raised it up high in the air, allowing the de to catch the light of the sun.

    "Sound the horn!"

    Tooooeeeeeettthhhhh!

    The warriors moved as their discussed tactics said. Those bearing a shield marched together in a rhythm while asionally hitting their shields together.

    Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

    Two thousand warriors, each making the same noise, should be enough to attract the attention of the orcs hiding inside. They kept on sounding their shields for a few minutes, but when nobody came out, the Jarl turned wary.

    The tall warrior dered "My Lord, let me lead the warriors to destroy the fort. We shall kill anyone who dares to stand in our way!"

    In a war, that would be the best decision. No matter how one looks at it, two thousand warriors are a huge force, too big for such a small fort to handle without a miracle. If they all charged at the same time, victory would be in the earl''s grasp within hours.

    But, Jarl Sigurd was a cautious man. He is the type who always follows the way of the battle as it should be.

    "No! You will have your time Scrall" He said "Men! Bring out the archers!"

    Such a simple order, but all the archers from the tribes marched to the front, followed by the warriors walking right behind them for protection should the need arise

    But, Right as they arrived in the firing range, the main gate of the fort swung open.

    "Halt!" The jarl ordered, and the men stopped in their tracks.

    Instead of an army, only three figures marched out of the main gate. One was a huge orc that everyone could recognize as a champion orc. One was a man with white hair he seem to be an elf, andstly, a woman who looked very familiar.

    The Jarl looked at the woman in confusion.

    "Scrall¡­ Tell me, is that Astrid."

    "Indeed, my lord." Scrall nodded. "She did return from yesterday defeat, but then she suddenly missing for today''s fight"

    The Jarl squinted and tried to get a better look at her. "Ah, I see she was captured by the enemy, then?"

    "It seems to be the case, my Lord. However, I''m afraid I can''t deny the worst possibility, that perhaps she has betrayed us."

    The three figures walked out into the middle ground between the fort and the crowd of warriors. From the way It looks, they intended to speak.

    The cautious Jarl decided to send his captain instead to approach the group, a few of the men followed him to ensure his safety.

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 Chapter 71 - Charge

    Jarl Sigurd looked on as the three captains from the three different tribes all approached the central area while apanied by their guards. At first, the discussion was civil, but then some shouting could be heard.

    The jarl quirked his eyebrows in a silent question when Scrall the Tall came back to bring the news

    "My lord, the elf came to insult us!" Scrall dered.

    The jarl was surprised; he certainly did not expect that an elf was calling the shots in such a battle. With this new information, the jarl called for a few riders to do some scouting to the far west, to the direction of the Forbidden Forest, and to the north.

    The elf and Arcadian did disrupt the war far too many times before, therefore he needed to be cautious with a probability of reinforcement from these two races.

    "What of Astrid, Scrall? What happened to her?"

    Scrall shook his head and sighed. "She has betrayed us, my Lord. This battle is nothing but utter madness! With all my respect, I beg upon you, My Lord, send me and I will make sure these abominations never even enter our sight again!"

    The jarl was having a hard time epting this fact. How could one of his best captains betray him for the sake of an orc camp?

    "Yes, Scrall, you have my blessing. However! I want that elf and Astrid captured alive. Kill the rest."

    "Yes, My Lord!"

    "Soldiers! Sound the horn! Lay down your lives this day for our honor!"

    Thhuuuuueeetttttttt

    The echo of the horn was apanied with screams and shouts throughout the hills andnds. Everyone had been waiting for this moment to raise their weapon and shout their battle cry high to the sky, a testament to their devotion.

    The archers attacked first, each shooting two sets of arrow volleys towards the fort, while Scrall rallied all the warriors before charging to the fort with his massive sword drawn and ready to strike. Amongst the warriors hemanded, some carried talldders to scale the fortress walls.

    The atmosphere was full of cheer and energy. Hundreds of warriors d in yellow symbols all gathered around the fort.

    Those charging from the eastern side had to swim and cross a shallow moat before they were able to raise thedders they carried. Meanwhile, those from the west had no obstacles, thus they were able to raise half a dozendders within minutes.

    Above the walls, the orcs were waiting, and when the barbarians started climbing, they started to throw down rocks.

    Seeing the orcs throwing rocks from on top of the wall made the Earl chuckle.

    "Hahahahaha, rocks?! I was worried for nothing! Send the soldiers of the two tribes, I want this whole area routed in one hour!"

    Shouts and screams of affirmation could be heard from the other two tribes gathering on the left and right side. Eric the Red and Akon both raised their weapons and shouted their respective battle cry before ordering their warriors.

    "Attack! Attack them all, don''t leave even a single one alive!"

    Jarl Sigurd nced at the other two tribes and shook his head in disappointment. He did not expect the two tribes, easy as this battle may look, to take their sweet time to make a move.

    But on the other hand, considering the yellow army''s progress, the whole farce will result in their victory all the same. The yellow warriors had started climbing up thedder without much resistance, and their victory was within their grasp.

    Thhuuuuueeetttttttt

    It was the sound of the Red Paws'' horn, followed by the ted shouts of a hundred warriors. They all ran towards the battlefield without much structure nor tactics, each of them eager to spill the blood of their opponents.

    The Jarl shook his head. The tribe should not sound their horn, as the war horn had already been blown by his army. In this battle, he was supposed to be the suprememander, and he took a mental note to report this, Eric the Red, for his impudenceter on to his Jarl.

    But before he managed to finish his thoughts, another horn resounded from the other side. This time, it was from the blue tribe.

    Akon of the Diving Crow tribe had also sounded their horn as the cue for their men to charge towards the fort.

    "Why are they both doing this?!"

    All of a sudden the Jarl''s concern about the horn matter took a back seat to whatever was happening before his eyes. The two tribes ''red paw'' and ''diving bird'' did not charge towards the ruined orc fort in the distance, but instead towards the men d in yellow. His men.

    "!!! why are they attacking us?! "

    The men from the three tribes started to kill each other and impede each other''s progress at attacking the fort. Blood painted the ground, but it was not from the enemies, but those who were once allies turning their weapons toward each other.

    Red, blue, and yellow garb, all are stained with fresh blood of former friends.

    Those in the middle who were still safe ran back towards their captain, waiting for a new order. Scrall the Tall did nothing but watch the carnage. During this chaotic moment, theyy their hopes to their captain. But instead of receiving assurance, the tall captain draws hisrge sword and starts swinging it towards his own man.

    Blood sttered towards the captain''s uncaring expression, and heads started rolling around the fields, trampled and discarded by those reveling in the unexpected carnage and those trying to flee from the chaos.

    All around the jarl, everything was chaotic. Former friends ughtered each other with ssy eyes, and no one listened even as he barked out orders to stop.

    "What the hell is going on!!" The jarl was enraged.

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 72 - Wicked

    Minutes before the battle started

    Thousands of warriors were gathered in all three directions, all ready to unleash their fury upon the small fort. To a certain extent, Tristan realized that the situation he was thrust into was a dangerous one, but witnessing the gathered warriors served as a wake-up call for him.

    Yesterday, two thousand was just a number, something that only existed as a statistic of possibility. Today, that possibility had materialized into real threats, all fully armed and chanting their respective battle cries.

    The orcs were shouting and cheering, the prospect of fighting enemies overwhelmingly stronger than them made their blood boil in excitement. However, Tristan''s group, though they lookedposed, were trembling inside.

    "Just follow the n, and we will be fine" Tristan shouted confidently and called Astrid toe follow him.

    "Tris, are you really going to walk outside? That''s crazy?!" said La in concern

    "No, don''t worry about me sis, You should go inside waiting in the keep"

    Before heading outside, Tristan thought he should add another one to apany him.

    "You! You join us." as he pick the biggest and most scary looking orc among them all

    He thought The champion orc will give an added intimidation that would serve him for the n he is trying to pull.

    The three of them walked out with as much confidence as they could muster, and momentster a few people from each of the tribes approached them. Three of them seemed to be their leaders while the other six were waiting in the back.

    "What do you want, elf? Where is the orc warchief?" The tall tattooed man garbed in yellow asked.

    "I am the chief." Tristan said calmly, surprising the three captains. They looked at each other, before the bald captain narrowed his eyes and looked at Astrid.

    "What is the meaning of this?!"

    Tristan ignored him and proceeded to talk to Astrid.

    "Astrid, are these the captains you mentioned before?"

    Astrid did not say anything, she merely nodded.

    The disy of submission towards Tristan from Astrid only made the tall, bald guy even more annoyed. He gripped his weapon until his knuckles turned white.

    "Astrid, are you betraying the tribe!? Why are you doing this?!"

    Astrid did not even deign to give the captain a response, she merely gave him a quiet, unsettling stare. Yet again, the elf was the one to answer them.

    "Well, well¡­ Haven''t you guys been in love?" Tristan''s lips twisted into a cruel smile. "As the saying goes, love wille knocking when you least expect it. This is exactly what happened to her"

    "Elf, what are you trying to say?" The tall guy and the two other captains'' expressions twisted into one of extreme rage. They realized the elf was mocking them, but in their anger, their judgment was clouded.

    They did not realize that the moment they met, the three had already fallen into the elf''s trap and all this time, Tristan was only buying some time for his skill to work.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, Battle power 78]

    [Blood seal would take 400 blood essence to take effect]

    [Human, Battle power 61]

    [Blood seal would take 250 blood essence to take effect]

    [Human, Battle power 64]

    [Blood seal would take 300 blood essence to take effect]

    This has been Tristan''s n all along. If this works, he can win this battle easily. If it doesn''t he would run back using the champion orc as a cover.

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes."

    It''s his first time to use the skill with multiple people at the same time, and Tristan finds it harder to form the connection.

    The three captains saw the strange looking mist and realized something was going on.

    "What the hell are you trying to do, your damned elf?!" The captain wearing red roared in anger. While the other captain also quickly unsheathed his sword in panic.

    But they were toote. The fine red mist had already started to sneak inside their body and the string Tristan was hoping for already formed.

    [You have a sessful blood seal]

    [You have a sessful blood seal]

    [550 blood essence used]

    But unfortunately, the third one came with a fail

    [Blood seal result: failed]

    [40 blood essence used]

    The failure came from the attempt to seal the strongest amongst the three, Scrall the Tall.

    Scrall felt a moment of a weird sensation, but it appeared whatever it was, the only thing changed was his rage towards his opponent.

    It was known for the rule of any battle to not attack during a negotiation, but he cannot stand idle anymore.

    "Akon! Erik! We shall kill this bastard elf right here, right now!

    To his shock, the two captains who had already drawn their weapons did not move instead they both decided to sheath their swords back to their waist and said.

    "Scrall¡­ i believe we should listen more to what the elf has to say"

    Scrall''s eyes widened, and he realized what happened by connecting the mist he saw before, the state of the two captains, and Astrid''s odd behavior.

    All color drained from his face, and he hurriedly pulled out his sword.

    "You! This is dark magic!"

    The tall man did not have the chance to attack before the same red mist once again covered his body.

    "No! I-"

    [You have a sessful blood seal]

    [400 blood essence used]

    Tristan can''t hold hisughter seeing the notification, and to ensure his ns work without a hitch, Tristan can''t be too stingy with his blood essence. He decided to use the same skill to all 6 warriors who came along for the meeting

    These warriors can only quietly ept the mist that came to them as their leader didn''t do nothing about it.

    [740 Blood Essence used]

    All 9 warriors had turned loyal to him, waiting for hismand.

    Before proceeding with his n, he checked the amount of blood essence he had left.

    [Blood Essence: 220]

    The number pained him. But he believes he will get so much more returned to him in this one battle.

    Looking at the condition of the battle, he realized that the presence of an Jarl here would cause a problem, hence he needed to modify his ns a little.

    He quickly devises a n that would create the most chaos in the shortest amount of time, hence when it starts, it will be toote to stop it.

    Before letting these 9 warriors to y their parts, Tristan said

    "Remember I expect a bloody battle today, the more that die the better, understand!"

    With his sessful Blood Seal, now the 2000 warriors surrounding him have once again returned to a mere number, a certain number of blood essence he could feast onter.

    Tristan''s smile was more wicked than ever.

 Chapter 73 - Unleash

    "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"

    ~~~

    The sess of Tristan''s n wasn''t just because of his Blood Seal ability. No, there was much thought he put into it in order to make sure the steps were going ordingly.

    He knew beforehand that the barbarians who would attack the fort came from three different tribes. What made this information very crucial was another piece of information that came with it.

    From Astrid, Tristan came to know that the barbarians were often waging war with each other in their own home, which meant it wouldn''t be too unusual if these warriors suddenly changed their target from the enemy to the other tribes amidst the battle.

    With this intel which made him as if he was all-knowing, Tristan managed toe up with a n that would have these three tribes attack each other instead of focusing on the orcs.

    Unfortunately, the probable involvement of the Jarl made the n a little more tricky to be carried out as the Jarl could suddenly take over themand as the suprememander. If that happened, the chaos and discord Tristan wanted would not happen.

    Therefore, he decided to carry out his n on the eve of the battle, to reduce the chances of the Jarl seeding in regaining control of the warriors.

    -

    At the moment, the one thousand ''golden horn'' warriors were spreaded out on three sides of the fort, ready tounch their assault at thetter. Hundreds of them began to climb up thedders they had already ced earlier.

    "The wall will not hold!!" shouted Karra, as it seemed she was unable to idly stand by.

    Currently, the barbarians have begun to swarm the fort walls, fighting ferociously as they tried to make their way inside.

    The screams of war, the sh of steel, and the rain of blood already being spilled on top of the walls, proving the cruelness of this battle. Even though countless bodies had fallen in just a few minutes, the battle would not stop until there was a victor.

    The orc Gretchins were trying their best to stop the iing enemy by ceaselessly throwing rocks and spears in hope that the enemy would falter. On the other hand, the barbarians steeled their resolve as they marched through the shower of objects.

    "HOLD!!!" Tristan shouted to the female orc not to join the battle on top of the wall. The same thing happened to the grunts as they also weren''t allowed to jump to the battle directly. These battle ready orcs all start pushing between each other on the fort yard, raging for battle.

    Even so, Tristan ignored their condition and stayed silent because he was waiting for the perfect chance to unleash them.

    Tthhhhooeeeettt!!!

    While the battle raged fiercely, the atmosphere was suddenly being broken by the long-waited horn that finally sounded. This was the second horn voiced by the other two tribes. Following it was the sudden attack that shocked both the orcs and the barbarians alike.

    The suddenbined attack by the two tribes instantly killed more than a hundred of those yellow warriors, and that was not the worst of it. Being suddenly attacked by what they thought were allies quickly created confusion and disorder among the ranks.

    To top it off, their fearless leader, Scrall the Tall, who was supposed to guide them during this mess, fell into madness as he started to kill his own men.

    With all of those eventsbined, a few hundreds of the ''golden horn'' ended up lying lifeless on the ground. Most of the corpses showed an expression of disbelief, unable toprehend and ept what just happened to them.

    Seeing the chaos unfolded and going out of control, the Jarl quickly made his move. He climbed on top of his horse and swiftly rushed towards the battlefield followed by his group of personal guards. While doing so, he quickly sounded the horn once again and began to shout out new orders.

    However, with all the chaos and things happening on the battlefield, his new order was not easily heard.

    In the meantime, Tristan would also not let this precious opportunity go just like that. As soon as he saw the Jarl jump into the battlefield, he quickly gave a sign to Karra.

    Seeing his gesture, Karra let out a smile, one of great savagery. That was the signal that she had been waiting for.

    Karra shouted her battle cry and the hundred more Grunts behind her quickly followed her, yelling to the top of their lungs. Earlier, they were agitated because they were not allowed to fight. Now that the moment hade and the cue had been fired, they were ready to shine.

    "Open the gate!!" Tristan shouted, and then Bofur the dwarf quickly opened it for him.

    The huge steel gate quickly opened itself and hordes of greenskins swiftly flooded the main gate with Tristan leading the charge up front with his huge ymore brandished.

    "Chaaaaaarrgggeeee!!!"

    As a result of Tristan''s n, now the ''golden horn'' tribe was surrounded from three sides; the two tribes and the orcs. When they tried to fight back, they were ughtered mercilessly by thetter. The sight of carnage was enough to make the bravest warrior among them cower.

    Saattt spaattt!!

    With hordes of savage greenskins following right behind him, Tristan just directly rushed forward, piercing through the crowd of barbarians. A trail of blood was left behind him as dozens of barbarians fell under his sword. The elf wasn''t afraid to swim in the middle of these yellow-garbed warriors.

    Limbs were cut off, bodies were torn apart, and blood sttered.

    Once more, Tristan was bathing himself in the blood of his enemy. He could clearly feel his inner urge gave him the boost that he needed with each second he spent in the battlefield.

    Splaatt!

    In one sh, several heads would fly.

    Tristan kept charging in while his eyes focused on one figure, the Jarl himself.

 Chapter 74 - Onslaught

    Tristan is much faster and stronger, in his hands he had a special weapon that could sh through any of the opponent''s weapons and armor. The barbarians stood no chance against him.

    The 2 meter tall weapon had turned into a killing machine. Each swing scattered corpses all around its wake.

    Within minutes, even the bravest and the strongest of the barbarian warriors lost their nerve and unconsciously distanced themselves from the demonic elf

    "Charge!" Tristan shouted, while mowing through the unfortunate center line. The Jarl was visible now, he was standing behind a fewyers of yellow-d barbarians forming defensive lines.

    -

    From the other side, Jarl Sigurd realized that his captains must be influenced by the enemy''s inhumane spell, it was such a devastating blow to him, even more seeing the way the battle has been orchestrated as such. It took him a few moments before heposed himself.

    Years of battle experience under his belt told him that the first step to deal with this was to calm his army and stop the confusion. He sounded his warhorn, rebuilding the line close to him and slowly moved towards the right nk.

    With the current condition, he could not save all of the armies, therefore he quickly made the decision to cut off one side to save the other. He chose the right nk as the ''red paw'' tribes appear to have more superior numbers.

    Despite the chaos, the process went rtively smoothly, a testament to his skills as amander. Slowly but surely, he managed to pacify those fighting in the right nk and undo the confusion.

    After those fighting on the right side were pacified, the Jarl ordered his army to capture Eric The Red. It wasn''t an easy feat, but with a decisive order and thanks to dozens of his strong personal guards, this task was quickly achieved.

    With the Jarl''s sess in pacifying the right nk, the battlefield was now split into two.

    The right side was filled with the yellow and red warriors battling the orcs that came from the fort.

    Meanwhile, the other side has the yellow warriors fighting with the blue ones led by Akon, the captain under the blood seal influence.

    Quickly counting his chances, there were only two options for the Jarl. Either retreat and regroup to adjust their strategy or continue the battle under a disadvantage.

    The previous defeat they had suffered made the Jarl especially reluctant to retreat, considering he had also touted how easy this battle was going to be.

    However, he is a veteran. He understands the importance of army morale in battle, and right now, if he still wishes for victory, he has to take down the damned elf that wreaking havoc in the center of the battle. For each minute the elf stands, the closer they are to total annihtion.

    The Jarl instantly formed a group of archers and a group of his best blue tatoo warriors.

    "Fire!''

    He pointed towards the general area The elf stood.

    There was no hesitation, even as the rain of arrows pierced the heads of his front soldiers and killed them instantly. It took the death of a dozen barbarians for the arrow to evennd on The elf''s arm.

    "Keep firing!" The Jarl roared.

    Another rain of arrows, another dozen of his own warriors pierced to their deaths, in exchange for two more arrows piercing The elf''s body.

    The elf started to bleed, and the Jarl took it as a cue to send in the group of blue tattooed warriors.

    -

    "Aaaaaaarrrrgh!"

    It was not a scream of pain for Tristan, it was out of irritation. The arrows hurt, but it was more of a hassle than anything. He decided against pulling it out, as he didn''t want his wound to bleed even more, He settled on splintering the arrow sticks before fighting again.

    Two dozen blue-tattooed warriors had arrived to stop him. Though they were not strong enough for him, their main advantage was their speed and their method of attacking in groups. The moment Tristan managed to split one apart, another managed to pierce Tristan''s back with his spear.

    Fortunately for Tristan, his elf body has proven to be very reliable. These wounds don''t worry him.

    He was not afraid of dying, nor did he feel panicked at the prospect of being surrounded. On the contrary, each attack from the blue-tattooed warriors only made him even more pissed.

    More of the blue-tattooed warriors came charging towards him, and the battle turned up a notch for Tristan. He smiled an unsettling, wide smile, before tackling one of the iing threats.

    He dodged and attacked, each movement calcted and precise. However, he realized that he was unable to move the way he wants it. He found it difficult to maximize the full strength of his body.

    The weapon he had was magnificent, but as hecked the proper knowledge to use it properly, it merely became a strong weapon in his hands. With hiscking skill, the blue tattooed warriors started to gain ground against him.

    They swarmed and attacked him together, leaving him without any room to dodge. With each kill, the rest battered his body even more. He believes he had killed more than two dozen of those annoying tattooed warriors. But they seem to keeping for him.

    Tristan was finally cornered with his body filled with many wounds. At these moments, several hurried footsteps and shouts can be heard from the side.

    Tristan nced at the source of the noises, and saw a figureing to help him. It was Karra, the female orc.

    Karra swing her bloody ive and cut the nearest blue worried that came to Tristan

    "Chief! We came to help!!" She turns around and shouted "Lok''Tar Kazreth!"

    Behind her was the orc champion, it quickly grabs one of the surprised blue warriors and split it apart

    "Graawwlll!!!"

    With their arrival, came the orc grunts, and they started to join in the effort to protect Tristan. The assistance allowed him the few seconds he needed to collect himself, regain his wind, and continue fighting.

    More blue warriors died, and Tristan nced at the ce where the Jarl wasst seen standing, only to find the ce already empty. It seems the Jarl took the confusion of battle as his chance to quickly leave the battlefield.

    Thoooeeeetttt!

    The war horn reverberated throughout the ce again, but this time, it was a signal to retreat.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 75 - Upgrade

    Just like that, the second battle of the Redstone Fort has ended.

    The suprememander had sounded the horns to retreat, and what remained from the three tribes moved away from the battle without regard to what their captains were actually doing. Now that the battlefield was less crowded, Tristan could see the hundreds of corpses scattered amongst puddles of blood, and the smell of iron was enough to make him wince.

    Just like when the first battle was over, all the orc gretchin came out of the fort to clean up the corpses.

    This time, however, Tristan ordered them to not kill the stragglers, but capture them.

    He had the idea when he was doing his [Blood Extraction] skill.

    [Received 1200 mixed blood cells]

    [250 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 960 mixed blood cells]

    [370 Blood Essences extracted]

    [Received 1120 mixed blood cells]

    [290 Blood Essence extracted]

    Right as Tristan reached 5000 blood essence, a notification appeared in his mind''s eye. At first, he was ted, but after reading it, it was not the notification he hoped for

    [You have obtained enough blood essence to unlock level 2 Blood Seal]

    [Spend 5000 blood essence for upgrade?]

    At first, he hoped to get a stage 3 upgrade that could increase his battle power to another level. But this one is quite a surprise for him as well. But then again the answer for the question has to be

    "No."

    Tristan muttered his refusal. For now, he couldn''t just use that much blood essence without thinking. The only opportunity to collect them inrge amounts would be in huge-scale wars, and he''s not sure when the opportunity woulde again.

    This notification somehow gave him the valuable hint that there is a limit to his Blood Seal ability. To test that theory, he ordered the capture of the surviving barbarians who are still coherent enough to speak. Those writhing on the ground due to wounds or those who are dying would just be part of his feast.

    But before that, Tristan still nned to finish his blood extraction stroll first. He walked around and continued to extract all the corpses as he passed.

    There were so many lifeless bodies lying on the ground, and if he had to ballpark an estimate, it would be around one thousand. A few dozen of those corpses are from the dying orcs, while the rest belong to the barbarians.

    While wandering around to extract blood from the corpses, Tristan found the dead body of Akon, the captain of the blue tribe.

    [Blood extraction]

    [Received 150 mid-quality blood cells]

    [70 Blood Essences extracted]

    The [Blood Seal] he performed on the captain cost him 250 points of blood essence, and now as he performed the extraction, he didn''t get any of it returned to him. It was just the amount of blood essence belonging to the corpse, none of it his at all.

    At this moment he just learned one of the limits of his [Blood Seal] skill. It seems that when the sealed person dies, Tristan will lose all the blood essence he has inside the person''s body.

    Though he didn''t like the oue, it was understandable.

    There are more than one thousand corpses here, and more than 50 of them belong to the blue-tattooed warriors. Each of those gave him around 30 to 40 blood essence points.

    He collected a bit more, and finally, another notification was sent into his mind when he reached the 10.000 marks.

    [You have enough blood essence to advance into the third stage of Blood Monarch]

    [10.000 blood essence is required for this upgrade]

    [Proceed?]

    Finally, his hard work and sacrifices in this battle paid off, and he was presented with the opportunity to increase his battle power. But as with the earlier situation, he decided to say no to the upgrade.

    Not yet, at least. He still couldn''t collect enough blood essence to both sustain himself and upgrade the skill.

    [5000¡­]

    [3000¡­]

    [1000¡­]

    [7000 mixed low quality blood cells are found]

    [Extracting and filtering blood cells]

    [2400 blood essence gained]

    That was thest of the blood essences he could collect in this battlefield. He walked around to make sure he didn''t miss anyone before checking his current blood essence total.

    [Blood Essence: 12610]

    "Not bad, not bad at all!" Tristan said and puffed out his chest proudly.

    The crows had circled overhead, and the flies were buzzing all around the corpses when he decided to go back.

    The walk back to the fort was uneventful. Tristan circled the fort once more to survey the damage, and surprisingly, the ce seemed rtively intact save for a few rotted sections that have now copsed. Remains of stepped over and brokendders litter the ce, dipped in reddish blood of the barbarians who attempted to scale the walls.

    Right as Tristan walked through the gate, La ran towards him and quickly casted her healing spells. As much as he tried to persuade her by saying he was fine and all the wounds had almost healed, La seems to be oddly stubborn.

    Nevertheless, he enjoyed the warm light shining on what remains of the small cuts littering his body and the two almost fully healed holes on both his arms.

    While enjoying the light, Tristan looked at the tied-up barbarians on the ground. Some of them were missing a finger, while others still winced in pain at the slightest movements.

    "How many did you capture?" Tristan asked a female orc.

    "34 men, the rest either fled or died." The orc answered.

    Before Tristan needed to decide the fate of those captured, Tristan esses the system in his mind and looked at the two upgrade options avable.

    [Upgrade blood seal to level 2 - 5000 blood essence]

    [Upgrade body to stage three blood monarch - 10.000 blood essence]

    There are two choices, but with the amount of blood essence he has, there was no way he could take both. Which one should be chosen?

 Chapter 76 - Experiment

    [Blood Essence: 12610]

    He managed to get a lot of blood essence from this battle, but Tristan has no way of knowing whether he would have the opportunity to receive a simr amount anytime soon. Therefore, for now, he has to spend it wisely.

    Now, the choices avable to him are either spending 5000 for a skill upgrade, or 10000 for a body upgrade.

    Thanks to what happened earlier and this skill upgrade notification, he could reasonably conclude that there was more to his [Blood Seal] ability that he has yet to figure out.

    He ordered the orcs to bring him a makeshift seat and casually sat in front of the 34 captured barbarians. The current scene made not just the captured barbarians but his humanpanion also feel ufortable, they were not sure what this bloodied elf was trying to do right now.

    For Tristan, he had a clear purpose, he needed them to experiment on the extent of his ability.

    First, he decided to look around and choose a random, normal-looking barbarian warrior.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human Battle Power: 24]

    [90 blood essence required to proceed.]

    He didn''t proceed with the blood seal, instead he looked around and chose a rtively unscathed blue-tattooed warrior,

    [Blood seal]

    [Human battle power 42]

    [150 blood essence required to proceed]

    He concludes, the first rule of the blood seal is that the amount required changes depending on the person. The more powerful the person, the more blood essence would be needed to seal them. There might be differences between different races, but currently, battle power should give some sort of indicator.

    The second rule, if there is a chance for failure and failure indeed happened, he would lose 10% of the required blood essence.

    Now, about the failure rates, it would be great if he could at least see the percentage of sess so he could weigh whether trying was worth the risks.

    Right as he thought about it, a new notification appeared from his system.

    [Human battle power: 24]

    [Sealing sess rate: 98%]

    "Dammit, so there''s such a thing?! Fuck! Why didn''t you tell me before?!"

    Tristan shouted to no one in particr, to the bewilderment of the orcs standing nearby.

    [Human battle power 42]

    [Sess rate 83%]

    "Ah well, at least it was a logical rule. The stronger the warrior, the higher the failure rate."

    Next, Tristan decided to experiment a bit. He waved his hand and called for a bunch of orcs to beat up the unscathed blue-tattooed warrior, but before they started, he reminded them not to make the barbarian fall unconscious.

    After the poor barbarian was reduced to begging for his life, Tristan used his system again.

    [Human battle power 42]

    [Sess rate 88%]

    "Aha! Now that is one mystery down."

    The third rule, weakening the target''s mental resistance, be it by physical beating or presumably other ways, would increase his sess rate.

    The more beaten up the target was, the easier it would be to influence them with the [Blood Seal] spell? Somehow, this kind of reminded him about a certain monster catching game from his world...

    It would be reasonable to assume that if he upgrades his blood seal level, he could get an increased sess rate as one of the perks.

    Next, Tristan had reasons to believe that there are limits to his blood seal ¨C after all, it was impossible to have an unlimited amount of something. But so far, he did not meet any kind of restriction.

    For now, the only way to test this was to waste a few blood essences.

    [Blood Seal]

    Tristan muttered towards the direction where a blue tattooed warrior was tied up. A fine red mist seeped out from his body and circled them before entering their ears, nose, and mouth. He proceeds and continues up to the fifth of the warrior.

    [820 Blood Essence used]

    Tristan decided to look for another captured blue-tattooed warrior and cast another [Blood Seal] But this time, nothing happened, except a notification.

    [You have reached your maximum amount of blood seal usage]

    [2930/3000]

    This time, he hated to be proven correct.

    The fourth rule to the skill, there''s a limit of how many things he could use the skill on at a given time, Though he was certainly worried about the limit, he was more curious about where the number 2930 came from.

    Right as he finished thinking, as if the system could understand what he needed, a list of names appeared in his mind. Those are the people he used the blood seal on before.

    "Ok this is damn useful," he said to himself, while still cursing, if this appeared before he wouldn''t need to waste those blood essences just now.

    Although there was no such thing as photos of the faces or anything like it. But he somehow can recognize each number on the list.This probably has something to do with the thin thread that connects them.

    The list is; Borin, Astrid, the tall guy named Scrall, the 2 surviving warriors, and the 5 blue-tattooed warriors he just used the skill on. Everything was good, until¡­

    He stared at thest two names for a moment before sighing.

    [Level 50 beast ¨C 500 blood essence]

    [Human, battle power: 64 ¨C 300 blood essence]

    One was the white tiger belonging to the female elf he had to deceive, and the other seems to be one of the captains he was forced to use the skill on. The captain seemed to be alive, judging from his name being there, but it seems that he was captured by the enemy.

    Tristan tried toe up with some ways to solve this problem, but although he could see their names, for now, he could neither feel them nor send orders to them. Among all the options, only one seems to work.

    [Remove blood seal from Human, battle power, 64?]

    There was no way to know whether it would work or not before trying.

    "Yes, proceed."

    [Blood Seal has been removed]

    He waited for a second, but nothing happened except for the name disappearing away from the list.

    So, another rule of the blood seal skill. If he tried to remove it from a distance, the 50% return rule would no longer work.Therefore, in a way, Tristan just lost another 300 blood essence. Well, at least, he managed to free a bit of the blood seal limit.

    [Blood seal: 2630/3000]

    The small experiments were enough to assure Tristan that if he chooses to upgrade his skill, he would most likely receive an upgrade to the maximum limit of blood essence used for the skill and also the increased chances, so probably next time he would have a better chance when he wanted to seal an orc warchief.

    Therefore the question still remains.

    Should he use his blood essence to upgrade his skill, or to upgrade his body?

 Chapter 77 - Caution

    The sun had dipped low, staining the skies with vermillion as it disappeared into the western horizon. After finishing his experiments, Tristan finalized the result of today''s battle.

    Though they had managed to grasp victory from the jaws of the enemy, they had suffered quite the massive loss as well. 25 orc gretchins and 41 orc grunts died in the battle.

    As the precise number of their current forces that still left standing;

    [Gretchin: 43]

    [Grunts: 106]

    [Champion: 2]

    Anyone would tell him that they had a very sessful battle, considering the enemy lost more than 20 times the forces they lost, but the fact remains, Redstone Fort has lost another one third of its forces, and the struggle for their survival remains an uphill battle.

    Caution is still a must.

    In the end, seeing the uncertainty of their situation, Tristan decided to hold off from upgrading his skills. There is one thing he must make sure of before and depending on the situation he would be able to make a decision.

    Moments before the night falls, Tristan sent all the barbarian warriors who were under the influence of his blood seal to return to their camps. There are a total of 7 of them, five elite blue tattoo warrior and the two regr warrior

    Their purpose is clear. To spy on the enemy camp and get thetest update on their next move. Tristan had already used the same trick with Astrid, so this time, he decided to change things up and only send the warriors, not the captain. This way, everything would be less suspicious.

    "What about the rest of the captured barbarians? What do we do with them?" Karra asked.

    Tristan nced at them, to see only despair in their eyes "Just put them in the dungeon I have some uses for themter."

    "Yes, my chief," said Karra with a slight bow

    Tristan could see how the female high orc started to act much more respectfully to him than before. Thest battle seems to be the proof she needed to fully submit herself to him as her chief. Likewise, it was a mutual thing for Tristan. Having here for the rescue when he was in trouble before, certainly left an impression on him. He had never had many people he could rely on before.

    There was no victory party tonight as he reminded everyone that the battle is not over and all of them need to have proper rest for the next battle. Both Astrid and Scrall had confirmed that there are a total of 20,000 barbarians crossing the ins, and considering the Jarl, it''s hard to believe he wouldn''t want payback for the humiliation he suffered today.

    In front of everyone, including the dwarves, Tristan announced that he sent back the barbarians he put under his spell to the enemy camp, and he hoped tomorrow will bring some good information. Afterward, he could n ordingly with it also his decision on the upgrade.

    Tristan had also noticed that while he was exining, no one dared to speak up against him, not even a slight disagreement.

    After two bloody battles, his sess in the duel with the warchief, and showing his terrifying Blood Seal skill in front of everyone, really gave an impactful impression to everyone. He had proved himself as a warrior on the battlefield and a chief they could rely on.

    As for his humanpanions, Other than Seth who was simply terrified of him, Herrera, the crazy chick of the group, and his sister seem to fully support him.

    His main concern at this time is Barry, who seems to be distancing himself from him. This guy used to be very talkative and gives valuable advice to him, but he has been acting strangely recently.

    Tristan once more asked Barry regarding the iing reinforcements from the Mayor, and Barry merely said that there was no news from the mayor at all. Something about this seemed off with Tristan. But as Tristan never really put much hope on the reinforcement he decided not to think too much into it.

    Thest group was The dwarves, now that they have seen today''s battle, they were fully convinced to stay behind for Tristan''s protection until they find a safe path to return home to the mountain.

    Belot, the dwarf master, was usually arrogant and hard to get along with, but today, he appears to be more friendly toward him. It wasn''t long until the white bearded dwarf approached him.

    "Sir elf¡­ Um¡­"

    "Yes? What is it that you need, Master Belot?"

    "I wonder if¡­ If I could take a look at¡­ your sword?"

    It appears The dwarf master cares about nothing but rare minerals and powerful artifacts. Tristan really wouldn''t mind showing it to him.

    Right after Tristan nodded, the old dwarf''s eyes were shining with happiness and anticipation. When Tristan handed over the sword to the dwarf, to his surprise the dwarf didn''t seem to be affected by the weight of the sword at all.

    [ymore ¨C Meteorite ¨C Tier 4 Weapon]

    [Length: 2.2 meters, Weight: 42 kg]

    "Ah, an ounder item I suppose, isn''t it sir elf?" said the dwarf

    Tristan nodded and kept an eye on the old dwarf while he took a look at the sword, felt each ridge on its surface, and tried to look for the method used to forge it. After a few minutes, the dwarf gave it back to him.

    "I would really love to study it furtherter if it''s possible I will be very grateful," said the white bearded dwarf

    Definitely, a big No for him. The sword had brought him to safety several times and he would not dare to part with it even for a minute.

    But Tristan ended up saying theplete opposite "Yes, of course, maybeter when the battle is done"

    Tristan has this feeling that he would need more help from this dwarf in the future.

    When all is done, Tristan decided to take this opportunity to rest easy. It seems that there won''t be any trouble for a while.

    ¡­ Or as they said, if you boast about how the fates favor you, they might on a whim decide to punish you.

    Tristan awoke the next morning with a very bad feeling. He quickly checked the connection to his blood-sealed barbarians, and surprisingly, there was nothing. Shockingly, his blood seal connection was severed, all seven of them.

    "How could it be possible?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 78 - Higher Power

    Tristan sent a total of 7 people, with 5 of them being the formidable blue-tattooed warrior. The group should be strong enough to not die easily, and looked normal enough as a group of people who managed to retreat from a losing battle. Then, how did all of them disappear within one night?

    This situation really baffled him, and at the same time, deeply concerned him. There is nothing normal about this. It''s either his ability failed him or there was a higher power at y.

    Thus with this new information, Tristan had to adjust, or even,pletely change the strategy he nned.

    Tristan quickly gathered all hispanions at that moment, waking them up at dawn regardless of their opinion. After all, this matter greatly concerned everyone. They literally had no time to waste!

    The moment everyone gathered, he immediately went ahead and interrogated Astrid and Scrall again. He had to know what could possibly make this situation possible.

    Both of them came with the same word, Aesir.

    "Who is Aesir?!" Tristan asked, clearly curious about the figure.

    However, Astrid''s answer threw him off guard due to its unexpectedness.

    "It''s not who sir. It''s what."

    Apparently, the Aesir were what the barbarians believed as the one chosen by the gods. Some of the tribes even considered them as the children of gods. They were the tantamount of what the barbarians called the apex. In the culture of barbarians, these Aesir were given powerful gifts by the gods, which made them very much stronger than the others, extremely so.

    Upon hearing her words, Tristan''s face was unchanged as he believed most of it was an exaggeration. Thinking that he would not gain anything if the topic didn''t change, he proceeded to ask his most important question, one that was actually of importance.

    "How strong is this Aesir?"

    Astrid was silent when she heard Tristan''s question. It was as if she was not sure how to answer. After a moment she finally opened her mouth despite hesitating.

    "S-Sir.. They are immortal, undefeatable.."

    Tristan hated a lunatic who blindly believed in god. What he needed to know now was not what she was told, but an actual measure of strength, one that he could use asparison.

    Realizing that gaining information from Astrid was hopeless as she seemed to be a devout follower, Tristan decided to shift his attention to the tall guy, Scrall.

    "How many people as strong as you are needed to defeat this Aesir? Give me in number."

    Without a shred of confidence, the man said: "T-Ten?"

    Tristan rolled his eyes when he heard the doubtful answer uttered by the man. Still, knowing these two influenced captains were not capable of lying to him, he would assume that Aesir was probably as strong as him.

    Knowing this new information was definitely too much for Tristan''s mind. It wasn''t just because of the presence of this new enemy called Aesir. The swiftness of the enemy''s action, capturing or killing 7 people he sent within hours, would only mean they were hungry for him.

    Tristan could not even dare to imagine what kind of forces that woulde for him, and he definitely would not wait to find out.

    Turning his attention to everyone in the room, Tristan said, "Everyone, pack up! We are leaving now!"

    Everyone, without exception, was surprised by the sudden order. Subsequently, anxiety began to appear on their faces.

    "What''s wrong, Tris? What''s happening?" La asked hurriedly.

    "I believe we are in grave danger, sis. So pack up quickly." Tristan looked at the others and said, "If you all want to live, I suggest all of you follow me. If not, this means farewell between us."

    At this unknown time, in this kind of moment, none of them dared to say their opinion. Everyone trusted Tristan''s strength and judgement after they had seen what the former could do. Even the dwarves believed his words and decided to follow him.

    Tristan quickly ordered the others to bring all the prisoners out and sent them to the yard.

    Momentster, Tristan already stood in front of them with an intimidating re in his eyes.

    "Listen up! You all will follow me to open up the path to the north. Then after we reach the border, I give you my promise that I will release you!"

    This was his escape n. He hoped that with these barbarians covering and opening the way for him, he could get past the encirclement that the enemy had and reach Arcadia. And to do that, he had to make these barbarian prisoners listen to his orders.

    Obviously, he would not use his precious Blood Essence on all of them as that would be aplete waste of resources. Instead, he used his other talent. The ssic way to raise immediate obedience: a mix of persuasion and intimidation.

    These barbarian captives already felt the shock of defeat and also had seen how their friends turned against them. Hence, all of them were too afraid to raise their own voice and could only ept their poor fate lest they get backstabbed again.

    To be thorough in the execution, Tristan took a few of the barbarian''s clothing and began covering himself, and especially, La.

    Looking at her brother who busily put clothes over her body, La said, "We are in big trouble again, aren''t we brother?"

    Tristan stopped his actions for a second, lifted his head up and locked gaze with his dear sister, "Unfortunately, yes, La. But don''t worry. Just stay near me and you will be fine."

    Barry, Seth, Herrera and Borin all started dressing up like the barbarians and prepared to leave the fort.

    Before Tristan and the group about to step out of the fort, Karra the female high orc and dozens of the orc grunts stopped him. The high orc was smart enough to realize what Tristan was trying to do.

    "You are leaving us, chief?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 79 - Leaving

    Deep down, Tristan was kind of hoping that Karra would not realize what he was trying to do. However, it was apparent that this High Orc was not stupid.

    The truth was, the orcs were not part of his escape n. Even though it was cruel, Tristan knew he could not afford it.

    The main factor of sess in this n was to be as discrete and swift as possible. Bringing the orcs together would definitely make that impossible.

    These orcs were green, loud, and massive, which automatically made them very hard to miss. They were exactly the opposite of what he was trying to do.

    "So what is your order for us, chief?" Karra asked again, seeing that Tristan was unresponsive.

    Tristan really had no problem with lying. But, he was definitely not the type who liked to give others false hope. Especially to someone like Karra, who he came to like recently.

    "Karra, my 5 days are up. I have done what I could to protect the fort. Hence, now I must leave, so I am going to make you the chief now!"

    The straightforward words Tristan uttered gave her quite a surprise.

    Without much thought, she replied, "I will follow you, chief. I will even if I need to go to a human city."

    Tristan would lie if he said he didn''t feel touched by her decision. It was indeed such a waste to leave a warrior like her. But still, he had one question he needed to ask before he would take her.

    "Yes, I would definitely need you, Karra. However, I can not take the orcs. I might be able to keep one orc safe from all the humans, but not a whole n."

    Upon hearing this and seeing Tristan''s serious expression, Karra became conflicted. She turned around and looked at her people, her eyes spotted the young orcs, the rugrats.

    Tristan noticed the doubt on her face and knew the answer already. He put his hand on her shoulder while saying, "I am sorry."

    He then gave the signal for the group to move out. One by one, Tristan''spanions started leaving through the gate, making their way to the chaotic ins.

    As he walked through the gate, Tristan gave onest nce towards the group of greenskins. They just stood there in the courtyard, watching him and the others leave.

    He never thought he had it with him, until this moment that was. A guilty conscience.

    It seemed in thest few days, these orcs'' presence began to grow on him.

    Seeing their looks brought him difort and leaving them gave him a sense of guilt.

    After all, this might be thest time he would see them, as they would probably die in the next attack.

    Subsequently, Tristan discovered himself unable to take thatst step out of the fort. It felt heavy, heavier than walking out in the midst of battle.

    But then, his sister''s voice calling to him reminded him of his priorities.

    Safety first was the word. One thing that should definitely be prioritized.

    Tristan steeled his resolve, turned his head around and took thest step.

    ***

    Tristan, La, Barry, Seth, Borin, Herrera, the three dwarves, the two barbarian captains, Astrid and Scrall, as well as the 28 captured barbarians rushed towards west, as they ran along the river heading up north towards Arcadia.

    During the journey, the 28 captured barbarians were extremely silent. They were afraid they would be turned into lifeless puppets by the elf when they spoke or did something wrong. Therefore, all of them came to a consensus: to be a good sheep for the shepherd.

    Their travel speed was twice that of the normal group, as all of them were strong people. It meant it should only take them one and half days to reach the nearest fort upied by Arcadia.

    Naturally, all of them kept their eyes wide open throughout the journey, hoping to not see any of the barbarian patrols, because thest thing the group needed to happen was to get into a fight.

    Crossing through the Chaotic ins by foot was definitely not a matter of walking in the park. The in was a drynd with almost no nts in sight at all. Clouds were also never seen above the in, as if they had vanished from the horizon.

    These things that seemed small at a nce could make the journey even more taxing, because the endless barrenness could easily affect one''s mentality in the worst way possible.

    A few hourster, the group passed through an orc camp. But they could tell from afar that the camp had beenpletely destroyed, probably by the barbarians. The flying vultures in the sky made Tristan guess it had only been a day or two at most.

    This sight caused Tristan to give another thought about the orcs he left behind, but he still had to move on.

    ¡­

    It had been half a day since the group left Fort Redstone and the journey had been smooth so far, much smoother than Tristan expected. s, the moment he thought of that, fate decided toe and bite him in the ass.

    The group spotted two barbarian riders in the distance, approaching towards them.

    "Scouts!" Astrid said when she saw the two barbarians'' attire.

    The appearance of the scouts automatically made Tristan and the others tense.

    One of the riders quickly reached the group and looked at Scrall, "Brother, which tribe are you from?"

    Astrid was the one who proceeded to answer the barbarian.

    It was quite a smooth conversation, where it looked like Astrid managed to convince thetter about the reason for their presence and also the fact that there were three dwarves among them. The woman was a smart one indeed.

    Tristan covers himself behind a cloak and stands around the barbarian''s masses, he had naturally prepared to use Blood Seal anytime in case of trouble.

    But then, Tristan heard something that really bothered him.

    "The path to the north is currently closed, no one allowed to pass"

 Chapter 80 - Survival

    Realizing that something was definitely wrong, Tristan would not take any chances as he quickly casted [Blood Seal] on the rider who had talked to Astrid. Immediately after, he dashed towards the other rider who watched all of this happening.

    Seeing thetter was trying to gallop and run, Tristan swiftly took the sword out of his spatial ring and threw it towards the barbarian.

    The sword did a line through the air before swiftly prating the back of the barbarian, sending him flying from the horse''s back. The moment he reached the barbarian, Tristan was surprised to find the horse was dead as well. It looked like the sword somehow made its way to end thetter''s life.

    Looking at the horse''s lifeless body, Tristan was annoyed as he definitely could use it for the journey. s, what already happened would not be able toe back.

    When Tristan returned to the group, he quickly interrogated the barbarian who already fell under his control.

    It was surprising to know that just this morning, hundreds of barbarian warriors were ordered to move to the northern border with hundreds more being gathered to surround the area. But what totally shocked him was the instruction given to them.

    All the barbarians, without exception, were given a strict order to kill a white-haired elf on sight

    "Fuck!!" Tristan cursed loudly when the barbarians spoke this. He realized that his worry turned out to be right, and to make it even worse, he was not fast enough.

    Tristan immediately tried to think of several different possibilities that could possibly help them, but he couldn''te out with one that guaranteed the safety of both him and La.

    Looking at the one horse that was avable in front of him, the best scenario that Tristan could think of would be just charging through the enemy blockade with La on his back. However, this n clearly did not give him full assurance that his sister would not get hurt. After all, the n itself smelled risky.

    The whole group became worried when they saw Tristan''s troubled look. The situation turned worse the moment the captured barbarians suddenly became chaotic. It seemed they somehow believed their life is in jeopardy now that the n has failed.

    In such a condition, Tristan decided to decisively take extreme measures. He looks towards his blood-sealed warrior and said.

    "Leave only 3 and kill the rest."

    Scrall, Astrid, and Borin immediately jumped into action the moment Tristan uttered that order. They headed towards the captured barbarians and began killing mercilessly. As this sight of carnage was unfolding, the others turn panicked while La screamed.

    "Brother what are you doing?! Stop this madness immediately!" the young girl jumped towards Tristan and told him to stop.

    It was a different matter between killing the enemy in the battlefield and killing the captured as well as defenseless ones. But at the moment, Tristan had no room for a guilty conscience. Not when their survival was at risk.

    He held La''s hand firmly and said while looking directly at her eyes, "This is necessary, sis. Trust me!"

    In this kind of situation where he couldn''t allow any more risk, those 28 prisoners would be an unpredictable factor to him. In short, a risk.

    Tristan believed that the moment the barbarian warriors came into sight, they would be the first one to be trouble. Hence, he decided to eradicate the risk.

    As for the other 3 who were lucky enough to be spared, Tristan quickly used [Blood Seal] on them and sent them in three different directions. These three would be his radar and act as a distraction for the enemy when the situation needed.

    The three added would throw off the searches as best as they could and when they were killed, Tristan would know which direction was the most dangerous one and had to be avoided.

    However, this could only dy his problem. It would not solve it. He needed another n to escape this mess.

    Subconsciously, Tristan casted his gaze to the horse one more time. The thought of grabbing La and leaving with just the two of them crossed his mind.

    It was at this moment that Barry suddenly decided to speak his mind.

    "Sir Tristan, I suggest we should just go back to the riverside. I know there is an abandoned fishing port about an hour away from here. I highly rmend us to go there."

    Upon hearing this, Tristan immediately shifted his attention to Barry. He stared at the man in a threatening manner.

    "What do you mean with that, Barry?! Tell me what you know! You are hiding something from me!"

    Barry panicked when he saw how Tristan acted. Being stared at by Tristan in such a manner was definitely not a pleasant experience.

    "I...I¡­ I don''t sir¡­ I.. can''t say."

    Tristan''s eyes narrowed when he did not hear what he wanted.

    "You know that I have a way to make you speak the truth, don''t you?"

    Barry''s expression changed as Tristan said that. Recalling the sight of thetter''s victims sent chills down the man''s spine.

    "I-I am telling the truth, sir! The mayor ordered me not to tell you that we are in contact, but he really never said anything. The only thing I know is¡­ I believe the reinforcement is already near."

    "Then, why are you hesitating to tell this to me?!"

    Seeing Tristan''s expression made Barry even more panicked. He quickly waved his hand and said, "I-It''s because the mayor ordered me to keep the information a secret. As for the reason, I really don''t know!"

    As convincing as its sound, Tristan knew better than to trust a human''s heart. Right now, he could not afford not to be thorough.

    The [Blood Seal] cost him 200 Blood Essences, but it was a price that Tristan was willing to pay for the truth. And surprisingly, Barry did speak the truth. The man did not know anything else.

    In his mind, Barry really believed that the mayor would arrive via the river soon, and that would be the best ce for them to go.

    But despite this, knowing Barry''s loyalty to the mayor, he kept the Blood seal, he also let Barry take the horse and headed towards the shore in advance and look for the reinforcement immediately. If what Barry said is true then the boat will be their escape n.

    The group followed behind and naturally, before the group left, he did not forget to extract the precious blood from the barbarians that were just killed.

 Chapter 81 - Cornered

    Tristan has no idea how the barbarians did it, but they were found rather quick. One by one, Tristan could feel the blood seals disappearing away from the three warriors he set out before.

    He also starts seeing more and more riders following him from a distance.

    There was no point in chasing or killing them right now. One thing was clear, their location has beenpromised thanks to this.

    Right now, Tristan has nothing to go on. All he had was the hope that the Arcadian army would arrive as soon as Barry said.

    He was not stupid, and he could not deny he had a major concern with all the secrets the mayor was keeping from him. But in this situation, it was either having to rely on the barbarians'' mercy or the fat elf''s, and he would rather take his chances with thetter.

    They ran without stopping for more than one hour, and finally, they arrived at the aforementioned abandoned fishing port.

    It was just a simple port that stood near deep water. A dozen worn out wooden houses, with rotting wood mixed with the smell of the sea, could be seen all around there. Though surprisingly the house was still standing, there were too many holes on its surface for it to be used as a proper shelter.

    When the group arrived at their destination, Barry was not to be seen, but Tristan could still see his name with the system''s list. With the influence he has, Tristan could deduce that Barry was currently riding along the riverside to find the reinforcements promised before.

    Now, it is time for the activity Tristan hated the most, waiting.

    Waiting for the uncertainty of their fate. Would the barbarianse first, or would the reinforcement troopse first?

    Time passed, with each minute, Tristan could see dozens more barbarians starting to gather in the nearby hills.

    "Dammit, how are they so fast?!"

    More and more barbarians gathered throughout the hills surrounding the fort, but every single one of them merely stood by and observed. None dared to make a move.

    "Are they¡­ waiting for something?"

    Tristan didn''t want to admit that he had run out of ns and was now reduced to waiting, but this time, he hoped that the reinforcements he''s waiting for would arrive first.

    Another hour passed, and the skies had started to darken, but no barbarians had made their move. Everyone just kept oning to gather on top of the hills.

    Astrid was able to recognize some of them. ording to what she knew, there were at least five tribes gathering there. From the myriad of colors of the clothing Tristan could see from where he was sitting, it seems that her assumption was correct.

    He did a quick count with his system, and it said the numbers are no less than 3000.

    "Great, now we''re going into a battle of 3000 people against 10. I''m certain our odds of winning this time are better, right?" Tristan said, shrugged, and sighed.

    Tristan nced at one of the abandoned houses, where the rest of the group was hiding while observing the situation outside.

    "Sir Tristan, why don''t you do another trick like you did in thest battle?!" Seth said, his voice wavered a bit. From how it looks, it seems that he was trembling in fear.

    "They''re not stupid enough to fall for that trick again, I suppose."

    Right after he finished talking, three barbarians in fancy clothes rode down to the port vige. Tristan''s eyes widened as he watched theme closer.

    "No way?!" Tristan shook his head. There''s no way they will send more of their captains for him.

    Tristan quickly told everyone hiding in the abandoned house to prepare in case a sudden attackes. Meanwhile, he, Astrid, and Scrall would go out to meet them.

    Finally, they were close, and Tristan was given a close view of the three of them. Even without Astrid''s confirmation, Tristan was able to deduce right away that his opponent was trying to trick him. Except for their extravagant, colorful clothes, they carry themselves with an aura of prey caught in a spider''s web. There was no strength whatsoever that came out from them.

    Tristan was sure they were not leaders, they were merely ordinary fighters, if he could call them that. They were trembling.

    Although Tristan knew it was a trick, he still decided to use his blood seal on one of them. This is a crucial moment, and he couldn''t afford to leave a stone unturned.

    [Human, Battle power: 18]

    [Blood seal would require 60 blood essence to take effect]

    After being turned, the man quickly pleaded for his life. They were just a viger that was caught and told to dress like this, the two others also said the same thing.

    They were sent to deliver a simple message.

    "Surrender or die."

    The opponent really was just ying around with him and surrender of course was not an option. He gritted his teeth and looked at the cliffs, where the barbarians had started raising their respective gs. It was the Jarl from yesterday''s battle.

    "You all can go back and tell the man, he can go fuck himself"

    Tristan was tempted to directly charge towards the hill and captured the man, but he needed to be patient. The longer he waited, the higher the chances they had to survive. Right now, he not only has to save himself, but also his group, including his only sister.

    The barbarians started hitting their shields, creating a rhythmic beating to increase their warriors'' spirits.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    Tristan returned back to the abandoned house to meet his group. Right now, he has no other n than to fight. He told everyone to prepare for battle, and before it all begins, he decides to take the time to ess his system.

    "I guess it''s finally time to upgrade." He muttered.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 82 - Upgrade

    Small barren hills were numerous, and they were currently upied by the enemy.

    At the moment, a fishing port located at the riverside was surrounded by groups of barbarians, leaving no gaps between their ranks.

    They began to slowly march their way over the former, while echoing the drums of their weapons. One could feel the thick battle intent spreaded through the air, signifying the advent of iing bloodshed.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    The moment the battle cry had started, there were only minutes until the barbarians would charge in on the port.

    From inside one of the dpidated wooden houses, Tristan and the others were watching all of these happening. He looked at hispanions and said, "This is it, guys¡­ the enemy is approaching. We don''t have the leisure to wait anymore. You all need to choose,y down here and hope they won''t kill you or fight with me and hope to die standing!"

    Tristan did not even wait for the other''s answer as he immediately walked out of the worn out house after he finished his words. He walked past the other ramshackle houses and stood tall in the middle of the port.

    There were several abandoned and battered houses between him and the barbarians, but Tristan still had direct sight of the approaching enemy. With the river at his back and the few houses surrounding him, he was hopeful it would be a little obstacle for theing force.

    Momentster, Scrall, Astrid, as well as Borin appeared from behind and stood beside him. Their gazes were locked on the barbarians who were still banging their weapons. Next, it was La and Herrera who came - they also did not hesitate to stand with him.

    When Tristan thought that this was it, the three dwarves unexpectedly came out of the house and joined him. Their willingness to basically put their life in danger surprised and also made Tristan happy. Following behind them was Seth, who thought that standing and fighting together with Tristan was better than hiding alone by himself.

    Tristan gave Bifur the hand crossbow he looted from Borin''s brother Piyo. The dwarf happily epted the weapon as he began to calibrate it to his liking.

    Then, Tristan shifted his attention to Belot. He was surprised to see the dwarf master took out a familiar-looking ring from his pocket, a storage ring just like the one he had. He did not realize the dwarf had such a thing.

    From the storage ring in his hand, Belot took out three kinds of weapons. A massive ax that he proceeded to throw to red bearded dwarf Bofur; a saber that reflected the sun''s re, which was given to Bifur; and an enormous hammer almost twice his height - Tristan could clearly see the soil caved in when the hammer hit the ground.

    It appears all three weapons were not much more inferior to the ymore he was currently holding. Seeing them swinging the weapons around and taking their fighting stances, he realized that he never analyzed the dwarves before. Hence, before the barbarians hit them with their assault, Tristan discreetly used the analyzing gadget.

    [Target scanned]

    [Dwarf, Male]

    [Battle power 48]

    [Dwarf, Male]

    [Battle power 62]

    [Dwarf, Male]

    [Battle power 88]

    The three dwarves, especially the master, surprisingly had a pretty high stat. Tristan just understood why the master was able to hold his heavy ymore so easily before. The man was almost as strong as his weakened state!

    Returning his thoughts to the enemy, Tristan quickly organized the group. He would stand in the front with Scrall, acting as the frontline for the others. Meanwhile, Astrid and Borin would guard the sides, defending against any attempt at nking as well as protecting La. Lastly, the rest stood in the middle and helped deal damage anytime the opportunity arose.

    Herrera raised her hand and a spark of fire appeared on her finger which she used to lit the cigarette between her lips. Even though she looked rxed at a nce, she knew that this battle could very well be the end of everyone here. Hence, her vignce and awareness was raised to the max.

    Now, there was only onest thing that Tristan needed to do.

    He essed the system in his mind and looked at the two options of upgrade avable.

    [Upgrade Blood Seal to Level 2 - 5,000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrade the host''s body to Stage Three Blood Monarch - 10,000 Blood Essence]

    In this kind of condition where the enemy had the knowledge about his skill, Tristan would not gain much advantage through his Blood Seal. True, he was still able to use the skill to turn the enemy against themselves and help the fight.

    However, the expenditure of Blood Essence needed for the realization of this n was enormous, and Tristan would not be willing to spend that much Essence if the solution could not help him immensely. This line of method was akin to finishing the enemy with a borrowed knife - it would not be able to solve the root cause.

    In the end, what mattered the most was his own survival and Tristan believed that the body upgrade would increase his chances of survival as the upgrade itself was internal not external. Furthermore, the matter with that mysterious entity called Aesir made Tristan firm on his decision.

    [Upgrade to Stage Three Blood Monarch]

    [10,000 Blood Essence used]

    [Advancing to Blood Monarch - Third Stage¡­]

    The moment thest notification appeared in his mind, Tristan instantly felt the change.

    He could feel the blood that was running through his veins stirred as it all flowed backwards simultaneously, heading to his heart. The beating of his heart sped up, and came with it was a deluge-like sensation. New blood was pumped and circted throughout Tristan''s entire body.

    Tristan could feel part of the new blood make its way to his brain. Immediately after, he can see the glimpse of theke of blood with seven suns hung on the crimson sky, there was one message that came to mind

    ''ughter''

    It only appeared for a short time before he returned to reality. Afterward, Tristan could feel the changes. His body felt stronger, and he perceived his blood had been refined to a high degree, resulting in new power coursing through his entire body.

    [Stage Three advancementpleted]

    [Advancement affect host''s physical body]

    [Battle power increased significantly]

    [Battle power 200]

    [Stage Three Innate Skill has been unlocked]

    [You have learned a new skill - Blood Synthesis]

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 83 - Blood Synthesis

    [Battle power 200]

    Looking at his current battle power, Tristan could not help but beam widely.

    "This is great!" He said to himself.

    At the moment, Tristan felt his whole body was brimming with unparalleled strength - he felt unstoppable, as if there was nothing that could hinder the current him.

    However, the tion did not stop there as there was still one extra surprise. Something that he had actually been hoping for, and unexpectedly, he did get it. A new innate skill.

    The skill was called [Blood Synthesis] and Tristan could not wait to check out the feature of this skill.

    The Stage Two upgrade previously gave him the overpowered [Blood Seal] skill that allowed him to do many unthinkable things. Therefore, he was sure that this new skill would not be any less superior.

    For a moment there, Tristan forgot about the impending threat that literally stood right in front of him and acted like a kid who could not wait to open his Christmas present. Without further ado, he quickly essed the skill tab in his mind.

    [Blood Elf Monarch Innate Ability]

    [Stage One Innate Skill - Blood Extraction]

    [Stage Two Innate Skill - Blood Seal]

    [Stage Three Innate Skill - Blood Synthesis]

    He essed the system and the rted exnation of the skill was revealed to him.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    [An innate ability of Blood Elf Monarch which allows it to use Blood Essence to create forms and control them]

    Upon reading the exnation, Tristan''s eyebrows raised.

    "Oh? Alright, this seems interesting. But how am I supposed to do that?"

    Tristan delved into his mind, essing the system. He had been using the previous two innate skills quite a lot before this. Hence, it was not too difficult for him to try to use the third one. Split secondter, the innate skill took effect.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Unlike the time when [Blood Seal] took effect, where the mist would make its way to the intended target. This time, the clumps of mist that came out of Tristan''s body were just floating in front of him, forming into a literal wall of mist.

    Tristan was puzzled as he looked at the crowd of mist. He knocked his head when he realized that he still had not ordered it to shape into anything. Thus, he concentrated his mind on it.

    The moment he did so, it swiftly began to move and merged into a drop of blood that floated in the air.

    Tristan then recalled the word form. Hence, he concentrated on the drop as his will decreed it into the shape of a small ball. Immediately after, the drop-like object gradually formed into some sort of small, shiny pearl made of blood.

    Seeing that the skill was working, Tristan swiftly proceeded to make a few more. A momentter, five small and shining pearls were floating in the air in front of him.

    The others who stood behind Tristan began to wonder about the floating pearls. They were about to ask the elf when a sonorous sound resounded through the air, startling all of them.

    Thhhhhoooeettttt!!!

    The sound of horns were echoing from the hill. This also meant that the barbarians were finally ready tounch their assault.

    Through the dpidated houses, Tristan could see a few hundred barbarians warriors walking forward, progressing towards the port where the group were with their shield positioned in front of them.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    The barbarians were making their way steadily. Even though they only faced 10 enemies, they would still advance slowly and keep their position in the shield wall formation.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    The moment the barbarians reached just outside of the port, blocked by the worn out building, they changed their formation and split into three smaller groups with around 50 each and went in from three different sides, spreading their forces and surrounding Tristan''s group at the same time.

    When Tristan saw the iing barbarians, he quickly said to others, "Stick together!" He then looked over to La and said, "Stay where you are, and don''t stray anywhere!"

    Even at the moment where he could lose his life, Tristan would always prioritize his sister''s wellbeing.

    Currently, the barbarians had advanced enough of a distance where Tristan''s group was now within their archers'' firing distance.

    Tristan could see a line of firing squad behind the rows of shields, where a dozen barbarians were holding bows that had already been drawn. The archers were stepping on their shields which were being lifted by theirpanions, allowing them to have a higher ground in this tndscape.

    The savage look on their faces clearly showed they were ready to take Tristan and the others'' life.

    Pssstt! Pssstt! Psstt! Faint sounds of the arrows splitting the air could be heard as they made a straight line through the air. The volley rained down from above, as their sharp tip pointed towards Tristan''s group.

    Borin as well as Astrid swiftly raised their shield, blocking those that came from the side. Meanwhile, Tristan perfectly parried thoseing from the middle.

    Seeing that the battle hadmenced, the others also swiftly did their own part.

    An arrow passes through and hits Seth shoulder follow by him screaming like a girl.

    Bofir swiftly loaded and raised the two crossbows that were given by Tristan and began firing back. But at this time, the archers had already lowered the shields they stepped on, causing their bodies to be hidden behind the shield walls they erected. As a result, his retaliation could only hit the steel wall and did absolutely nothing.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    The barbarians moved even closer while still maintaining their shield wall formation. Their rhythmic steps and chants could indeed give some degree of intimidation to their enemies.

    At this very moment, Tristan discovered that this situation would be the best time to test his new gained skill.

    Tristan walked a few steps forward, slightly leaving his group. The huge ymore was dragged on the ground behind him by one of his hands. As for the other hand, it was used to control the floating blood pearls.

    "Let''s see if this will work."

    Tristan pushed his hand forward, forcing the pearls to fly towards the barbarians at high speed.

    The small, insignificant-looking pearls unexpectedly pierced through the barbarians'' shield like a sharp razor. Furthermore, they continued their flight and passed through the barbarian who stood behind the shield. Their current sight reminded Tristan of bullets back on Earth.

    However, what made Tristan even more excited was he could feel the pearls were still floating behind the enemy line.

    "Come back!!" Tristan shouted as he pulled back his hand. The small pearls swiftly conducted the return, killing three more barbarians on their way back.

    "Haha.. HAHAHA!!!"

    Tristan wasughing in excitement as he looked at the blood pearls hovering over his palm. The moment he lifted his face, a glint appeared in his eyes - one that told he was ready to ughter everything that stood in front of him.

 Chapter 84 - Calculate

    Within a minute, the barbarians'' middle group sank into chaos as their men swiftly fell down dead one by one. They did not have the slightest clue of what hit them, and the unknown would always be the most fearsome. The barbarians could only watch with wide eyes as the brethren beside them lost their lives, one at a time.

    Unfortunately, after killing more than a dozen barbarians, Tristan can no longer sense the blood pearl he made. It appeared to have diminished bit by bit from each hit. But it is still a very satisfying skill indeed.

    "Dark magic!! Dark magic!!" shouted one of the barbarians, which unfortunately brought even more chaos to the already chaotic situation. Seeing their friends andpanions died in session made some of the barbarians charge forward in desperation. s, their attempt only resulted in them falling under the swings of Tristan''s de.

    The other two groups of barbarians that went in from the two other directions were still making their way over to Tristan''s group,pletely oblivious to what happened to the group in the middle. Well, they at least knew that something was up as they could hear the sounds of screaming.

    Still, they kept continuing their march as they walked in rhythm. Archers were aiming their bows and shooting at Tristan and the others.

    Naturally, Tristan''spanions tried their best to deliver as much counterattack as possible. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Bifur''s crossbows and La''s gun yed an important role in the group''s retaliation, especially thetter. The speed and uracy of the bullets fired by her caught some of the barbarian archers off guard as they were being flung off the shield footing.

    Even so, the two could not do much because there were too many enemies.

    Minutes into the battle, the second casualty finally appeared.

    Borin was busy fending off the rain of arrowsing at him when fate decided to screw him over as his unprotected foot was hit by an arrow. Because of that, the side he was protecting received the arrows that should have been blocked. Half a dozen arrows rained down on the group and almost hit La and the others.

    Realizing that the situation is dire, Tristan nced at Herrera who since the beginning had been preparing her spell.

    "Herrera, now!!" shouted Tristan as he got out of the way and ordered Astrid to do the same.

    The female magician immediately released the fireball spell that she had been casting for a while.

    Three spheres of me were zing through the air, heading towards the three barbarian groups.

    Even though the thrown fireballs could only heavily injure a few barbarians, Tristan''s real objective had been achieved. His real reason ordering Herrera to do so was to create more chaos among the barbarians, to stop them from their advance.

    Tristan ordered Scrall, the strongest fighter beside him, to take his previous position fighting the middle group. Meanwhile, he headed to the right nk to bring back and take over Borin''s position.

    He still wasn''t sure on how to deal with the left nk as Astrid definitely wasn''t enough for the job. Then, when he was thinking about the matter, the old dwarf master suddenly shouted.

    "We will take the left side!"

    Before Tristan could say anything, the three dwarves already rushed towards the left group. The old master led the way while swinging the gargantuan hammer in his hand. With each swing, the barbarians would be knocked back and their shields were blown away. The three dwarves were wreaking havoc in the left group, breaking apart the shield wall formation.

    Seeing that the dwarves were doing fine, Tristan decided to not waste any more time.

    There were more than 50 barbarians on each side, a lot of enemies to take care of. He had to make sure none would pass through and threaten his sister.

    Tristan jerked his feet and his body swiftly shot forward. The ymore was brandished in front of him, charging right to the center of the barbarian''s formation.

    One heavy swing of his ymore, split apart two barbarians at the same time and threw a few more crashing back to the others.

    Tristan proceeded to send sh after sh to the barbarians. With each sh, a few barbarians would either be dead or heavily wounded. None were able to stop Tristan''s terrifying strength.

    Unfortunately, there were simply too many barbarians. From all three sides, some managed to pass through and dashed towards La and the others.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Fortunately, La''s gun and Herrera''s fire magic were still enough to keep them safe from those barbarians. Moreover, there were still Astrid and Borin with them.

    The two immediately used their skill. The female barbarian''s body began glowing with blue tattoos, while Borin screamed out at the top of his lungs ''Battle Art! Strength Up!''.

    They were doing their best to block the barbarians that slipped off the three sides, providing cover as well as opportunity for La and Herrera to strike them down. While all of this was happening, Seth was still standing behind the two women, hesitating.

    A few minutester, Tristan finally obliterated most of the barbarians in the right nk. With blood still dripping off his body, he screamed out his victory.

    "Aaaarrrgggg!!!"

    The few that survived quickly tried to flee from the area, only to be stopped by faint red mists that entered their body.

    [Blood Seal]

    [620 Blood Essence to proceed]

    Tristan instantly turned the five surviving barbarians into his puppets and sent them to help Scrall and the dwarves. After doing so, he began extracting the fifty plus bodies on the ground as fast as he could.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [1000¡­]

    [2000¡­]

    [3200 low quality blood cell were found]

    [Extracting and filtering blood cells..]

    [580 Blood Essences extracted]

    He had to kill 50 of them to have enough Blood Essence to turn 5 into his side. Tristan''s eyebrows couldn''t help but twitch because of that.

    Throwing the matter back to his mind, Tristan decided to create more of the blood synthesis flying pearls and saw five of those small pearls cost him about fifty Blood Essence.

    Tristan hated the fact that in the heat of the battle, just like now, he also had to calcte his blood essence. However, if he didn''t and used his skills wantonly, sooner orter he would run out of Blood Essence and have no more to kill more of the barbarians.

    He took a look at the system, checking his current reserve of Blood Essence.

    [Blood Essence 1480]

    The body upgrade, even though extremely beneficial, practically turned him into a blood beggar as well.

    Shaking his head, Tristan thought to himself, "I guess it''s time to extract some more."

    Tristan was about to rush towards the left nk to help the dwarves when another warhorn echoed through the air.

    Toooooeeeettttt!!

    The next batch of barbarians had approached the group

 Chapter 85 - Wave Of Attacks

    The first wave of barbarians were not even finished yet, but the second one had already arrived at the door. The current situation truly looked pessimistic for Tristan and the others. He had to find a way to solve this predicament, otherwise they all would be buried under this nameless port.

    Tristan did not know how long they wouldst fighting against thousands of barbarian warriors with just 10 of them, and he did not n on finding out. Even if he miraculously survived this ordeal, he wondered how many of the ten would survive to the end.

    Even now, when he made his way to the left nk, Bofur, the red bearded dwarf, was already heavily wounded. Tristan sped up and joined the left nk battlefield as he shouted.

    "Get back!! I''ll take this over!"

    Upon hearing and seeing Tristan''s arrival, Bifur quickly picked up his dwarf mate and rushed back to the group in the center. There, the two would receive healing treatment from La.

    Tristan knew that the next batch of barbarians would arrive any second from now, hence he did not waste any time. After one heavy swing that pushed the barbarian''s formation a few steps back and killed a few unfortunate ones, he sent the blood pearls and let them explore freely as they created havoc among the barbarians.

    "Elder, you should head back as well." Tristan said to the white bearded dwarf, Belot.

    The old dwarf master was currently leaning on his massive hammer, his breath ragged as Tristan could clearly see his chest heaving up and down in fast manner. He epted Tristan''s words as he nodded and walked back.

    Within seconds, Tristan already spotted the next batch of barbarians rushing down from the hills. Their numbers were about the same as the first batch. Looking at this wave of barbarians, something bothered him.

    It bothered him that these barbarians were sent in small groups.

    It was as if the enemy was just testing his strength and ying with him. The thought of that made Tristan ufortable and furious. Thus, he nned to make them regret looking down on him.

    Right after the blood pearls diminished, Tristan cast [Blood Seal] one more time and randomly turned another 5 barbarians. The remaining barbarians were in panic when they saw their brethren, who stood next to them, suddenly directing their attacks on them instead of the enemy before them.

    The situation became so chaotic that the barbarians even killed one that was not affected by the seal. They really could not tell the difference. Hence, the friendly fire.

    Looking at this sight, Tristan could not help but smile wryly.

    By the time Tristan finished extracting Blood Essence from all the corpses on the left nk, only three blood sealed barbarians were left standing. He beckoned the three to follow him as he returned to La and the others.

    The moment the second batch of barbarians arrived, there were now 15 people on Tristan''s side.

    The battle started with 10 against 200, and ended without any casualty. On the contrary, the opposing side even received an extra five. This eerie situation would definitely make any battlemander go insane.

    Tristan wished he could be happy with this, but seeing the condition of these fighters only concerned him.

    One of the dwarves, Bofur was heavily injured. Borin had three arrows stuck in his body, and the worst of them was Scrall who came back from the middle with one lost hand.

    La still had the ability to help the first two, but there was nothing else she could do about Scrall''s decapitated hand. There was also the fact that all 15 people were exhausted by the battle.

    All in all, their situation did not look optimistic at all.

    Tristan took a nce toward the river, hoping he could catch a glimpse of boats, the long-awaited reinforcement. But none were seen at all.

    It looked like he had to change his tactic a little.

    Tristan chose one of therge houses near the river and told everyone to move into the house quickly. He told them to stay there and recuperate their wounds and exhaustion.

    When the barbarians entered the vicinity of the port, there was only Tristan in the yard, causing countless question marks to appear on the former.

    It looked like Tristan had decided to fight by himself while the others would defend inside the house together. He did not even have the 5 blood sealed barbarians beside him, as they were with the group.

    With the cover of the house, La and the others would have a little protection against the barbarian archers.

    "Come fight me!!" Tristan shouted loudly. The look on his face showed that he was serious with the intent.

    With his increased battle power thanks to the upgrade, Tristan was not afraid. He dashed into the barbarians and started moving hisrge ymore ceaselessly, sending strike after strike onto the enemy.

    Limbs were cut and dropped to the ground with a thud; dozens of heads were flying around, painting a picture that would make any human back on Earth terrified; familiar red liquid sttered all around the battlefield, as if there was a downpour.

    This time, there were several blue-tattooed warriors among this batch of barbarians. However, Tristan was not the same anymore. Unlike the previous encounter with these warriors, Tristan easily zipped around them reaping their lives like a harvest as they were unable to follow his speed nor resist his strength.

    In the midst of his ughter, Tristan would take a nce towards the house once in a while, and felt assured that even though the enemy had created a few openings of entry to the house, none of them managed to get in.

    More corpses began to pile up in front of the house and in the battlefield where Tristan was.

    Without him realizing, more than half of the second batch were alreadyying on the ground, lifeless.

    s, the situation was far from over as Tristan could hear another of that familiar warhorn.

    Looking over as he decapitated another barbarian''s head, he realized that this time it was a group filled mostly with archers. There were hundreds of them.

    Tristan could see they lit the arrow in their hands before firing it. As a result, a beautiful yet deadly sight of fire arrows rained down on him. The arrows even killed the barbarians who still scuffled with Tristan.

    But then, Tristan realized what their real objective was, to burn down all the houses in the port.

    "Damn it! What to do now?"

 Chapter 86 - Rain Of Arrows

    Tristan''s face rapidly changed as he saw the surrounding buildings were getting zed by the arrows.

    It was clear that the enemy had changed their tactic to burning all the entirety of the fishing port.

    All the dpidated, worn out, old wooden houses were quickly being torn and burned down, along with dozens of the barbarians on the battlefield who were unlucky enough to be hit by the ming rain.

    The barbarian warriors who were still fighting against Tristan began to retreat. But then, something unexpected happened.

    Another volley of arrows wasunched and it was aimed at the retreating barbarians. It seemed that the barbarian archers were ordered to kill any figures that tried to walk out of the port, regardless of their identity.

    Seeing the barbarians getting shot by their own people, Tristan assumed that it was either because those barbarians did not allow cowardice among their ranks, or because they just did not want to risk the survivors to be part of his blood sealed warriors. Either way, it meant there were more bodies for him to extract Blood Essence off.

    Tristan quickly extracted Blood Essence from all the barbarians while he still kept his eyes on the faraway archers. Rain of arrows was still ongoing, but his battle power made him able to easily dodge or parry them. Unfortunately, he can''t say the same for the others.

    La and the others were seening out of the house they were in as it was scorched by the zing mes. They immediately made their way over to where Tristan was while holding up shields that they took from the barbarian corpse to protect them from the raining arrows.

    "Tris! What should we do now?" La asked while closing her body even more to Astrid who had currently be her personal bodyguard.

    Tuck!

    Another batch of Arrows came down from the sky andnded on the shield that was held by them. It only a matter of time before the shield can''t protect them anymore

    Tristan knew he definitely could not stay here anymore. He took a nce at the river one more time, and still not spotted the said reinforcement. Thus, he decided to not wait for it anymore.

    There were just more and more arrows raining down on them like a turbulent waterfall. Moreover, ck smokes began to permeate. Sooner orter, these smokes would make them pass out due to the absence of air.

    If they were stubborn and chose to wait for the reinforcement, Tristan was sure that all of them would already be under the ground the moment it arrived.

    Tristan was thinking about jumping to the river and escaping through there but quickly dumped the idea after thinking it through. Swimming would make them even more of a sitting duck than they were currently at. It probably only work if he only has La to protect.

    The next batch of arrows killed two of his blood-sealed warriors that''s been protecting the group with their shield. They were doing their best to fend off the arrows by clumping up together making a big cover out of burning shield.

    An idea finally came into his mind.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Substantial amount of red mist quickly came out of Tristan. But this time, instead of forming them into a small sphere, he pictured them bing a huge spread out shield that could cover him. As a result, a red wide curved circr structure formed above Tristan, looking like an umbre.

    Tuck! Tuck! Tuck! Consecutive sounds of arrows hitting hard surfaces were heard, and Tristan was d to see the idea was effective to block the arrow. Hence, he immediately pushed the skill to make it wide enough to cover the whole group.

    Tristan could only ignore the 300 Blood Essence needed to create it. After all, all of those Blood Essence would be worthless if they all died here. Safety would always be the utmost priority in his book.

    "Tris, this new skill of yours is both amazing and creepy." Lamented as she saw the arrows cluttered on the ground around them after they hit the blood shield.

    The others also watched the sight in awe. The elf standing in front of them truly had many tricks on his sleeve.

    Now that the matter of raining arrows was solved. It was finally just the decision - which way they should head to.

    Any choice of direction would probably be all the same, however, Tristan strangely decided to head south.

    As expected, when Tristan announced his decision to go south, the others exploded.

    "South?! But why? Why not north?! The Arcadian is in the north!"

    Tristan was sure there would be more enemies prepared to block the north. Therefore, he eventually chose south out of his guts feeling.

    The smokes from the burning houses had finally enveloped the whole fishing port, blocking the sight of the barbarian archers. That was when the group decided to make their escape.

    "Run as fast as you can, and do not look back!"

    The blood shield swiftly positioned to cover their front, turning into a mobile wall that would run in front of them stopping all the iing arrows from the barbarian archers.

    The barbarians were in disbelief to see what they not expecteding out of the smokes. Instead of a group of people, a big blob of blood was charging at them at great speed.

    Brkkk

    The blood shield crush at the archery line threw them apart like a bowling pin and opening a way.

    "Keep going!! Run!!"

    After breaking through the barbarian archer''s line, the next one was the barbarian warriors that surrounded the port in their shield wall formation.

    Tristan could tell his blood shield was almost diminished. Thus, he decided to break it apart before forming it into multiple small blood pearls which then fired into the barbarian lines like machine gun shots.

    Screams and shouts were permeating the air on the south side. Unfortunately, it was not enough to break out the barbarian''s shield walls. The group was stopped and has to fight over dozens of barbarians before they can breakthrough.

    The rest of the barbarians instantly moved into a different formation and about to surround them once more.

    Tristan continued his ughter, opening up way until they reached the hill south of the port. s, when the group had climbed the hill, they realized there were too many barbarians they had to deal with.

    More and more of the enemy gaining on them and Scrall the tall barbarians being the rearguard of the group finally fall and meet his end.

    "We are not gonna make it!" shouted the unhelpful Seth. "We are gonna die!"

    It was at this moment that Tristan saw a glimpse of hope - a reinforcement hade, but it was not from the sea nor it was humans.

    From the other side of the hill, Across the southern ins, hundreds of greenskins were charging towards them with a female orc leading them.

    Tristan could hear the loud shouting from the female orc.

    "For the chief, attack!!!"

 Chapter 87 - Helpless

    One hundred plus orc Grunts wereing for the rescue of a group of humans, dwarves, and elves. That was definitely something that was rarely ever seen, even in a world such as this.

    Still, Tristan was certainly overjoyed to see those greenskins. They surely came at the right time, just when he needed it because he really did not know how long they would be able to hold on.

    Seeing the iing orcs, Tristan swiftly ordered his own group to charge toward them.

    As a result, the barbarians'' formation that separated the two sides were quickly being vanquished as they were sandwiched on both sides. The barbarians were killed and pushed back at the center, where the two groups focused their assault.

    The moment Tristan''s group merged with the orcs, they finally had a few moments to take a quick breath. They were exhausted - on the brink of copse because of the continuous battle.

    "Karra, you.. I.." Tristan tried to say something, but with the awkward condition, Tristan left her made him unable to think of anything to say.

    The female orc put her hand on her chest as a show of respect and said, "We are waiting for your order, chief!"

    It appears the female orc doesn''t really care about what he did before, she was ready to fight.

    He took a nce at the battlefield to check their current condition. The barbarians had already reformed their formation as if nothing had happened. Apparently, the time they took to destroy the shield wall was enough for the thousands of barbarians to reposition themselves and create a brand-new wall.

    For a moment, Tristan was impressed by the quickness of these barbarians. Their culture, at least the military portions, did not reflect the name they were given at all.

    With a long deep sigh, Tristan turned towards Karra and said, "We are surrounded again, and I don''t think we can outrun them. I''m sorry, Karra. I think you came at a very difficult moment."

    Upon hearing that, Karra looked over the Grunts for a moment before answering.

    "We are just d we did not miss the party, chief!"

    A smile appeared on Tristan''s face when he heard the female orc''s answer. The fire within him also ignited because of it.

    "Very good answer, Karra."

    This act of trust, and the willingness to suffer together truly moved Tristan. Other than La, he never had anyone do the same for him before.

    Tristan turned to look over the Grunts who were looking at him as well. Their gazes showed they were ready to follow their chief anywhere thetter went.

    Without him realizing it, a wide smile emerged on his face.

    "I promise you, boys!!! We will have a feast of ughter upon us!!"

    "Chiiwiikkkk!! Chiwiwikkk!! Golug!! Galug!!"

    Tristan turned around, grabbed the ymore tightly while eyeing the barbarians. All the muscles in his body were tense, akin to a string that was drawn and ready to be released.

    "ATTACK!!" shouted Tristan with all his might.

    Tristan led the attack by dashing at breakneck speed. He crashed onto the shield wall, which immediately split apart due to the momentum. Subsequently, he continued by creating a bloody trail all over the ins as he passed through the rows of barbarians.

    Once more, the excitement and thrill burned something within him - the deep-seated urge hidden within was flowing once again, bursting with such intensity as it expected to be drowned by the blood of his enemies.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    While he was weaving through the barbarians like a slippery eel, Tristan made dozens of blood pearls and began his streaks of wreaking havoc. None of the barbarians in the current battlefield had the ability to stop him. They could only watch as Tristan reaped life with a swing of his sword or a projectile that came out of nowhere.

    The two Orc Champions as well as Karra also charged to the other side of the encirclement.

    Much to his surprise, at this moment, the female orc suddenly yelled out the cknguage. Immediately after, all the orc Grunts seemed to be more ferocious than before.

    [Battle Cry]

    It was a kind of High Orc''s special skill that increased the overall battle power of all the orcs in the n. This was one of the innate abilities of a talented orc. Apparently, Karra was one of this kind.

    Kaboomm!! Kaboomm!!

    Loud explosive sounds resounded through the air, followed by several explosions in the battlefield as Herrera fired her fire spell coupled with the special explosive bolts fired from Bofir''s crossbow.

    Everyone took out their best ability, giving their hardest in the battle. Even though the orcs'' prowess were able to kill two or even three barbarians before falling - it was still a 20 versus 1 battle. If nothing significant happened, they would be buried here, under the soil of the Chaotic ins.

    Within minutes, hundreds of barbarians and dozens of orcs already breathed theirst here, painting the ground with crimson red.

    Tristan no longer counted his Blood Essence and created as many pearls as he could to kill the barbarians around him in the fastest manner possible. Unfortunately, there were simply too many of them. If he managed to kill one in a second, another two would fill the gap.

    "Aarrghhhh!"

    Borin''s shield finally could not bear the brunt of any further strikes as it broke into pieces. As a result, a barbarian''s mace directly hit his head and made him drop to the ground.

    On the other side of the battlefield, Astrid also got into harm''s way as she was hit by a stray arrow, making her drop to the ground whether she wanted it or not. This exposed La to the barbarians, which meant she was going to be attacked.

    As predicted, several barbarians swiftly dashed at her when they saw there was nothing that could block their way. Tristan noticed this, but unfortunately, he was too far.

    He could only watch helplessly as a saber was heading towards his sister, intending to kill her off.

    nk!!!

    The barbarian''s saber was blocked at thest second by a spear. When Tristan looked over to see the owner of the spear, he spotted Seth who was gritting his teeth.

    "All of you.. Back off!! G-go.. go fuck off somewhere else!!"

    At thest moment, Seth finally decided to stand up and enter the fray.

    Even though he did not have many special skills or stats, his presence was able to fill in the gap. And for now, it was enough.

    La and Herrera quickly dragged Borin and Astrid off the battlefield, in order to be healed.

    These events really showed how crucial and dangerous their current situation was.

    At the moment, there were only half the initial orcs still alive, while most of Tristan''s group were wounded.

    Tristan was a nick of a feather away from jumping at his sister and running, when suddenly, another warhorn was heard. Hearing it, the barbarians quickly moved a few steps back, detaching themselves from the battle before reforming their shield wall. Afterwards, they stood silent doing nothing.

    The sight confused everyone on Tristan''s side.

    "What.. What''s going on¡­?"

    While everyone was wondering what exactly was happening, the barbarians suddenly opened a path in their formation, and two figures could be seen walking out of it.

    One was Sigurd, the Jarl of the Golden Horn Tribe - the one who led the previous battle, and an unknown figure wearing a dark hood.

    Tristan was shocked as he could feel a significant energy from the figure in the hood. Hence, he tried to use the scanner to check.

    The moment the result came out, it dumbfounded him.

    [Human, undefined battle power]

    "What the hell?!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 88 - Aesir

    When the two figures came out, all the barbarian warriors took another step backwards and the fight instantly stopped. The abruptness of the action stunned Tristan and the others, leaving them ck jawed.

    Even so, Tristan still did not drop his guard as he could feel the hooded figure was especially strong. The result of the scanner further convinced him to not take the figure lightly.

    Besides, not only did the hooded figure feels powerful, but its appearance also drew respect on the barbarians as Tristan could clearly see the revenant look in their eyes which was directed at said figure.

    The hooded figure walked up and stopped a few meters away from the group. Tristan could only see half of his face but he could tell that he was looking at him curiously.

    Realizing that the fight was being paused, Tristan stabbed his bloodstained ymore into the ground and said,

    "Are you what they called Aesir?"

    Instead of answering, the figure took off its hood and Tristan could see a young man in his twenties. The man''s appearance raised his eyebrows.

    The young man was bald. No. Rather than bald, hairless would be the correct word to describe the man''s appearance. There simply wasn''t any hair visible on his face at all, not even a brow.

    His entire face was pale and his cheeks sunken. If Tristan could not feel his extraordinary aura, he would definitely think this man was one of those patients that already had one foot on death''s door, lying weakly in a hospital bed.

    The figure still did not answer the question after he took off his hood, unlike what Tristan expected. He began approaching Tristan closer with calm steps and said,

    "Yes¡­ Yes, I am.. Vidar."

    The pale-looking man, who introduced himself as Vidar, took his time walking around to see Tristan from several different angles. A momentter, he seemed to be done with his observations and said,

    "What about you..? I have never seen an elf quite like you."

    The pale guy, who now stood only two meter away from Tristan, probably liked to chat. However, Tristan definitely had no n to be friendly in a situation such as this. He took advantage of this opportunity to try and use his skill on the man.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, undefined battle power]

    [Skill unable to take effect]

    [Target beyond host''s capability]

    Tristan inwardly sighed. He knew that would be the case, but he still had to try. Right?

    At the moment, Vidar was looking straight into Tristan''s eyes. Hence, the two were locking gazes, observing and analyzing each other.

    The Jarl standing behind Vidar seemed a bit irritated by the stillness of the situation.

    "my lord Vidar, Can we just kill him already, Our campaign has been dyed for far too long because of this one elf"

    The Aesir raised his hand, and the Jarl who already drew his weapon quickly put it back, bowed and became quiet.

    "No... Not Yet... There is something unique about this elf, something¡­ particr."

    He once more put his full attention on Tristan.

    "I see that you were using blood before.. then it''s not normal enchantment magic...Was it dark magic? Is there such a thing as blood magic?" the Aesir said, sounded like a murmur to himself, but also a question to Tristan. Either way, it was not important.

    From the words that the figure blurted out, Tristan assumed that the whole battle previously was this Aesir trying to see through his power. Hundreds of lives were sacrificed, all in order to sate the curiosity of this figure.

    Knowing that the situation could not keep going like this, Tristan thought that if he could not control the Aesir, he would settle for the next best thing. The Jarl.

    Without further ado, he immediately carried out his thoughts.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, battle power 52]

    [250 Blood Essence required to proceed]

    [Sealing sess rate : 79%]

    The amount of Blood Essence needed was a little bit higher than usual, and the sess rate was lower whenpared to other humans with simr battle power. However, as the Jarl of the barbarians, he would be a very important blood puppet for Tristan.

    "Yes, proceed."

    In an instant, thin red mists began emerging out of Tristan flying toward the Jarl. the Aesir obviously noticed the mist, but he let them approach the panicked Jarl.

    [Blood Seal result : Failure]

    "!!!"

    Tristan was dumbfounded by the result. Was he really so unlucky that he failed on 79% chance?

    He quickly tried it again, with the belief that he only had a single bad luck.

    When the mist appeared once again and made its way towards the Jarl, the man screamed out loud asking for help from the Aesir. Even though the Jarl already screamed until his throat hurt, the pale man ignored the former nevertheless.

    [Blood Seal result : Failure]

    "..." Tristan truly did not know if today was his unluckiest day or what.

    On the other hand, the Aesir smiled as he looked at the Jarl. "Stop your screaming! The stone was effective to protect you"

    Upon hearing that, Tristan became curious about the said stone. What kind of stone could possibly have the ability to block his skill.

    Tritan immediately deliberated what kind of actions he should take now. With his blood seal restrained then.. There was only the option of fighting or¡­ diplomacy.

    "Why are you attacking us? I am not really an Arcadian. I don''t have quarrels with any of you."

    Hearing this, the Aesir became even more excited as he let out a wide grin.

    "Theplete annihtion of the elf from this is our goal, the humans who help them are just extra. Tell me elf, why don''t you know this¡­? you are... not from this are you?"

    After saying that, the Aesirughed loudly. "A dangerous ounder elf? You Definitely a threat to us!"

    The Aesir''s eyes suddenly turnedpletely white, and astounding energy spreaded out all over his body.

    "You shall die now!"

 Chapter 89 - Overbearing

    Oppressive pressure appeared in a blink of an eye, it was so strong it made Tristan''s feet move a few inches. The Aesir in front of him seemed to transform as his eyes turnedpletely white, followed by a glowing aura gradually enveloped his entire body.

    Feeling the overbearing pressure, Tristan knew this Aesir would be one of the strongest opponents he would ever face.

    "Everyone stand back!!" Tristan shouted, lest they got injured due to the side effects of the impending battle.

    Hearing the order, Tristan''spanions, as well as the orcs, immediately retreated, giving more space for Tristan and Vidar.

    After making sure the others had reached adequate distance from the looming destruction, Tristan returned his attention and took a deep breath while closing his eyes. The moment he opened them again, he immediately pulled the ymore from the ground and dashed forward at breakneck speed, pouncing at the glowing figure aiming to kill.

    Taking advantage of the momentum the speed gave him, Tristan swung his sword with all his might, sending a horizontal sh towards the figure.

    Swooossshh

    The Aesir, Vidar, took a step back and sessfully dodged the sh. The movement was effortless, as if Tristan''s sh didn''t amount to anything. But obviously, Tristan would not stop with only one swing.

    He turned his body by pivoting on one of his feet, utilizing the momentum of the first swing as he released an even stronger sh forward. But it still did not hit its intended target.

    The second sh was the culmination of the speed and strength of Tristan''s newfound 200 battle power, but his opponent still managed to casually dodge it. It should have been a sessful strike, one that killed. Unfortunately, the current reality wasn''t the case.

    Tristan was dumbfounded, as he looked at Vidar with a shocked expression. On the other hand, the Aesir responded with a mocking smile on his face.

    "What kind of attack was that? So erratic, so sloppy. How could an amateur like you have such strength! Who are you really?"

    Tristan was astute enough to understand his opponent was stronger than him, much more so. Hence, he could not just attack aimlessly otherwise he would only waste his energy.

    Raising his other empty hand, Tristan activated his skill [Blood Synthesis]

    A dozen blood pearls swiftly formed above his palm and Tristan immediately fired them at the pale man. Much to his surprise, Vidar did not even try to dodge the pearls, as he stood there unmoving. It was apparent the man intended to let those high-speed pearls hit his body.

    Thud. Thud. Thud.

    The dozen pearls that could effortlessly pierce through a barbarian''s body were unable to do the same to the Aesir, as they bounced off thetter''s body like stone marbles hitting a steel te.

    The pearls scattered around Vidar like trash and the man slowly patted his body. "They were quite painful, but honestly, they were very disappointing. I expected more, you see¡­"

    ''Fuck!''

    Tristan cursed loudly in his head. The enemy had skin stronger than steel te. This was really bad news for them.

    Tristan quickly calcted his chances of winning this battle and the result didn''t make him happy at all. Thoughts of running away began to resurface in his mind. Subconsciously, he took a nce at La, who was still trying her best to heal Borin and Astrid from their wounds.

    Seeing Tristan silent, the Aesir opened his mouth, "Is that all you have? Then, it''s my turn."

    Before Tristan could respond, Aesir was already running towards him at a speed he couldn''tprehend. The man moved so fast he lifted the dirt and dust in his tracks.

    Tristan could clearly see Vidar''s fist slowly erging before his eyes, but he didn''t possess the speed to dodge.

    Baaaammm!!!

    One direct hit to the face and Tristan was thrown flying a few meters back. That one hit made Tristan dizzy, lost his bnce and almost tripped his steps.

    ''Fuck!! What kind of punch was that?!" Tristan once again cursed, as he looked at the figure who deliberately stayed in hisst punching motion.

    Tristan felt like he had just been hit by a massive truck at full speed.

    Seeing Tristan was ready to take another, Vidar advanced one more time and delivered another jab at him. This time, Tristan could not possibly let it hit, as he immediately used his sword to parry the punch.

    Baaaammmm!!!

    Another loud sound resounded, as he was once again pushed a few steps back. Though Tristan managed to lessen the impact by parrying it, the remaining strength behind the punch was still enough to make him vomit blood.

    "If you have nothing else to show me. Then, it''s time to end this." The Aesir said as he pulled out the sword sheathed at his waist. As it was drawn, the sword''s appearance was slowly revealed to everyone. It was a one-edged de - a sabre made of gold.

    Previously, the man could stop his giant sword with only his bare arm. Tristan would not dare to imagine what would happen after this monster wielded a weapon. But one thing he knew for sure, the situation would be worse from now on.

    When the Aesir jumped to the air, Tristan instantly created a huge wall of blood in front of him, hoping it would be enough to stop the former. s, it was instantly cut in half by the golden sabre.

    But instead of panicking, Tristan strangely smiled a little - confusing Vidar with his reaction.

    The moment the blood wall split in two, Tristan activated his [Blood Synthesis] skill to turn the broken wall andtch it onto Vidar''s body, bing a kind of restraint that held him down.

    Without wasting such a good opportunity, where his opponent was restrained, Tristan immediately leaped to the air and swung his ymore downward, nning to split the Aesir head in two, but missed and hit the shoulder instead.

    Spattt!!!

    Even though Tristan had the help of gravity and his own strength in the sh, the cut was still not deep enough, proving how durable this Aesir''s skin was. Even so, his effort wasn''t in vain as Vidar suffered an injury.

    Tristan quickly pulled out the ymore that stuck on the shoulder and swung it one more time. This time, toward the neck. It was evident that Tristan wanted to cut Vidar''s head off, ending him once and for all.

    However, before the sword couldnd on Vidar''s neck, the binds that restrained his entire body crumbled to the ground. In an instant, the Aesir used one of his hands to capture the iing sword while the other one, the one holding the golden sabre, was headed toward Tristan''s chest.

    Spaatt... Blood sttered out of his body.

    The sharp tip of the saber pierced through Tristan''s chest and out of his back.

    Seeing this, La immediately screamed, "Tris!! NO!!!"

    Meanwhile, the pale man opened his mouth and spoke with a nonchnt tone.

    "That was a smart move... congrattion for hurting me. But unfortunately, it''s now time for you to die!"

 Chapter 90 - One Sided

    This fight was such a one-sided fight and his stage three body was of no help. The golden sword pierced his body and caused such excruciating pain Tristan had to bite back his screams.

    "Aaaarrggghhhh!"

    Unable to take it anymore, Tristan screamed and tried to push out the de with all of his strength. Before he was able to make any progress, the Aesir pulled out the sword, and Tristan kneel to the ground.

    The wound on his chest was gushing so much blood it made a small puddle on the ground.

    La almost screamed in panic, and she was about to run up towards Tristan, if the just-healed Astrid didn''t hold her down from behind.

    The pale man walked closer, the edge of his golden sword so close to Tristan''s throat. One swing would be enough to end his life right then and there.

    Although he was in a bad situation, Tristan didn''t even waver one bit. He looked at the Aesir''s eyes with a gaze full of hatred and defiance.

    The pale man stopped a few steps away from Tristan and stared at his head deep in thought, before using the tip of his golden sword to touch Tristan''s hair and set it aside. He stared intently at something behind the parted hair, lowered his sword, and pressed its tip towards Tristan''s chest instead.

    "You are notpletely elf¡­ Who did this to you?"

    Tristan merely let out a pitiful gurgling noise. Thanks to the sword, his lung had copsed, and it was hard for him to breathe, let alone talk.

    St!

    The Aesir stabbed him one more time with a cruel smile.

    "Tell me, elf, what are you really?"

    This time, the Aesir raised his de and let the tip touch Tristan''s throat. The metal felt cold to the touch, and before he managed to control himself, a shudder went down his spine.

    "Release me!"

    After struggling for a while, La managed to press down her elbow near Astrid''s stomach, causing the woman to release her. With nothing to keep her away, La tried to shoot a barrage of energy bullets from the ground.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Even though the bullets hit the Aesir''s body repeatedly, it was like trying to whittle down a gigantic rock with the help of a tiny breeze. The pale man was merely pushed back a step, and rather than scream in pain, he gripped his knuckles in annoyance.

    "Don''t interfere, you annoying girl!"

    Tristan took a deep breath with all his remaining strength and screamed. "La, no! Back off!"

    The Aesir was about to pull his sword from Tristan''s body, but he gritted his teeth, swallowed his pain, and grabbed the de of the sword with his hand. He held on tight, even as his fingers started to bleed, and grabbed the Aesir''s wrist with his other hand.

    "Don''t you fucking dare hurt my sister!"

    Smoke started to rise from his body, and the air became more suffocating as heat spreads through it.

    [Heat Touch]

    [25 Blood Essence used]

    "Aaaaaarrrrgh!" This time, the Aesir screamed in pain.

    Tristan''s sacrifice bought them an opportunity, and Karra shouted to her two champions

    "Gesh''nuka! Ash''no!"

    The three of them jumped forward with their des gripped tight, ready to fight to the death for the chance to finish the man. The three of them charged at the same time.

    The pale, skinny man didn''t even bother to dodge. He merely stood still and let the weapons hit him.

    ng! ng!

    Dust rose from the ground thanks to the force of the three''s attacks. But when it cleared, their weapons only manage to make a scratch.

    "All of you are annoying fools!"

    The Aesir raised both his hands, and the glow surrounding his body turned into a bright light enough to blind everyone nearby.

    Booooommm!

    A force was sent out into all directions, throwing Tristan, Karra, and the two big champion orcs at least 10 meters back. The force was so strong, even those that are a bit far away were pushed back as well. Though some managed to stand due to their strength, most of them fell to the ground.

    The Aesir raised his golden sword and walked towards Tristan.

    "I''ll cut your head first, and I will find out what you are from your corpse!"

    One step, two steps, the Aesir approaches him. Tristan''s vision however was blurred and he felt disoriented, but he still retained enough vision to see something blocking the Aesir''s way.

    A few secondster, his vision cleared, and he saw a girl with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes ring at the pale man.

    "You will not hurt him."

    "La¡­ No¡­ Please, get¡­ back!"

    Tristan coughed, spitting blood onto the ground.

    Thatst attack was enough to cripple him and send waves of constant pain all throughout his body. Without wasting time, he quickly concentrated to use his self-restoration skill.

    [500 blood essence used]

    Right after the notification, Tristan could feel energy starting to course through his body again. But he knew that deep down, no matter how strong he currently is, he wouldn''t be fast enough to protect his sister.

    The Aesir dashed forward and disappeared before reappearing in front of La. He lifted her off the ground by the neck, causing the girl to start wing at his hand.

    "No, Wait, Wait!! I''ll tell you all I know, just don''t hurt her!"

    Oddly, the Aesir did nothing, he merely stared at her in curiosity.

    "You¡­ You aren''t hurt even after I used spirit explosion? Why?"

    The pale man let a little bit of energy coalesce in his pointer finger, before pressing his finger down La''s forehead.

    "What the fuck are you doing to my sister?!!" Tristan pushed through his pain and wounds to stand and take a battle stance. Right when he was about to dash forward, he heard the sounds of wind from the sky. It seems something was moving at high speeds up there.

    Tristan looked up, alongside both barbarians and orcs. To their shock, there was a huge flying structure made of steel hovering in the air.

    From the looks of it, it was a flying ship that was a bit bigger than the one that goblin Cursaac had used.

    The ship revealed its weapons prepared to fire when its huge back door opened and dozens of figures in white uniform jumped out of the ne.

    The Jarl shout out "That''s the Arcadian Kingsde!!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 91 - Kingsblade

    The sudden appearance of the flying ship came as a surprise to everyone on the ground. Its massive frame, coupled with the dozens of weapons on it brought some kind of pressure to those who saw it.

    Tristan could clearly see many eyes, especially the barbarians, were terrified by it.

    It hovered in the air, and immediately after, a dozen figures jumped out of it - all of them wearing the same white-colored uniforms that exuded regality.

    My lord Aesir, it''s the Kingsde!" shouted the Jarl, Sigurd. Apprehension was evident in his eyes, causing Tristan to be even more curious about the identity of these people.

    When Tristan expected them to hit the ground with a loud boom, those dozen figures surprisingly were able tond from such a high altitude with extreme ease. He did not even hear a sound as they utilized some kind of force that reduced their falling speed, making theirnding smoother.

    The moment he saw that spectacle - which was unimaginable back on Earth, Tristan immediately knew they all were either formidable fighters or powerful magicians. Either way, they were people who the current him could not afford to offend.

    On the other hand, Tristan was still extremely worried as currently, La was still within the Aesir''s grasp. He was worried that the conflict between the barbarians and this new party would spell the doom of his sister. Hence, he quickly jumped in between them.

    "I don''t care what you all want. Just let my sister go!!"

    One of the people in uniform, a middle ageddy with short hair slowly walked towards Tristan.

    "An elf, with a white hair.. You must be Tristan. Don''t worry, let us handle this." said the serious-lookingdy.

    The shocked Tristan became even more surprised by the words of thisdy. These people somehow knew him, while he had no idea who they were.

    He began pondering who these people were, but he was sure that he had no interactions with any of these people since he and his sister transmigrated to this world.

    The only clue that he had was what the Jarl shouted before. Kingsde.

    Referring from the name, and basing it on the knowledge he had, Tristan assumed that they must be some kind of king''s guard or something.

    Still, thedy''s words didn''t stop Tristan from grasping his ymore firmly. Even so, he still hoped that he would not need to use it.

    The middle-ageddy kept her smile when she saw Tristan''s actions. She then walked towards Vidar in a calm manner, and what she did next made Tristan aghast.

    She stopped in front of the Aesir and knelt with one knee.

    "My lord Aesir, I came here, bringing with me a message from the king. He wishes you to withdraw from the battle, and he agrees for a conve with the Aesir next month"

    The Aesir did not quickly reply which worried Tristan even more, Before he could say anything, someone beat him to it. It was the Jarl, who shouted loudly.

    "My lord Aesir, don''t listen to them! We are this close to finally invading the Chaotic ins. Please, do not let go of this chance. The other Jarl, they could be here at any moment now. Let''s kill these Kingsde now and conquer the ins!"

    The area waspletely silent, with several faint sounds of breathing as everyone waited for the Aesir''s response.

    Then, much to everyone''s surprise, the Aesir let La go from his grasp.

    A period of bewilderment happened in the area, and then, he suddenly floated to the air and flew away, leaving everyone on the battlefield dumbfounded.

    The Jarl, on the other hand, was screaming in shock - calling the Aesir to return. The man had fallen into madness.

    Seeing how his sister''s body was falling to the ground, Tristan dashed forward and grabbed her in his arms. Immediately after, he did a series of examinations and discovered that she was in a half unconscious state.

    Meanwhile, thedy in white uniform stood up and spoke to the hysterical Jarl.

    "The Majesty, King Can wishes for no more bloodshed. If all of you leave quietly now, we will let all of you go."

    Upon hearing it, the expression of the enraged Jarl became even more distorted. He truly had no face to return after being defeated twice. At this moment, a sinister thought brewed in his mind.

    What if they attacked these people here? There were thousands of them and only a dozen of the other party. It should be doable, right?

    His only concern was the thing that was currently hovering above them. The sight of those ounders'' weapons scared him to the bone. Even so, he could not back down. He was desperate enough to throw away his logic that said to retreat.

    That was the thought of the Jarl.

    With a crazed expression on his face, the Jarl gritted his teeth and said, "Even if we fail here, I will make sure all of you die before we return home!!"

    Upon hearing the Jarl''s answer, thedy in white sighed.

    "Is that really your final answer?"

    Instead of answering, Jarl Sigurd turned around and shouted to the barbarians.

    "Kill them all!!"

    The 2000 plus barbarian warriors that surrounded the 50 plus orcs and humans immediately shouted their battle cry and charged towards thetter the moment the order came out of the Jarl''s mouth.

    Fortunately, Tristan, who immediately moved when he heard thedy''s words to the Jarl, had brought his sister to Astrid''s care. Hence, he had the time to prepare himself for another battle.

    Tristan was about tounch andplete another streak of massacre when the flying ship above him made its move. It maneuvered through the air and began making repetitive loud sounds that attracted the attention of everyone on the ground.

    From the familiar sounds he heard and the sight he previously saw, Tristan could tell that the ship was ready to fire its weapons.

    Tratatataatatatata!!!

    In the blink of an eye, dozens of barbarian warriors were shot and fell dead to the ground. There were several who were lucky enough to not die in one shot, but they were basically out of the picture as they suffered severe injuries.

    It was then continued by a consecutive release of some kind of cannon, which made half a dozen explosions appear across the battlefield. Dozens of barbarians were annihted into smithereens, while dozens of others were sted away by the explosion.

    The shot was reminding Tristan of the cannon the Earth''s military had in their battleship. They were deadly and reaping life effortlessly.

    Even though the ship onlyunched its first sequence - which contained a few short bursts of weapons, it was enough to obliterate hundreds of barbarian warriors.

    The assault was such a shock to them, that the Jarl''s face turned extremely pale.

    "By the grace of Odin... What is this madness?!!"

    He had never seen such devastation brought by a single thing. However, even if he wanted this to stop, he couldn''t. The battle has turned into chaos, and sending them to retreat now will only make them suffer even more. He shouted to his men, this time with even more ferocity and insanity.

    The remaining barbarian warriors whose advance stopped due to the bombardment continued their charge.

    Seeing that, Karra shouted in the cknguage, and all the remaining orcs were yelling with her, ready for the next round of battle.

    The dozen people in white uniform also took out their weapons. Tristan could see each of them cast magic spells of their own. Multiple colors of lights, zing mes, numbing ices, crackling lightning came out of their hands.

    The battle had reached its climax.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 92 - Reinforcement

    Tratatatatata!! Tratatatatata!!

    The unceasing raucous sound of the machine guns that echoed through the air like a series of thunder ps. Simultaneously, a shower of bullets was raining down on the battling barbarians.

    If one had the ability to see from the sky, they would be able to see the barbarians were dying at the rate of leaves falling during the autumn season.

    With each round of fire, at least a dozen barbarians would die. The flying ship hovered in the air, turning and maneuvering its massive frame through the sky while shooting at the barbarians on the ground.

    Even so, the group was still overwhelmed by the sheer amount of barbarians jumping at them. It was obvious that there were simply too many barbarians for one ship to handle.

    While the ship was doing its best to deliver destruction onto the barbarians, Tristan was currently in aplete state of surprise as he watched the dozen white uniformed people called the Kingsde. Each of them without exception had the capability to wreak havoc amidst the dozens of enemies before them.

    One would throw a fireball that was simr to that of Herrera, but two times bigger and twice as many as she could throw in one sequence. One could cast a lightning chain that was the same to those humans that he fought in the Cursaac''s ce, grilling dozens of barbarians simultaneously.

    One could turn its skin into some kind metal that none of the attacks hurt him as he bulldozed through the rows of barbarians, sending them up and to the ground. Another interesting one threw the dagger in her hand, and a split secondter, her body arrived at where the daggernded like a teleportation.

    These dozen people could stand by themself and hold one side of the barbarians. Hence, Tristan decided to help the orc side that were almost overridden.

    Without further due, he immediately jumped into the fray and once again began swinging the ymore in his hand, reaping lives left and right. The orcs who saw Tristan''s performance became even more fired up as they followed the lead of their chief.

    The battle continued to rage on for a few more minutes, and the orcs were still able to hold their ground against the unbroken waves of barbarians. Then, suddenly, when Tristan thought that the situation finally turned better for them, a strong rumbling could be felting from the northern hill.

    Hearing the rumbling, as if he knew what it was, the Jarl suddenly became excited once more.

    "Jarl Torsten''s men are here!! Rise up, my warriors!!! Victory is ours!! Don''t let even one of them escape!!"

    Shifting his gaze over to the north, Tristan noticed there were at least a few hundred barbariansing from the north. However, through his enhanced senses, he noticed that these barbarians looked weary. In fact, they looked even worse than those who were currently fighting right now.

    The newly arrived barbarians stopped for a moment looking at the battle. The orcs and the others on Tristan''s side thought they would join the conflict when they suddenly made a detour around the battlefield and kept running towards the south.

    Looking at the disy, Jarl Sigurd shouted in unveiled rage.

    "TORSTEN!! Where are you going!!?"

    The said person who was getting shouted at seemed to be deaf as he continued to run at an even faster pace.

    But then, it did not take too long for him as well as everyone on the battlefield to realize that these barbarians were actually running away from something.

    Another rumbling could be heard from the north; a bigger, stronger, and louder one.

    A momentter, Tristan could clearly see hundreds of armored cavalry units all in silver armor marching through the northern hill. They swiftly galloped across the ins, chasing the rearguard of the fleeing barbarians and killing them mercilessly. To put it simply, it was a stampede of trained soldiers.

    Seeing the sight, Jarl Sigurd screamed in rage as he knew he had to retreat. Continuing to stay and tussle with Tristan''s group would only spell fruitless death. Hence, he blew on his warhorn.

    "Aaaarrrgghhh!!"

    The frustration and resentment showed deep within that scream. Jarl Sigurd red at the blood-soaked Tristan with hatred. "I will not forget this elf!!!"

    When the barbarians retreated, it signified the near end of the battle.

    There were some of the orcs who went ahead and chased the fleeing barbarians, but most of them stayed behind, catching their ragged breath.

    Tristan himself was tempted to chase the running Jarl. However, the concern he had for his sister stopped him from doing that. He was too worried to leave his sister too far. Moreover, he also did not know the intention of those Arcadian fighters.

    A group of cavalry units rode towards Tristan''s group, and he spotted a familiar figure among them. Barry.

    Barry told him that the Mayor''s ships were held by the barbarians in the sea, and the Mayor told him about theing cavalry units. He proceeded to introduce Tristan to the cavalrymander who rode next to him.

    Hearing Barry''s words, themander seemed to be observing Tristan from top to bottom. After a while, he finally opened his mouth.

    "You are Tristan? The elf from Erantell City?"

    "Yes I am.."

    Tristan noticed themander nced at hispanions before looking back at him.

    "The mayor of Erantell is looking for you.. S-"

    Before themander managed to finish his words, thedy in white uniform interrupted him.

    "The mayor will have to wait."

    The words spoken made the cavalrymander turn, and when he saw the uniformeddy he quickly gave his respect.

    "The elf will be going with us." continued thedy.

    Tristan stared at thedy and said, "As much as I appreciate the previous help, I would like to know what you want and where we are going."

    Tristan''s words made thedy stop her steps. She turned around and replied to his question.

    "Sir elf, you areing with us to see the King"

    Now that his presence is known, Tristan did have an interest to see this so-called king.

    Still, Tristan did not ept thedy''s invitation straightaway. The orcs still had to be taken care of, after all.

    "I will go with you. But I need you to guarantee that they will be safe." said Tristan while pointing his finger at the group of surviving orcs.

    The white uniformeddy gave a few words to the cavalrymander. Then, she returned to Tristan, "Don''t worry, it''s been taken care of. The knight will take care of them."

    Finally, it ended - a simple orc camp eradication quest which somehow turned into a full-blown war was finally over.

 Chapter 93 - Hold On

    "Sir elf, we really have to go!!" urged the white uniformeddy, the expression on her face clearly showed her emotion.

    The middle-ageddy, the one with short hair that exuded an extraordinary aura, introduced herself to Tristan as Reika. She was one of the Kingsde''s captains, which meant she was no ordinary person.

    At the moment, she was standing together with her squad right behind her. An impatient look was seen on her face, as Tristan told her he needed a moment to take care of something before he left with them.

    In her mind, the annoyance of her was justifiable as nothing was more important than her king. She wondered what was so important that could make Tristan risk the king''s wrath for waiting.

    Well, if Tristan could hear what she was currently thinking, he would definitely answer it, in his mind as well.

    Blood Essence.

    The newest innate skill [Blood Synthesis] consumed too much Blood Essence for its activation, especially when it was being used in high amounts like the shield he previously created for example. In addition to the self restoration skill he used before, Tristan currently ended with almost zero in his Blood Essence reserve.

    In this world, where danger and peril were hidden and lurked everywhere, that was clearly a no-no. Hence, extracting blood was his main priority at the moment; all in order to survive.

    Tristan casted his gaze over the battlefield, where nearly a thousand corpses were scattered all around. Some of them died with one critical injury on them, some of them died with several holes in their bodies, some body parts were strewn around haphazardly with burns all over, while the conditions of others were simply too gruesome to look at.

    Momentster, the familiar sight of red mists emerging from the bodies unfolded to everyone. The orcs and Tristan''spanions just watched with awe in their eyes, while the Kingsde group observed with pure curiosity.

    [8000...]

    [9000...]

    [10000¡­]

    [A mix of 12000 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [5200 Blood Essence gained]

    This process of extracting and filtering blood cells, until they eventually converted to Blood Essence felt like mining gold for Tristan. He could clearly feel the joy of finding gold ore, melting it and watching it turn into a gold bar. That was exactly the feeling.

    When he finished extracting all the blood from the current battlefield, Tristan walked towards the abandoned fishing port, where hundreds more corpses remained, before proceeding to extract all of them.

    [2000...]

    [3000...]

    [4000¡­]

    [A mix of 4500 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [1700 Blood Essence gained]

    Even though the others in her group were interested, Tristan''s action, which consumed much more time, seemed to almost make the Kingsde captain explode. The upset look on her face clearly told him what she was feeling at the moment.

    Tristan was a little concerned, but in reality, he didn''t really care. He never voted for this so-called king. His experience of election in America ended up giving the authority of that superpower to what the people all around the world described as a clown. Furthermore, he was asked toe by them, not the other way around.

    Still, he wondered what kind of ruler this King Can was.

    It appeared the elderlydy could not take it any longer as she said, "Sir elf, we are honestly asking you to follow us just for courtesy. Please be aware that we are prepared to take you by force."

    Even so, Tristan still waved his hand in nonchnt manner, "Hold on, hold on... Just a little bit more."

    Tristan was definitely not a person who would leave a single coin on a street, let alone one drop of Blood Essence which was worth way more than that. Hence, even though he said a moment, he had no n to leave out even a single drop. After all, he never knew when he would have the chance to experience this kind of feast again.

    He was a miser and he was proud of it.

    All in all, after he was done with his [Blood Extraction], Tristan was left with a number in his bank -, Blood Essence.

    [Blood Essence : 7120]

    He was a little bit disappointed when he saw the number. He thought there would be much more. Then, he remembered about the second Jarl''s army, those who were run down by the cavalry units. Tristan quickly made his way over to their bodies and continued extracting blood.

    [1000...]

    [2000...]

    [3000¡­]

    [A mix of 3800 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [1300 Blood Essence gained]

    Looking at the number, Tristan was delighted. Even though it was less than the first two extraction, it was still a substantial amount of Blood Essence nheless. When he turned around and saw the expression of the elderlydy, Tristan secretlyughed.

    s, thedy noticed his action.

    When he saw that thedy was about to re up, he quickly interrupted her, "I''m done... Thank you for your patience."

    Tristan''s words as well as his sincere smile stopped the elderlydy. In the end, she only sighed and walked towards her group.

    The Kingsde people were only tasked to bring him and his sister. As for the others, they would be escorted by the cavalrymander to Erantell City. On the other hand, Barry had received confirmation from the mayor through themunication stone about a piece ofnd not far from the city that the orcs could upy.

    When he heard that, Tristan told Karra to go and bring all the orcs and rugrats there. Naturally, he still nned to repay their help. What Karra and the orcs did for him despite him having left them there before made Tristan feel indebted to them. He ns to be a real chief for them when he returned.

    Before Tristan and La left with the Kingsde, Reika unexpectedly told him to remove that mysterious enchanting ability he had from the Arcadian citizens. To put it simply, she wanted him to release the Blood Seal.

    It was obvious they knew a lot about him, more than he thought. Tristan had Barry as the prime suspect for that.

    "If you know about that, then you also know I could just use the skill on you," said Tristan.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 112]

    [Spirit force undefined]

    [Skill unable to take effect]

    [Target beyond host''s capability]

    When Tristan tried to use the Blood Seal on the elderlydy, he received her stat which was quite terrifying. This then made him curious about the other Kingsde fighter.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 98]

    [Spirit force 382]

    [1900 blood essence required to proceed]

    [Sealing sess rate 24%]

    Tristan secretly inhaled a huge amount of air. That was a lot of Blood Essence needed for an attempt. Besides, what was that low sess rate?

    The elderlydy replied to Tristan''s words, "The king has given us a mandate to kill you immediately if you are trying to do so."

    Tristan knew that these dozen Kingsbalde were definitely people he did not want to mess with yet, at least not now. Therefore, he decided to follow the request and released both Barry and Borin from the blood seal influence.

    The moment he was freed from the Blood Seal, Borin immediately became terrified when he saw Tristan. Seeing this, Tristan looked at Reika and said, "The order only to release them right? There''s nothing about not killing him."

    When Borin heard Tristan''s undisguised chilling words, he became even more terrified.

    "Although the king said nothing on the matter, we still hope you refrain from doing such a thing, sir elf."

    Tristan recalled what Borin had done for him. Even though he was under his control, his contribution was still significant. Moreover, Tristan was asked by Reika to drop the matter. Coupled with the king waiting for his presence, he decided he wouldn''t worry about Borin anymore, choosing to let thetter go.

    As for Astrid, the elderlydy showed no interest in her. She had no concern at all, regarding the enemy being sealed by Tristan''s ability.

    Tristan thought there was still some use for her. Hence, he ordered Astrid to follow Karra until he returned. Before they parted ways, the old dwarf master said his thanks and told Tristan toe visit Asheforge n sometime in the future. Tristan nodded his head on the old master''s invitation.

    Lastly, there was Herrera, the female magician obsessed with Tristan, who wanted to follow him at all costs. Unfortunately, Tristan just ignored her and jumped into the ship with his sister.

    With Herrera''s screaming apanying it, the ship''s massive door closed and it swiftly flew towards the north.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Check out our website https://bit.ly/avansweb

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 94 - The Flight

    Thest time the two siblings took a flight, they were transported to this unknown and peculiar world. Honestly, the experience still felt a little bit bizarre for both of them.

    Deep down, Tristan still could not believe that he had lost his human body, and that the fact the two of them were stranded in this world - unable to return to Earth. Even though there was nothing worth remembering back on Earth, the sentiment was still there.

    Realizing that he was lost in his thoughts, Tristan quickly shook his head and scanned the interior of the flying ship.

    The flight they were currently on was definitely not amercial flight. Tristan could not even spot a single window, which meant he had no idea where they were going at the moment.

    The inside of the flying ship was spacious enough, half the size of a basketball court. Its appearance looked like a hangar, where its walls curved inwardly and connected on the ceiling, creating an egg-like shape.

    It was pretty empty with only ten seats being ced on two sides of the wall. If Tristan was asked to pick one word to describe it, he would say: simplistic.

    At the moment, the 12 members of the Kingsde squad already sat and split evenly across the 20 seats in the ship. The siblings picked two seats located right next to each other and sat there.

    When the ship began taking off, Tristan suddenly realized that his sister''s hand, which has been trembling ever since, no longer trembled. It was obvious that La was still traumatized by the previous ident. Luckily, it seemed like she could handle herposure.

    Naturally, as the epitome of an ideal brother, Tristan did not miss the chance to tease his precious sister.

    "Wow~ Improvement, I see."mented Tristan in a yful tone. He continued his words with a smile. "No longer scared of flying, aren''t you?"

    Tristan could feel La''s hand was still shaking, albeit slightly. Even so, he was proud that his sister managed to administer her trauma in such a short time.

    "Seriously Tris, with all the shits happening recently. There''s no reason for me to be scared of flying anymore"

    Recalling the experience they had gone through up until this point, Tristan silently nodded his head.

    "That''s true."

    She lifted her head and locked gazes with her brother. "What will happen to us, Tris?"

    Even though Tristan could see a smile on his sister''s face, he knew that it was strained. Sighing inwardly, he could only say, "Don''t worry. We''ll be fine, ill make sure of it"

    Lay her head on his shoulder, and a momentter she started to doze off. Tristan can''t really felt it with his Elf body, but La is a normal human. The thing that just happened must have taken a toll on her.

    Tristan let La asleep on his shoulder for a few hours before he carefullyy her on the seat. He then approaches the Kingsde captain, the middle agedy, and asked, "Captain Raika, how long would the trip take? And can you tell me what the king really wants with us?"

    Unfortunately, the short haired middle-aged woman just kept her eyes shut and did not respond to his question. It was clear that the woman had no intention to answer him.

    "Is it because you don''t know or is it because it''s ssified?"

    But thedy was still unresponsive. She was steady, like a stable mountain.

    Looking at her attitude, Tristan could not help but curse the woman harshly in his heart.

    Without further ado, Tristan shifted his attention to the other Kingsde member. Then, he noticed something strange.

    The eleven figures who had fought fearlessly against the barbarians before, all had pale faces as they sat on their seats.

    "Captain Raika, your men don''t look so good."

    When he still heard no response from the captain, Tristan was furious. It was uneptable for him to see these people, who clearly were not in a good condition, being ignored by their superior. Tristan was about tosh out at her when he realized that Raika looked even worsepared to her men.

    Tristan confused. He didn''t know what had happened to these people. Heck, he even remembered they were fine before they boarded the ship.

    Wait... before boarding the ship?

    A word appeared in Tristan''s mind, hesitation was apparent on his face, Tristan asked, "Captain, don''t tell me you are¡­"

    Another sound suddenly hearding from the door located at the other end.

    "Airsickness."

    When Tristan looked over, he saw a dark skinned womaning out of the said door. She was tall and had an exquisite kind of beauty on her.

    "These are their first flight after all"

    "Airsickness really?" the thought dumbfounded him, knowing such great fighters have trouble with flying.

    "Don''t worry, they will be fine when we arrive, most of the other Arcadians do" continued the woman while keeping her gaze on Tristan. He could feel that the woman was looking at him curiously, especially his face.

    Seeing the unexpected person, Tristan asked, "Who are you?"

    "Name is Zoe. I am the co-pilot of the ship" Still staring at him curiously she continues "They said to pick up a fellow ounder. I didn''t realize that the ounder would be an elf. You are special indeed."

    Tristan was puzzled by what she said. Hence, he asked about it. Apparently, she never heard of an Elf ounder before. She then proceeded to tell Tristan how she was also an ounder that was stranded in this godforsakennd with her husband the pilot.

    Zoe took Tristan to the control cabin at the front, and introduce the said pilot name Wash. It was a blond man that, in Tristan''s opinion, looked a little bit funny. The man was seen fully concentrating on steering the ship.

    "Everything fine here Cap?" asked Zoe

    "We''ll manage" the pilot answered with sweat on his face.

    Tristan was about to ask more about these ounder matters when the pilot said "We have arrived!, wee to Prontea, the capital city of Arcadia"

    Through the front window, Tristan could see the ship was approaching a magnificent city with a tall castle-like building built in its center.

    Soon, the ship parked itself in the clearing at the back of the castle-like building, it wasn''t a smoothnding but the pilot seems pretty satisfied with it.

    When Tristan look at the backroom, The faces of the 12 Kingsde began to recover their color with the ship finally touched the ground.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 95 - Restrain

    The brilliance of the sun seeped through the cabin where Tristan sat as the ship''s door slowly opened. Immediately after, he took his first step out and into this foreign city with La on his side. Naturally, the two siblings were followed and surrounded by the Kingsde fighters.

    Even though their faces were still a little bit pale, their demeanor and aura was nothing to scoff at, drawing out awe and apprehension to those whoy their eyes on them.

    The moment he walked out of the ship, Tristan''s eyes were greeted by the sight of the city he previously saw on the ship earlier.

    As the clearing where the shipnded was located on high ground, Tristan could clearly see the huge city in its entirety. It looked like those medieval times cities he saw in the movies. However, due to its white glossy walls,rge statues seen across the streets, and lots of greenery, the city exuded a magical atmosphere - the kind that could only be seen in fantasy drawings.

    Tristan and La revelled in the sight, before the Kingsde captain, Raika, urged them to follow her.

    Momentster, another group approaches them, Tristan spotted an old man with a white beard wearing long, grey robes line uniform that covered his entire body and holding some kind of wooden walking stick.

    Even though the old man looked fragile at a nce, Tristan could sense a kind of air around him, one that should not be underestimated. Surrounding him were several other Kingsde members in their white uniform.

    The old man put a hand on his chest and said "You must be Tristan. Nice to meet you. People call me Tobias."

    Tristan realized all the Kingsde around him also followed by putting their hand on the chest, it must be some sort of greeting sign, he then also follow.

    "Are you the king?" Tristan casually asked.

    Hearing the nonchnt tone in Tristan''s words, the old man was smiling.

    "Hahaha.. No, of course not. I don''t dare to. I am the king''s advisor."

    Afterwards, the old man turned to Raika and Tristan swore he could see a gleam in the former''s eye.

    "How do you like the new transport?"

    "It was effective, Master Tobias. But... I would still rather use the eagles."

    As if he had expected her response, Tobias exploded intoughter, it almost made Tristan doubt that the old man was really the king''s advisor.

    "Hahahaha! Raika, the king wants all the Kingsde to get used to the flight. So get used to it."

    Raika nodded her head with utmost respect, "Yes, master."

    Seeing how respectful Raika was towards the old man made Tristan even more amazed by thetter. Hence, he secretly analyzed the old man Tobias through the system.

    [Human]

    [Battle power undefined]

    [Spirit force undefined]

    ''What the f-'' Tristan thought to himself.

    No wonder the old man couldmand such respect amid the strong Kingsde. Tristan even dared to assume that he must be a master of magic or even a sage. But then, something unexpected happened.

    It seemed the old man noticed what Tristan just did.

    "You have some kind of machine in your body.. Fascinating. I am sure the king will like you very much. But before that.."

    The old man trailed his words and raised his hand. Immediately, one of the Kingsde stood next to him took out some kind of bracelet. It was a pair of pitch-ck stone bracelets

    "What is that?"

    The reason Tristan asked was because he was astute enough to realize that those were some kind of restriction device, just like a handcuff back on Earth. Therefore, he immediately became rmed.

    "I''m sorry, but I would rather not."

    s, before Tristan was able to do anything, the old man''s face became impassive and his eyes were shining brightly. In an instant, Tristan felt as if an enormous anchor was chained to him - he waspletely unable to move his body.

    Within a heartbeat, the Kingsde who took out the bracelets swiftly put them on his arms.

    ck!

    A sound of something snapped was heard as the bracelet now locked firmly on both of his wrists.

    Seeing all of this unraveling, La, who stood next to Tristan, immediately screamed.

    "What the hell are you doing to my brother!?"

    Unfortunately, Raika looked like she was ready for her outburst as she immediately held her down. As a result, La was unable to do anything.

    Soon, the glow in Tobias'' eyes disappeared and the friendly smile returned to his face. But this time, Tristan could only feel rmed when he saw the old man.

    "I am sorry for this, but we can''t be too careful when someone is about to see the king."

    "What is this thing?" Tristan shouted while trying to struggle off the Kingsde''s restraint.

    "A pair of bracelets made of a precious stone. We called it "godstone". It has an ability to prevent magicians from casting their magic or prevent them from being affected by magic."

    Hearing it, Tristan immediately tried to use his [Blood Seal]. But then, instead of the expected notification that showed the amount of Blood Essence needed and the probability, a new notification appeared.

    [You are currently unable to cast Blood Seal]

    ''F*CK!'' Tristan cursed to himself. It was obvious that he was enraged.

    Tristan really hated the fact there was such a thing in this world.

    Then, he realized that this must be the same stone that was used by the Jarl Sigurd, the one that made him unable to blood seal him before. Another mystery solved.

    Disregarding Tristan''s foul expression, the old man Tobias said, "You may now see the king, follow me"

    Without further ado, the restrained Tristan and La were escorted by the Kingsde. Several minutester, the group already passed the pce''s gate and were currently making their way to the royal chamber.

    Until this moment, Tristan was still not sure about the king''s intention.

    From the information he managed to gather so far, the king seemed to have a righteous reputation, and that was exactly what made him agree toe.

    Furthermore, the ounder couple, Zoe and her husband, said many good things about the majestic figure. Hence, it also made Tristan more confident to meet the man.

    But now, with the existence of the bracelets that pretty much crippled him, Tristan became worried. Being a stranger in such a world; there was so little he could do, especially in front of a king.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 96 - The King

    As Tristan and La, led by the Kingsde, walked through the pce, they could not help but think the ce was indeed befitting of a royal presence. Crossing through its hallway, Tristan noticed its walls were made of exquisite carving stones.

    Looking up, Tristan''s sight was weed by a lofty, curved ceiling adorned with many small statues and what appeared to be artworks. The charm and allure of this ce''s interior would definitely make anyone back on Earth ck jawed.

    After passing through three different doors and dozens of fully armed guards, the two siblings finally arrived at what appeared to be the royal chamber. Well, if the regal atmosphere and artistry ornaments weren''t enough to hint of that, Tristan must be an idiot.

    The moment Tristan walked past the door, his attention was immediately caught by the throne situated at the end of the chamber. It was imposing, magnificent, and sublime.

    Tristan could see one man sitting on that crystal-like throne, with several different figures standing on his left and right sides. All of them were doing the same thing, watching the iing Tristan and La.

    Tristan, La, as well as the group who escorted the two, stopped in their walk several meters away from the throne. Immediately after, the old man Tobias bowed slightly, while Captain Raika knelt on the ground. The two and the other Kingsde gave their respect in the presence of the king.

    "Kneel!" Said one of the figures standing next to the king.

    Not to make things awkward because of such a small insignificant thing called pride, Tristan kneeled and his sister also followed.

    The serious atmosphere was extremely ufortable for him. When Tristan was about to say something, Raika opened his mouth.

    "Your Highness, I have brought upon you the people you seek."

    Another moment of silence transpired. Then, the king finally spoke, "Thank you for your service, Raika."

    The deep andposed voice made Tristan take another look at the figure seated on the throne - the man who people called as the King of Arcadian, King Can.

    The man looked to be in his 50s. He had golden hair, with a hint of silver on its tips. His features were masculine and defined, and coupled with his low-cut beard that had the same color as his hair, the man looked exceptionally graceful.

    The king had broad shoulders, and brought the kind of majestic aura that only a royal could have on him. However, with a careful observation, Tristan was surprised to see that the king was not really a human. To be exact, he looked like part human and part elf.

    Half elf, would probably be the word he was looking for.

    While Tristan was observing the king, thetter also did the same to the former. With unhindered interest in his eyes, the king looked directly at Tristan.

    "With your form, you must be a high elf.. I wonder where you reallye from?"

    The situation, as well as the formless pressure King Can imposed on him, forced Tristan to subconsciously speak more politely than he normally would.

    He was silent for a moment, thinking about the king''s question. After a while, knowing that the king realized he was an ounder - people from out of this world, Tristan had no other answer to say. Hence, he opened his mouth.

    "I came from a called Earth."

    "A called Earth? Hmm.."

    The unfamiliar name that came out from Tristan''s mouth piqued the king''s interest. Hence, he continued his inquiry.

    "We never had an elf ounder before, so I really am interested to know more.. Where is this called Earth? I have read from the ancient text about the 8 high elves n, which one is this Earth?"

    The question asked by the king now became even more confusing for Tristan. He subconsciously looked towards La. Maybe she had a more creative approach to this matter.

    However, before Tristan or even La could answer, the old man Tobias suddenly spoke.

    "My king, I believe the elf might not be an elf at all."

    "Oh?!"

    The king stood up from his throne and approached Tristan, and once more, he observed thetter closely - from top to bottom, leaving no spots overlooked. Then, he noticed Tristan''s human part of his face. Therefore, he became even more curious.

    "Fascinating indeed."

    The king then continued the line of questions.

    "Within just a few days, I have read so many unusual reports about you. I would really like to know more about you, but unfortunately, my aunt has a high interest in you first. Therefore, we shall continue our conversation soon.. Tristan."

    Shifting away his attention from Tristan, the king began talking to his subordinate.

    "Raika, I need you to escort him to the Vanyar Kingdom in order to meet their queen. However, remember to tell the queen I need him back in one piece."

    The captain immediately nodded and epted her new mission.

    "Yes, my king."

    In the meantime, Tristan was annoyed that the king began making decisions for him without even asking his opinion. Hell, they did not even have a conversation earlier. It was a one-sided questioning session.

    But what truly enraged him was his next sentence.

    "As for the girl.. She''s a talented A aptitude magician, isn''t she? I will leave her in your care, Tobias." the king said as he stared at La.

    This was definitely something that Tristan could not ept, not in this lifetime or the next. He absolutely would not let the king separate him and La.

    Tristan ced his burning gaze on the king who stood only a few steps from him.

    The bracelets might stop him from using magic, but Tristan still had his battle power which he was highly confident of. He wanted to capture the king and ''request'' a better decision.

    ncing at his sister, Tristan''s gaze was firm.

    It was not the time to be indecisive.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 97 - Decision

    At times like this where Tristan was surrounded by dozens of Kingsde, he basically already fell under the king''s mercy. After all, his life could be taken out any time with a single gesture from thetter.

    Tristan did not think the king would consider his opinion at all, because they both knew who held the power at the moment. Therefore, he had to somehow increase his leverage in order to make his voice matter.

    Hence, the unimaginable idea he thought of.

    If Tristan could manage to take the king as hostage, his chances of being considered would be higher than now. Besides, in the probability that the king would not listen to his reason despite the risk, he could still hijack the flying ship and take off somewhere faraway together with La.

    The idea seemed a bit too hard to pull off considering the old man Tobias could stop him as easily as a snap of his fingers, as he did earlier. Even so, it was still a feasible n to enact.

    With the king only a few steps away and his back faced against him, this could be the only chance for him. The chance to regain his right.

    No time for him to be hesitant.

    Tristan pushed all the battle power hidden within him as he did one explosive jump towards the magnificent figure.

    Swisshhh

    In less than a second, a fraction of it, Tristan was already one step away from the king. His two hands were stretching out, trying to tackle and bring down thetter. Hidden excitement surfaced on his face, as he slowly watched his hands make their way to the target.

    Unfortunately, what Tristan discovered next was the king turning his body in a serene manner before sending a punch right in his face.

    Baaammmm!!!

    The punch was so strong that it sent Tristan flying several steps away, sliding on the zed floor for quite some time before stopping.

    That one punch not only spilled a few drops of his blood but also took away his confidence. It was really stupid for him to not check the king''s strength first, he assumed that the king, being surrounded by this many guards, couldn''t be that strong. s, he was wrong - extremely so.

    After receiving the king''s punch, Tristan''s body was immediately bound by Tobias'' spell again. As a result, he was currently lying on the floor face up, unable to move.

    The old man quickly bowed to the king again.

    "I truly apologize, my king! I should not just bind his magic. Please forgive me!"

    He then nced at the bound Tristan. His gaze was extremely chilly, while the smile was nowhere to be seen.

    "With the look of it, we really should have just cut off both his arms and legs instead."

    Upon hearing that, La quickled shouted.

    "Don''t hurt my brother, you old geezer!"

    The king raised his hand and said, "Let him go, Tobias."

    The old man instantly changed his expression and nodded.

    "As you wish, my king."

    Actually, with his durable elf body, Tristan was not really hurt. Well, except his pride.

    After he felt he could move his body again, he slowly stood up. In his mind, he somehow regretted the decision he took. It was bad, and he knew it.

    The king looked at La first, before returning his gaze back to him.

    "Was it because of my decision to separate you two? .. Interesting¡­ an elf who cares about his human sister¡­"

    Tristan stared at the king and said, "Just let her go and I will do what you want."

    King Can noticed the determination in the former''s eye. "Let her go¡­?" The king said as he approached Tristan closer.

    He showed a nonchnt attitude despite the fact that Tristan just attacked him before.

    Instead of continuing the conversation, King Can was actually looking at Tristan''s face, or to be exact, at where his punchnded earlier.

    "I thought that I hit a little bit too hard just now, but it looks like you weren''t hurt at all. How amazing.."

    "This strength that you have, added with the vicious skill in the report that I read truly made you a really dangerous individual. If it wasn''t for my aunt wanting to meet you, at least you would be locked forever in our dungeon and rot there."

    King Can then turned to La, and walked towards her. While doing so, he was staring at her thoughtfully.

    Seeing that, Tristan shouted, "What the fuck do you want?!"

    His shout made the king turn his head towards him, but only for a moment.

    "Nothing really. I just find the rtionship between you two amusing."

    King Can turned his body around and spoke to Raika, "Release the bracelets off him."

    The unexpected request made everyone in the room, including Tobias, confused. However, the Kingsde captain only dazed for a moment before taking the pitch ck bracelets off Tristan''s wrists.

    Rubbing his wrists that felt a bit sore, Tristan looked at the king with a questioning gaze.

    "I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier." continued King Can when he saw Tristan was just standing there.

    "Please believe me that I do not intend any harm toward your sister."

    The king then pointed towards the old man, Tobias.

    "My advisor here, Tobias, is our greatest wizard. Every magician in the kingdom would love to be under his care. Hence, please trust the words that it will be in her best interest that I assign your sister in his care"

    Tristan, as cautious as he was, certainly was not convinced when he heard the king''s words. It wasn''t that easy for him to be persuaded, after all.

    In his eyes, the king appeared to be not only strong and smart, but also very maniptive. Not easy to deal with at all.

    As if he could read Tristan''s thoughts, King Can continued his words.

    "Fortunately, now that I have your sister under my care. It will be easier for me to believe that you will not endanger my people. Do you understand what I mean, Tristan?''

    Tristan was silent, understood what thetter meant and nodded his head.

    "Trust me, I truly believe It''s better for a young girl to stay here in the city in order to be safe. At least, until she''s strong enough to take care of herself." King Can added.

    The king had made his decision, and everyone must follow it.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 98 - Drift Apart

    This is the worst feeling for Tristan. Being forced to do something that he did not want, with someone he cared about being ced on the line.

    Tristan had been pushed around by people since he was a child, but now it felt even worse knowing he had this powerful body and skills but was still powerless to change anything.

    The King of Arcadia sat there on his throne, as he gave out his absolute decisions.

    First, Tristan was decided to go see the elf queen who apparently lived deep within the Evergreen Forest.

    Second, the king gave Tristan a huge warning to never use his mystical skill on any of his people. In other words, no Blood seal to be used on any of the Arcadians.

    Last, Tristan would have a group of Kingsde to escort and watch his every move, which meant he will always be under the king''s surveince all the time. This would definitely make the stifled feeling he already felt even more intense.

    The decisions were definite, and there was nothing Tristan could do to change, much less stop it.

    In the midst of this series of decisions in which he had no part, Tristan was at least fortunate to be allowed the chance to see the ce his sister would stay while he was gone.

    It was the magic school which was located in Prontea city, not far from the king''s pce.

    Tristan can see there are dozens of students around his sister''s age all around the ce. It was exined by the old wizard Tobias that this was a special magic school that only allowed selected talented young magicians from all over Arcadia.

    As he walked through the magic school, Tristan somehow felt leaving his sister here was probably not a bad idea at all. All in all, it should be better than leaving her around orcs and barbarians who killed people on a daily basis.

    It was just annoying for Tristan that he was forced to make this decision. Tristan silently promised himself that he would get strong enough to not let others forced him to do anything he doesn''t want anymore.

    Noticing the expression on her brother''s face, La patted his arm with her delicate hands.

    "I will be fine, brother. Just make sure you cane back soon! Otherwise, I will improve so much that I can beat your ass when you return!"

    Tristan saw the smile La gave him, in her effort to not make him worry.

    Before the two siblings drifted apart and headed to their own destination, Tobias unexpectedly gave the two amunication stone. Tristan was ted when he saw the same stone Barry showed him before. This way, the two of them could stillmunicate with each other even though they were far away.

    Tristan appreciated the gesture given by Tobias, which ording to the old man, the king had ordered him to do.

    When he turned around, La threw herself to him and hug him from behind.

    "Be safe Tris"

    Tristan held his sister and said, "Didn''t you hear, the King needs me back right after this elf queen stuff, I will be back before you know it, sis."

    Afterward, Tristan followed Raika''s squad, where this time only half of them would go with her.

    "So are we going to get on the ship again?" Tristan asked as the group walked out of the magic school.

    "No. we won''t." replied Raika sinctly.

    Tristan could strangely feel chilliness in her words, which he quickly swooped away as overthinking. Afterwards, he asked no more questions as he followed the Kingsde group silently.

    The Kingsde group took Tristan to another side of the pce, where the royal stable was situated. Actually, it looked more like a ranch, rather than just a stable.

    Tristan estimated that the ''stable'' spanned over three hundred square meters, where hundreds of horses could be seen standing and gathering across the lush pasture. He could see dozens of foals running around and following their parents.

    While Tristan was still amazed by the sight, Raika spoke to the person who guarded the stable

    "We will be taking the war horses."

    The Kingsde members were familiar with the ce as they immediately rode the horses without taking any time at all.

    Tristan was allowed to choose a horse for himself

    Dragging his vision over the pasture, Tristan''s eyes stopped at one of the horses. Ut has blood-red skin and golden hair piques his interest.

    Looking at its muscr build and striking appearance, Tristan was sure that was the kind of horse he wanted to ride.

    When the ranch''s caretaker, heard Tristan''s decision, he immediately advised him not to as none of the experts had been able to tame this particr horse.

    The horse that Tristan chose, the red stallion, was known to be wild and extremely difficult to cooperate with. Unfortunately, this fact only made Tristan even more interested in it.

    Other people might have had a difficult time with it, but Tristan had an overpowered skill that could wlessly resolve this issue.

    Hence, without further ado, Tristan immediately used the skill.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Stallion, level 20 Beast]

    [Blood Seal would require 100 Blood Essence to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes."

    It might look like a waste of Blood Essence to use it on a horse. But at the moment, Tristan just wanted to blow off the anger that he had toward the king today.

    There was no way a horse could possibly be included as one of the king''s people, right?

    Having the gorgeous horse suddenly be his loyal pet gave Tristan some kind of joy.

    ¡­

    Some timeter, a group of 7 people were seen riding together as they made their way to the south.

    "Where are we headed now?" Tristan asked,

    "We are going to meet up with the Vanyar envoy first"

    It appears the journey would take one and a half days. It somehow annoyed him that they did not use the flying ship as it would definitely save a lot of time.

 Chapter 99 - Riding

    The journey took a full one and a half day which, in Tristan''s opinion, was aplete waste of time. They could arrive at their destination faster if they took the flying ship. However, for some reason, the Kingsde decided to not do so.

    In order to reach their destination as fast as they could, these Kingsde even abandoned the need to sleep.

    Across the entire journey, the group of seven people only stopped once to rest the horse for a few hours at night. They galloped through ins as they made their way towards the destination.

    Tristan was not sure if these Kingsde were always on guard by nature or just because of his presence. The point was, these people never let their vignce down.

    Naturally, through this lengthy and time-consuming journey, Tristan did not sit still. He took advantage of the situation where they were together to know more about his currentpanions.

    One of the Kingsde who made the campfire with his fire magic was called Petra. He was a tall middle-aged man with medium brown hair that was rather messy. Unlike the fiery nature of his element, the man himself was extremely quiet and rather cold.

    The only reason Tristan managed to know his name was because of the other Kingsde who was called Nyx. The man was surprisingly a dark magic user, despite the friendly characteristic of his. Tristan was amazed when he saw him jump into the shadow of trees, andter came back with the dinner of the day, a wild game of deer.

    The next one that Tristan knew was a burly man named Titus. Tristan assumed that the man would be the opposite of his element characteristic like the first two. Unfortunately, his guess was incorrect as the man was extremely bold and morous. Still, Tristan was impressed when he saw the man turn his entire body into metal during thest battle against the barbarians.

    On the other hand, the other two Kingsde members were the weapon experts of the squad, unlike the three who used magic as their attacks. The tall, muscr guy with light armor covering his body and a sword hanging at his waist was called Shane, while Crow was a long-haired, dark skin female who was covered in chainmail with a quiver at her waist and bow in her grasp.

    At night, they were grilling the venison which had been dismantled and cut into pieces. Apparently, these Kingsde became more talkative than usual when on break. Well, except the captain, Raika, who constantly took her duty seriously.

    Heck, even Tristan was sure that the olddy wouldn''t budge from her guard duty if someone hadn''t called her over to eat.

    It was exactly at this moment that Tristan chatted with them, taking his time to get close to the squad. It was always his principle to know more about his enemy than his friend.

    However, it did not mean that these people were his enemy as the rtionship between them was still vague and undefined in his opinion. Even so, it was always good for Tristan to gather more information whenever and wherever he could.

    For example, through the casual chat with the Kingsde, Tristan managed to know that King Can was the first half human, half elf king in Arcadia where the previous kings were always elf. Even though he was a half elf, the man had reigned over Arcadia for more than 100 years, which was quite an impressive feat.

    Tristan then noticed that when they talked about the king, the Kingsde members always spoke with fervor and respect. Honestly. their behavior somewhat reminded him of those fanboys back on Earth who excitedly cheered their idol and artist.

    As Tristan heard more and more about King Can''s achievements, he finally realized why the man was so revered and adored by his people. The Arcadian Kingdom had flourished for thest 100 years since he took reign. Hence, no wonder the people loved him.

    Even so, Tristan could only let out a wry smile. He definitely could not ept a king who kept a young girl hostage to be a righteous king.

    Tristan also took advantage of this time to check each of the Kingsde members'' strength, one by one.

    [Nyx - Human - Male]

    [Battle power 94]

    [Spirit force 322]

    [Titus - Human - Male]

    [Battle power 85]

    [Spirit force 272]

    [Petra - Human - Male]

    [Battle power 73]

    [Spirit force 334]

    [Shane - Human - Male]

    [Battle power 123]

    [Spirit force 88]

    [Crowe - Human - Female]

    [Battle power 111]

    [Spirit force 97]

    Except Captain Raika, who was obviously a level higher, the 5 of them roughly had simr levels of strength, with the weapon expert having a higher battle power. Hence, this led Tristan to believe there was some sort of standardization in order to have the opportunity to enter the Kingsde.

    With this standard of ability, each of them probably could handle an orc warchief and even could overpower thetter as they definitely had more versatility due to their spells and skills.

    After 3 hours of resting the horses and eating meals, Raika finally decided to continue the journey. This time, probably because they had rest and food, Tristan felt the horses gallop even faster. They kept striding through the ins for another day until they finally reached their destination.

    The ce they were heading to, unlike exactly what Raika said before, was a city called Falkreath. It was the southernmost city of Arcadia, located west of Erantell.

    The moment they reached the city, the sky was already dark as the sun was reced by stars and moon. The city''s gate was shut, while the guards were vignt.

    All 6 of Kingsde were wearing a ck cape that covered most of their body. Hence, they were not immediately being recognized. Fortunately, the moment Nyx showed the Kingsde emblem, the guards immediately became hospitable as they opened the gate.

    Then, the group rode through the city gate and entered the streets.

    Tristan noticed something particr as he rode through the streets of Falkreath City - he could clearly see elves walking around the street. When he asked Nyx this, he exined that Falkreath was the closest human town bordering the Evergreen Forest. Because of that, it had many ties to the elf kingdom.

    Because it was alreadyte, Raika led them to the Falkreath City''s estate, where the mayor resided. There, they were given amodation to rest.

    "We will see the envoy first thing in the morning. Therefore, use the time to rest well and be in your best condition tomorrow." Raika said as she handed the room key to Tristan.

    Being separated for one and a half days after arriving at this world made Tristan somewhat anxious and ufortable. Hence that night, Tristan immediately tried themunication stone to reach out to La the moment he closed his room''s door.

    Unfortunately, Tristan still didn''t get a reply even though it had been a few minutes since he had sent the message. All of this because the stone worked like a short message service, where it was normal for it to take a while.

    The moment he saw the stone was blinking, he immediately grabbed it as it was the sign that it received a message.

    [I am doing alright, Brother. I learnt several new spells, and also met a few handsome boys. Honestly, I am having a st here. So, I hope you are doing the same. XOXO]

    "..."

    Tristan was not sure how to respond to such a message, but he strangely wanted to knock the head of that sister of his. Still, he was d to hear news from her.

    In all honesty, Tristan wished this world had something better than this stone, like a mobile phone back on Earth for example.

 Chapter 100 - The Envoy

    Right after the sun rose, Tristan woke up from his restless sleep. He did not say anything, but he seemed to be in a foul mood, if his deep scowl was anything to go by.

    Before today, Tristan did not even think to check because he was busy navigating the drama with the King and the all day riding he was subjected to, but now, he was beyond annoyed after he checked the system message.

    [Blood essence :8290]

    In a nce, that number seems to be enormous - in fact, considering the difficulty of acquiring blood essence, one could consider that it is. But, Tristan took notes of the total blood essence he received after the battle three days ago, and he realized that he was missing 30 blood essence.

    This means without even casting any of his skill, he will still have to consume 10 points of blood essence daily.

    What happened? Didn''t he only need three per day before?

    Reflecting on what happened in the past three days, and the only thing he could think of as the cause was his stage three monarch body upgrade. Though the upgrade did give him a more powerful body, it also seems it alsoes with higher consumption of blood essence.

    Thinking about the trouble it cost when he ran out of them, made him annoyed once again.

    "Great. Just great." Tristan let out a long sigh.

    10 blood essence a day means he has to extract blood from two fighters'' corpses. Does that mean one kill for breakfast and another kill for dinner?

    Thinking about this really giving him a headache, He was sure that the number would only increase even more when he upgraded the body to the next stage. Something that he absolutely must achieve if he ever wants to bepletely free from that shitty king.

    It appears if he can''t find any other solution for this bloodsucking elf body of his, for the foreseeable future, he will know no peaceful life. All he would find is war and death.

    Once more he can''t help but let out a long sigh.

    He walked out of the bedroom, took a shower, and mentally prepared himself. Today, he would have to meet the mayor and the envoy from the elf kingdom which was mentioned yesterday.

    As the droplets of cool water caressed his skin, Tristan felt himself calm down a bit and his body started to feel more refreshed. But his relief did notst long, as his headache came back when he walked into the mayor''s hall.

    There was a saying, curiosity killed the cat, but perhaps in this case, it would be the elf. Tristan had pondered who the esteemed elf envoy he was supposed to meet before was, but now after he saw her, he wished to go back to his time of ignorance¡­

    Truthfully, the woman was a feast for the eyes, as she was probably the most beautiful creature Tristan had ever seen in his life, in both worlds. She has long, flowing golden hair that looked like it was permanentlybed, with the points of her ears peeking delicately under the gold strands. However, her emerald eyes came with a deathly gaze directed at Tristan, and if he didn''t manage to control himself, Tristan was sure he would flinch right then and there.

    The elf was a familiar face, for she was the elf woman Tristan tricked in that godforsaken ce he woke up in.

    "Sir Tristan, here is Lady Serene, Valkyrie of the Vanyar Kingdom" said captain Raika.

    Tristan could clearly see the anger in her eyes. Though he walked as if he was not under an implied threat, he kept on racking his brain with each step, trying to find a way to deal with the situation.

    After Tristan took his seat, Captain Raika continued speaking.

    "Lady Serene, this is the elf that was requested by the queen of Vanyar."

    The captain and her continue to discuss the detail of their next journey.

    Although It appears for a person in her position, she somehow needs to keep her stature. But, every time Tristan took a nce at her, she still shows her irritation towards him. It was clear, the depth of her anger towards him was not simple at all.

    "Captain Raika, we should quickly continue our journey so we can quickly finish our quest"

    "Yes,dy Serene, we shall do so." Captain Raika nodded respectfully.

    Captain Raika stood up and called for her Kingsde squad to make some preparation, while the female elf approached Tristan.

    She stood in front of him with an expression full of hate and said "you are a shameless lying pig! When the queen is done with you and sees what you really are, I will make sure you get punished ordingly!"

    Surprisingly now that she was in front of him saying her words, Tristan''s fears and worries melted away. To be honest, the sight of such a beautifuldy being angry was quite amusing. He quickly decided on a solution to this predicament.

    "I am sorrydy, I think you¡­ oh yes! You are the elfdy from that ce aren''t you?"

    Tristan''s response instantly made Serene startled. Taking advantage of her confusion, he quickly stood up, grabbed Serene''s hand, and said."

    "Yes!, it''s you!.. you were a lifesaver, thank you, if it wasn''t because of you I would have died in that godforsaken ce"

    "What... you¡­" The female elf turned even more confused.

    "I apologize, mydy, it was a life or death situation, I was not proud of what I did, if I offended you I apologize"

    Tristan decided to act this way. Considering her important status, the elfdy might be useful in the future. His current situation forced him to find as many friends as he could and make few enemies, or risk his death.

    "Please Lady Serene, if there is anything I can do to repay my debt to you¡­ "

    "I¡­ my pet tiger, Mina. You cast an evil spell on her, didn''t you?!" She started to yell again.

    Tristan realized the elfdy was about to get mad again, and he quickly interrupted before she could get another word in.

    "I did mydy, and for that, I apologize. In fact, I can help you with that. But we should do it quickly before the spell ends up harming her permanently."

    A bnce of sweet words and fear, two things Tristan learned that would get him whatever he wanted both in prison and generally in life. He resisted the urge to smirk when he saw her behavior towards him made aplete 180.

    "If all elves are this gullible, this could be interesting," Tristan said to himself

 Chapter 101 - Evernight Woods

    The moment he came out of the mayor''s estate, Tristan was surprised to see the sight outside it. The female elf had brought upon her an army, which was currently standing and filling the street.

    There were more than 50 elves in their full attire - silver armor and various kinds of weapons on them. Moreover, all of them were riding on top of a horse who also wore the same-looking silver armor. Each of them was emanating a strong aura that Tristan could faintly feel from where he was.

    Tristan swiftly scanned one of them, out of curiosity.

    [Elf - Male]

    [Battle power 72]

    [Spirit force 113]

    Tristan could not help but click his tongue in astonishment. Then, he proceeded to scan everyone on that squad.

    When the results appeared, Tristan was surprised to see that each of them had the strength of an Orc Champion, and that didn''t include their spirit force in the equation.

    With force such as this, Tristan would not have to worry about travelling across the Chaotic ins as he could trot around freely, charging through thousands of orcs and barbarians alike.

    These elven soldiers were on such a different level that no wonder they were so respected by the humans.

    While Tristan was wondering how the elf queen could manage to groom such a force, he shifted his attention to the female elf. When he saw the result of the scan, his eyes couldn''t help but widen slightly.

    [Serene - Elf - Female]

    [Battle power 105]

    [Spirit force 262]

    She had strength simr to that of a Kingsde member. Still, she had a very impressive number nheless.

    When they came out and spotted these people, Serene immediately gave her order and those elven soldiers swiftly followed the instruction with impressive discipline. They quickly arranged themself as they moved simultaneously in precise synchronization.

    "Please lead the way, my Lady. I will be right behind you." said Tristan courteously.

    Serene was seen nodding her head and reacted to Tristan''s words somewhat positively.

    Captain Raika looked at this spectacle with a confused expression on her face.

    She swore that the Vanyar Elf, the Valkyrie, was furious towards Tristan for some unknown reason just minutes ago. But at the moment, the two people were showing friendly attitudes towards each other, which really baffled her.

    The speed of turnaround was simply too fast!

    Therefore, the female captain immediately became worried because she suspected that Tristan had already controlled the female elf. Even so, she was not sure if she should confront him about it as there was really no way to tell if it was true or not. And in the event that she was wrong, the consequences of offending a Vanyar Elf was something she could not bear.

    Before Raika could make up her mind, Serene brought her out of the contemtion as she said loudly, "March!"

    The elven soldiers swiftly rode through the streets of Falkreath City, with Serene in the lead. The entourage darted out of the city into the wilderness, heading toward their destination.

    After half a day of riding, the group finally reached the outskirts of Evergreen Forest. Due to the terrain where trees and bushes were everywhere, they were forced to slow down as the horses couldn''t possibly gallop through the woods.

    Tristan was told that it would take them another full day to traverse the forest as their speed had slowed to half of their initial speed. Upon hearing that, his thoughts couldn''t help but wander to that flying ship again.

    Halfway through the journey in the woods, the group stopped as the night had arrived. They quickly split up, going and doing the necessary tasks as they swiftly set up a camp in an open space they found.

    Tristan then discovered that these elves strangely did not eat meat. When the camp was set up, they quickly took several types of bread before proceeding to eat it. The breads'' appearance were different from what Tristan had seen on Earth, but he somehow instinctively knew they were bread.

    Unexpectedly, Serene approached Tristan and gave him one. It was a triangle-shaped bread, wrapped upon a leaf. An aromatic scent diffused out from it, causing Tristan to involuntarily gulp.

    When he asked her what it was, Serene told him it was Lembas. As it turned out, this bread was the staple food of these elven soldiers because one mouthful was enough to fulfill the daily nutritional needs.

    Such an efficient race, these elves. They look cool but boring as hell.

    Tristan tried to inquire about elves from Serene, with the intention to get more knowledge about this race, and also in order to regain her trust.

    Even though Tristan had tried really hard to give a good impression to the female elf - unfortunately it seemed she still held a grudge against him.

    ***

    The sun had risen on the horizon as another day had passed.

    The group immediately continued their journey south as the first chirp of the day resounded. They were going far down south, heading deeper into Evergreen Forest.

    The deeper they went, the harder for them to see the blue sky above them because it was almostpletely covered by the thick leaves of the towering trees around them.

    When the group couldn''t see the sky again, that meant they had already reached the deepest area of Evergreen Forest, the core of it, the area that was known as Evernight Woods.

    With his heightened sense, Tristan could see and hear multiple unique nts and weird looking creatures as they went deeper into the woods.

    Until suddenly, the group abruptly stopped their horses. One of the elven soldiers came from the front and approached Serene. He then proceeded to whisper something to her.

    Looking at Serene''s changing expression, it was apparent that something serious was happening.

    Momentster, Serene got off from her horse, and approached Tristan and Captain Raika.

    "I apologize, captain. There is something that I really have to do first. Therefore, you all may continue the journey to Vanyar first. I will rejoin you shortly."

    Before the captain was able to answer, Tristan opened his mouth.

    "What is it, Lady Serene? If I may ask."

    Tristan''s unexpected question threw Serene off guard. She was hesitant at first, before deciding to spill the words.

    "The scout spotted a group of trappers not far from here. Thus, we will go and halt them. It will not be long, I promise." answered Serene, with thest part directed at Captain Raika

    Upon hearing this, Tristan grinned widely and said, "If it involves fighting, please count me in!"

 Chapter 102 - Trappers

    Captain Raika considered Serena''s and Tristan''s words for a moment as this could affect the entire group. After a while, she finally agreed to let the two on their escapade.

    However, Tristan was strictly warned by the former to not do anything suspicious. Otherwise, he would be put down right at that moment and ce. Furthermore, the Kingsde would follow them from behind, to ensure that nothing went wrong.

    Receiving the agreement from the captain, Serene swiftly took a dozen elven soldiers with her in order to solve the iing threat. The selected elves immediately got off from their horses and gathered near her. Afterwards, they went ahead and made their way towards the said trappers in a slow, careful manner.

    In the meantime, Tristan was right behind this group of people. He was fascinated by how effective and efficient these elves were. They were moving through the woods without making a single sound, following the hand signs Serena did.

    The scene that unfolded right in front of him at the moment was exactly like those special forces movies back on Earth.

    Tristan was d to be allowed to join. Therefore, he also tried his best to be as quiet as possible in following them, lest their position be discovered by the enemy.

    After slowly trekking through the intricate arrangement the forest had for a few minutes, Tristan finally saw a ray of light in the middle of the sea of trees.

    He narrowed his eyes, using the enhanced senses he had to look far into the distance. And then, he saw that the light wasing from a campfire, which was currently surrounded by a dozen figures.

    Tristan discovered those who directly sat in his line of sight were humans, while he was not sure about the others who only showed their side profile and back to him.

    Naturally, Serene had also spotted the figures in the distance. Without making any sound, she swiftly performed a series of gestures that instructed the elven soldiers to lurk and surround the enemy.

    One minuteter, Tristan, Serene and the elven soldiers were already in their positions, ready to lunge forward and attack the unsuspecting enemy.

    "Go!"

    One word from Selene, and the elven soldiers immediately lunged towards the enemy, leaving no window for thetter to counter attack. All the elven soldiers lurked and trudged through the dark forest with ease, as if the darkness did not affect them at all. They struck the enemy and vanished amid the trees, making all the trappers fall into disorder and panic.

    Tristan knows these elves are excellent archers, but they mostly send a warning shot and quickly follow it with the short swords that came out of nowhere and already pointed at their necks.

    Even Tristan did not have the chance to move as all dozen panicked trappers were swiftly disabled and rounded up by the elven soldiers. He and the Kingsde could only watch as the trappers were dealt with in a matter of seconds.

    The voice of Serene was thundering in the air.

    "You damned trappers have vited thew!"

    He could see the female elf cast a spell that made the nts creep up and bind the disabled trappers, acting exactly like a rope. The elven soldiers then began interrogating these trappers for information.

    While the elves were busy with their interrogation session, Tristan silently approached Nyx and asked the talkative man about who these trappers were.

    From him, Tristan found out that these trappers were basically humans who went deep into the Evergreen Forest in search of rare animals to catch or kill. To put it on Earth''s terms, these people were hunters, smugglers, and traffickers.

    The elves despised these trappers so much, as the king had written aw that forbade people from going deep into Evernight Woods and hunting the animals inside. But it was clear that thew was ineffective, given that the number of illegal trespassers and hunters had not decreased.

    Well, after thinking it through, Tristan could understand the reason for these people. Actually, it was very simple.

    These trappers must be looking for the rare items that they could harvest from those rare creatures. In short, they came here in search of wealth!

    This kind of practice alsomonly happened back on Earth, and its target was also the same - rare and precious creatures.

    With the existence of aw that prohibited the hunting of these rare animals, instead of reducing the number of these kinds of practices, it would only increase the price of the rted goods in question.

    In addition, these people must realize that the risks were proportional, or even lower, than the benefits they could derive from this venture.

    Tristan could only shake his head in helplessness as he saw the elves only caught these trappers, doing their best to not kill even one of them.

    No wonder thew could not stop these people. These elves were simply too merciful!

    What''s worse for him, No killing means no blood to extract, this is really disappointing.

    Tristan secretly let out a smile, as he took a moment to mock and criticize the king''s way of handling this matter. In his personal opinion, the best method to handle these kinds of people was throughplete suppression!

    Not long after, one of the elven soldiers ran toward Serene and whispered something. Once again, the female elf showed a troubled expression.

    Tristan was about to ask what happened when Serene suddenly ran towards the wooden cart parked right beside the campfire. Curious, his eyes followed thetter to the cart, only to find her furious.

    This time, Serene approached the bound trappers and interrogated them herself.

    Quietly approaching the friendly Nyx, Tristan whispered, "Do you have any idea what''s going on there now, Nyx?"

    Nyx turned to Tristan, nced at the enraged elf, and said "I''m not sure, actually. It''s quite rare to see the elf be that angry."

    Upon hearing that, Tristan showed a puzzled expression, "Really? I just saw one angry elf yesterday."

    While Tristan and Nyx lost in their conversation, Serene and Captain Raika made their way toward them, or rather, toward Tristan. Their movement caught his attention, and from the way they looked, Tristan assumed they wanted something from him.

    "Sir Tristan, the elf needs your unique assistance." said Captain Raika.

    Tristan was stunned by the unexpected words. "My.. unique assistance? I''m sorry, but what do you mean by that?"

    Tristan could roughly guess what they needed. He just wanted to mess with them.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l

 Chapter 103 - Sacred Animal

    Apparently, the trappers managed to catch one of the sacred animals - the Divine Stag.

    Serene had seen the mutted corpse of the stag in the cart. Hence, the reason for her rage. Furthermore, there were also indications that the poor female stag must have carried a fawn with her, but in reality the fawn was nowhere to be seen.

    The elven soldiers had found the possible clue of another trapper group, but the problem was there were three sets of tracks leaving this ce. Serene needs to know exactly which path the other trappers went - the one who took the fawn.

    Therefore, just like Tristan guessed, they wanted him to use his [Blood Seal] skill to make the captured trappers divulge the information.

    "I am sorry, captain. I don''t understand. How do you expect me to help in this matter? Please borate." Tristan said with a faint smile.

    As if she couldn''t notice the hidden intent in Tristan''s words, Captain Raika exined her intention, "Sir Tristan, I hope you can help us with your unique ability. We need the trapper to tell us the right information."

    "Ohhh.. No, captain! The king strictly forbids me from using that evil spell! Especially to his people! Did you forget? Or are you saying that these trappers aren''t his people, then?"

    Of course Tristan knew exactly what they wanted, but he just wanted to make a point that the king''s order might not always be right. He could clearly see Captain Raika''s expression gradually became stoic.

    "Sir elf, this is not the time for jokes. They need your assistance right away."

    "Do they?" said Tristan as he stared at the beautiful golden haired beauty. It was apparent that he wanted to hear the answer from Serene directly.

    Looking at his expression, Serene realized that he would not help her if she did not answer. The female elf forced herself, but before words coulde out from her mouth, Tristan threw the curveball.

    "Alright, say no more. I will definitely help you, Lady Serene."

    The bright smile that Tristan showed strangely made Serene want to beat the former into oblivion.

    Without further ado, and a little bit more teasing for the female elf, Tristan proceeded to approach the dozen captured trappers. He scanned each of them, one by one, before finally choosing the weakest among them.

    This was not because of any tactical reason. Rather, the weakest would cost less Blood Essence to put [Blood Seal] on. After all, if one was given the option to buy cheaper goods which had the same quality as the normal and expensive ones, they would definitely take it any day.

    As always, the moment Tristan willed the [Blood Seal], the familiar notification appeared in his mind.

    [Blood Seal would take 50 Blood Essence to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes!"

    In an instant, the familiar red mist diffused out of Tristan''s body before it flew towards its target. The other captured trappers watched in curiosity as the mist entered their associate''s body.

    Then, their expressions quickly turned horrified when they saw the trapper squirm and scream loudly before falling silent again. The blood-sealed trapper was eerily quiet, as he looked up into the air nkly.

    The sight sent chills to the other trappers, as well as the Kingsde and elven soldiers who watched the entire process.

    Upon seeing the sessful notification in his mind, Tristan stretched his hand in the air and pointed his finger at Serene while speaking to the blood-sealed trapper, "Now you can exin whatever you know to this prettydy here, alright?"

    While the man was being questioned, Tristan made his way towards the cart where theyy the poor stag carcass.

    Tristan couldn''t help to click his tongue as he saw the said sacred animal. Even though it was already mutted, he could still see the remnant of its beauty. Its glistening silver skin that was almost painted in its own blood and the awkward emptiness on its head - where its antler should be

    Then, Tristan noticed the carcass was still dripping with blood - a unique silvery blood. An idea popped into his mind, and he was tempted to give it a try.

    Tristan finally made up his mind and swiftly used his [Blood Extraction] skill.

    [A mix of 100 high quality blood cell were found]

    [The stale condition of blood cell has decreased the blood quality]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

    [500 blood essence gained]

    As he read through the series of notifications, he was startled. It was a shocking matter for him to gain 500 Blood Essence from one creature. That was the equivalent of 100 barbarian or orc corpses!

    Moreover, this amount of Blood Essence was of decreasing quality!

    Tristan''s eyes gleamed with wonder as his thoughts wandered around.

    How much of the Blood Essence he would get from the fresh one if the stale one already gave him this much?

    Tristan involuntarily gulped his own saliva as he thought about this.

    He realized that he probably was morepatible with these trappers than with the elves.

    Although He would find no joy in killing elegant-looking animals like a stag, if they were able to give him this amount of Blood Essence? He would be happy to do so at any opportunity.

    When the female elf already knew the right path - courtesy of the blood-sealed trapper, they immediately set out to pursue the other group of trappers. Tristan heard that they should only be three hours behind the other group.

    Knowing the value of the sacred animal, Tristan immediately volunteered to track down the trappers along with the elves.

    Arguing that he was the fastest elf of them all, Captain Raika decided to let him be. After all, she believes the elf wouldn''t be making any trouble while his sister was held at the capital.

    Naturally, the Kingsde would follow the elves group in order to make sure a mishap did not happen.

    A few minutester, the elves were already prepared to set off.

    Captain Raika looked Tristan straight in the eye and said, "We stick together and do not stray away! Do you understand?"

    Tristan nodded his head in nonchnt manner, "Of course."

    Serene decided to split up the elven soldiers, ordering the first half to follow her in pursuit while the rest would follow at the back with the captured trappers.

    The female elf appeared to be extremely serious about this sacred animal stuff as Tristan could clearly see the stern expression on her face.

    Serene, being the strongest among them, decided to head out first while ordering her men to follow her as fast as they could.

    The female elf was extremely fast as she shot through the forest terrain, where only Tristan and the Kingsde member were able to match her speed.

    Thanks to the right direction, exceptional tracking ability, and high physical strength, the group of 7 people managed to catch up with the trappers in half an hour.

    Through enhanced vision, Tristan could see a cage being lifted by several figures, with two dozen trappers escorting and guarding it.

    "There they are!" eximed Serene in suppressed voice.

    The group was trying to once more ambush the trapper, but apparently this particr group of trappers managed to notice their arrival and prepared to fight.

    However, Tristan''s surprise did not stop there!

    Seeing their arrival, three of the trappers suddenly scream and transformed as the clothes on their bodies ripped apart. Their bodies gradually grew thick yellow furs, their nails turned into sharp ws, while their teeth became fangs. They turned into half human, half tiger-like creatures.

    Tristan was surprised by the sight, while Serene shouted

    "It''s the hybrids!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 104 - Hybrid

    Within the vast territory of Arcadian Kingdom, there were several races living and coexisting with each other. One of them was the beastman, which consisted of the pigman, moleman, lizardfolk, catfolk and a few others.

    These groups of beastmen were born and raised within their circle, and although their kind was not many, they had their ownmunity and tight rtionship in Arcadia.

    However, when the beast men are an evolved beast race, the hybrids are basically humans with part of their gic code containing the bloodline of a certain creature.

    These hybrids had an innate ability to transform their body into that of their bloodline creature by using the power hidden in their blood. The transformation is not without any effect, as any kind of transformation a hybrid had would give them a certain strength or ability unique to their bloodline.

    The number of hybrids seen throughout the Arcadian Kingdom was small, as they basically looked the same as humans if they did not use their transformation abilities.

    These hybrids were the people Tristan would be facing right now.

    Seeing the three trappers suddenly transformed into half human half tiger creatures, Tristan swiftly instructed the system to scan them.

    [Human - Tiger Hybrid]

    [Battle power 78]

    All three of them had simr levels of strength and simr physique.

    At the moment, there were 20 human trappers and three hybrids. It was a twenty three against 7 situation, which should be disadvantageous for Tristan''s group. s, these trappers were about to fight against the Arcadian King''s elite force, a Valkyrie from Vanyar Kingdom, and a monstrous Blood Monarch.

    In a heartbeat, Serene swiftly dashed towards the steel cage where the fawn was,pletely ignoring the trappers that surrounded it. The trappers could not react to her due to how fast she moved.

    The moment they realized what had happened, Serene had already arrived right beside the cage, protecting the animal from possible threat the trappers might desperately resort to.

    These trappers were ferocious fighters, hence they were going to pounce on this female elf that came out of nowhere.

    However, when they saw the group following right behind the woman, their faces immediately turned into shock.

    Their faces gradually became pale as they looked at the defining white uniform the Kingsde members wore. At that moment, they finally realized they were about to fight a group of the most elite force in the Arcadian Kingdom.

    s, they were given no chance to retreat as Tristan and the Kingsde immediately dashed towards them when they perceived their existence was exposed. Realizing that they would be unable to leave the ce without their precious cargo, the group of trappers decided to fight this battle.

    The three hybrids quickly picked their opponent.

    One of the tiger hybrids dared to fight a battle of strength against Titus. Their arms were interlocking together as the two tried their best to bring the other down. But as soon as Titus turned his body into metal, the stalemate between them instantly shattered as he easily broke both of the tiger hybrid''s arms. The said hybrid screamed out loud in pain, as he dropped to the ground and squirmed in his own blood.

    A volley of red spheres came crashing down onto one of the tiger hybrids as Petra managed to burn one half of thetter into crisp, while Nyx already assimted with the shadow and leaped around stabbing his dagger to the human trappers'' back.

    As the battle, or rather, massacre raged on, thest tiger hybrid decided to fight with, what he thought to be, the weakest among the seven. A middle-aged woman with short hair.

    He tried to intimidate the woman with his tiger roar, but she remained unaffected. The woman looked at thest tiger hybrid calmly, as if he was nothing. Seeing that, the tiger hybrid decided to charge at her. Unfortunately, that was exactly the moment of his doom.

    Before the tiger hybrid could dash a step, Raika raised one finger and pointed it towards the former. A split secondter, a bolt of lightning was zooming forward and incapacitated him right away. That was exactly what he got for picking the strongest fighter in the group.

    Within minutes, the 20 and so trappers were either dead or incapacitated on the ground. When the other elven soldiers caught up to the seven, they only had to do the clean up.

    Just like the previous sh, Tristan did not even get a piece of the action. However, even though his body was itching for a fight, he still enjoyed observing and learning more of the Kingsde members'' strengths.

    Tristan silently approached Serene who was currently attending the fawl.

    It had the same silvery fur like its mother and small silver antler on its head. Unlike its mother who was almost the size of a human, it was only the size of a cat.

    "Is the little guy alright?" Tristan asked Serene who ced her entire focus on the little creature.

    Serene turned her head and said, "It''s a female, and no. She''s not alright. Now that her mother has died, I need to take care of her until she''s big enough."

    Tristan nodded his head in understanding.

    "So, what are we going to do now? What are you going to do with those trappers?" said Tristan while pointing his finger at the disabled ones.

    "King Can is very strict about unnecessary killing. Therefore, I will order my men to bring those criminals to Falkreath for trial."

    "I see.."mented Tristan while he was lost in his thoughts.

    Serene focused her gaze on Tristan for a while before she opened her mouth, "Thank you, Sir Tristan. For your help, that is. Now that this is all over, we can continue our journey to Vanyar."

    Tristan got out of his reverie and nodded to the female elf.

    While Serene and the others began packing up and about to leave, Tristan returned back to approached the sealed trappers, He secretly smiles knowing no one gives cares about his skill being used to a lowly trapper.

    He had purposely not released the guy from the [Blood Seal] in secret as he needed him to deliver a certain message to their leaderter. The leader he meant was the trappers'' leader. With his current condition being somehow hostage by the King, he needs to start scheming for the future.

    He just hopes that the message will be sessfully delivered. After making sure the guy was doing fine and escorted by the first group of elves to Falkreath, Tristan returned his attention back to the current situation.

    Time to head to Vanyar.

 Chapter 105 - Elven Kingdom

    As the group continued on their way, the surroundings that apanied them also went through monumental changes. The further and deeper they went into the Evernight Woods, the thicker and lusher the forest became.

    The trees were so much taller and so big, that Tristan couldn''t even see the branches anymore, only the trunk. The variety of flora and especially fauna were more diverse and varied then anything he had ever heard of. The temperature also became colder as the group began to see snow on the leaves and branches.

    After another half a day journey, which Tristan fortunately began to ept, they finally arrived at their destination, Serene''s hometown, the Kingdom of Vanyar.

    The moment they arrived, Tristan couldn''t but be stunned by the sight that weed him.

    Unexpectedly, this part of the forest, where the kingdom was located, had more openings that allow light to enter the surroundings unlike the path they had taken earlier where visibility was almost non-existent. And then, there it was- Tristan finally saw it. The crystal pce of Vanyar Kingdom that mightily stands between the towering trees.

    Outside it were many elven soldiers in their shiny silver armors, weapons in hand as they were prepared to weed off any iing threats. Fortunately, the other elves that Tristany his eyes on throughout this ce looked pretty normal.

    Without wasting any time, Serene directly took him to the crystal pce together with the Kingsde. On the other hand, the remaining elven soldiers who did not go to Falkreath went to the quarters to report and return back to their post.

    As he got closer to the pce, Tristan could get a clearer look at it. It was glowing exquisitely as its crystal walls reflected the sunlighting from above, giving off a magnificent and majestic vibe. The pce was a big, or rather, massive structure built between several simrly massive trees, which allowed it to be suspended in the air, creating a floating-like illusion.

    While Tristan was wondering how they were going to get there, Serene led them to a grand, zed staircase made of crystal which they proceeded to climb. Hundreds or so stepster, the group finally arrived before the entrance of the crystal pce. Surprisingly, there was already an elf who waited for them, a very thin-looking one.

    Even so, the elf had a certain aura on him that gave off a feeling of respect.

    "Stranger from farawaynds, Wee to Vanyar."

    Serene did a small bow to the elf and said, "Elder Anmar, I have returned with the one sought by the queen."

    The eldery his eyes on the group and scanned through before stopping right at Tristan. He eyed thetter with curiosity before calmly saying, "Hello.. I presume you are the one?"

    Tristan was so stunned by the elf''s words that he gave Serene a quick nce. Noticing Tristan''s look, Serene swiftly introduced the elf. Apparently, he was one of the queen''s advisors - a man with great prestige in the Vanyar Kingdom. Therefore, Tristan nodded his head as a sign of respect.

    "d for the acquaintance. Unfortunately, the queen is still unavable as she has been in the Goddess Shrine these past few days. Thus, I hope you and yourpanion would not mind to be our guest for a while."

    The news honestly troubled Tristan a lot. He really wanted to solve this matter as fast as possible and returned to Arcadia as soon as possible. After all, La was still there. s, it seemed like it would take him much longer to see his sister again.

    Serene still had some things she had to report to the elder, therefore an elf attendant was instructed to show Tristan and the Kingsde members the rooms they could use while waiting.

    Seeing the ce was the kind of living quarters with all the necessities already prepared, Tristan frowned once again. A thought popped into his mind as he looked at the ce they were supposed to use while waiting, and he didn''t like it one bit.

    "Captain Raika, how long are we going to stay here?"

    Raika stared at Tristan and said in a straightforward manner, "As long as the Queen wishes."

    Hearing that, Tristan let out a deep long sigh while grumbling inwardly.

    ***

    The elf attendant had brought Tristan and the Kingsde to the prepared amodation. She then kindly advised them to just wait in the amodation as they were not allowed to roam around Vanyar without someone from the Vanyar Kingdom apanying them.

    At a time like this, where he was prohibited to go out, Tristan took the chance to gather more information about the elves. As always, the helpful Nyx was his main source of information.

    From him, Tristan got to know that the Vanyar Kingdom apparently had an even longer history than the Arcadian Kingdom.

    There were 6 elven kingdoms on the, although it was stated as kingdoms, in truth each has a lesser poption than one Arcadian city. It''s probably easier to think of one elven kingdom as a family or n.

    Among the 6, Vanyar was the one that had the greatest contribution and influence on the Arcadian Kingdom. The Vanyar can be said the founder of the Arcadian, and many of the Arcadian Kings were chosen from Vanyar Royalty. Even the current king of Arcadian Kingdom, King Can, still had some family rtion with the Vanyar despite his half elf half human status..

    This also automatically made standing in the presence of Queen Vanyar like being in the presence of the Arcadian King''s mother. Hence, it was no wonder Captain Raika said they had to stay here as long as the Queen wished.

    "I see.."

    Tristan then realized something. Serene being the daughter of Queen Vanyar meant she was still in the same family as that shitty king.

    ***

    It had been a few hours, but there was still no news.

    The Kingsde might have had as much patience as the Buddhist monks on Earth. However, Tristan had spent enough time locked up against his will. He was about toin when the door suddenly opened, revealing a gorgeous golden-haired beauty.

    Serene had finally shown up, but this time, she was wearing a silver dress instead of herbat armor. The off-shoulder dress that reached her thighs greatly enhanced the beauty that Serene had.

    The sight in front of Tristan was definitely a pleasure to the eye.

    Unfortunately, the allure onlysted for a few seconds before the goddess began to show her sharp gaze once more.

    "Sir Tristan, you wille with me right now!"

 Chapter 106 - Special Needs

    Something about the elf woman in front of him really awakened his desire.

    Of course, who wouldn''t like her? She has beautiful hair with the color of the morning sun. Each step she took radiated authority and beauty, easily making any guy fall for her. But, beyond all that, there was something that really interested him.

    Was it her cold personality, or her fierce demeanor? He wasn''t sure, but what he was sure of was the fact that she is surely the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

    "What is it, Lady Serene? Anything I can help you with?"

    "I came to take you to see Mina now!"

    "Mina?" Tristan stared at her, unsure what she was talking about.

    "My pet tiger, Mina! Don''t tell me you forgot!"

    "Ooh, yes, of course¡­ I understand, I can do it right away!"

    Tristan stood up and walked closer to follow her, and the Kingsde immediately stood up to follow them. But, Tristan nced at them and said. "Actually princess, the fewer people there are, the better the chance for me to seed¡­ This is a very delicate matter."

    To his surprise, the princess immediately believed him. She ordered the Kingsde to stand down, as it would be better not to have too many outsiders walking around.

    Knowing they are in the elf territory, Captain Raika finding it easy to agreed and told the other Kingsde to just take a rest.

    Tristan smirked, his n had seeded.

    "Being this close to the elf princess is like winning a jackpot, really¡­" Tristan wasughing loudly inside. He managed to y them like a fiddle.

    "What is it you are saying, Sir Tristan?" Serene nced at him and asked.

    "Nothing, Lady Serene, I am merely appreciating your excellent decision and admiring your beauty."

    The princess looked away, but for a split second, Tristan was able to see the red blush coloring her face beyond her smile.

    "Oh my god, this is too easy."

    Serena took him outside the pce and led him on a walk around the Vanyar City. The elven city was beautiful, the houses built under gigantic trees bustling with life all around them. Some people gathered around stalls selling various things ranging from beautiful crystals to exotic foods.

    Every time they passed other elf city residents, they stared at them while giving their respects to their Valkyrie. Tristan felt like he was walking with a celebrity.

    The two of them walked away from the hubbub and into a small overgrown area, where a tunnel-like structure leading down the earth could be seen. Barricades were ced all around it to ensure no one could get in.

    At first, Tristan saw horse stables on both sides of the path, but then, as they went deeper, he saw many kinds of weird-looking animals. They passed several animals before stopping at the cage where they keep the white tiger.

    "Here she is, Sir Tristan."

    The white tiger was roaring wildly and thrashing against the enchanted cage until she saw Tristan. Within moments, she turned from a wild beast to a spoiled cat.

    Seeing this scene made Serene have to hold back her annoyed sigh.

    "Please, Sir Tristan, if you undo what you did to my mina¡­"

    "Of course, Lady, I will do it right away."

    Tristan raised his hand, looked at the tiger, and acted as if he was concentrating. He made a pulling motion with his finger before letting out a long sigh.

    "What is it, Sir Tristan?" The Valkyrie asked.

    "Unfortunately, we are a bit toote,dy¡­ I am afraid releasing her from my power will be too hard."

    "What?! How could it be?!"

    "My sincere apologies, mydy, but in my current condition, it will be too hard for me."

    "Too hard?! Please, if there is a way, please try it!"

    Tristan looked away as if distraught, closed his eyes, and said. "There is¡­ But, will you pay the price?"

    "What price¡­?" Serena asked. From her eyes, it was clear her hopes were rekindled.

    Tristan approached the princess and whispered something that made her blush.

    "That''s it, mydy, my special skill really has a special¡­ um, requirement for its activation. If you promise to do it, I will use all the energy left inside me to help your poor tiger."

    The princess was reluctant, but afterwards, she nodded in silence.

    He was ecstatic, he couldn''t believe it! This beautiful elf who had stolen his breath since the beginning of their encounter would let him do whatever he wanted to her. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and made a show to pretend this was the hardest thing he had to do.

    [Will you remove the blood seal from the target?]

    [Blood Seal has been removed]

    [Your blood essence had returned]

    [You have received 250 blood essence]

    He pretended to look down towards the ground and grinned. His other purpose foring here was to take away his blood essence from this creature. To control the tiger, he needed 500 points of blood essence from his total 3000 blood essence limit, which was such a waste. This way also, he could get half of his blood essence back.

    As a bonus, he would also receive his wonderful ''reward'' from the princess.

    Red mist bubbled from the tiger''s forehead and returned back to Tristan.

    "Mina? Mina!"

    "Mydy, please do not worry, she will be fine."

    The tiger trotted closer to the princess and rubbed its cheek against her before licking her arms. Serene smiled, happy and content that her tiger was back to her. Suddenly, she took out a leather cor essory and put it on the tiger''s neck.

    Tristan nced at the cor, it was weird that she would put such an item to the tiger right now, until he saw the pitch ck stone stuck on the cor.

    Is that¡­ A godstone?

    Like being struck by thunder in daylight, Tristan realized the female elf had been fooling him the whole time.

    Serena shouted, and dozens of elf soldiers came filling the tunnel.

    "Capture this shameless pig!"

 Chapter 107 - Punishment

    Tristan did not realized the Valkyrie, Serene, really took this seriously until he saw group of elven guards barged into the tunnel. Even so, he still maintained the faint smile when the dozens of elven guards grabbed and restricted his movement.

    Well, Tristan was still the guest of the Queen, wasn''t he? Surely, the princess would not go so far because of a few harmless lies

    Unexpectedly the elves still took him deeper through the tunnel into the lower dungeon.

    "What Is this princess trying to do to him?" He wonder

    As they walked through the tunnel, Tristan could clearly feel the temperature getting colder with every meter they passed. The air slowly became musty and stuffy, while natural light gradually lost its presence until only the ze of torches lit the darkness around.

    Tristan and the elven guards reached the part of dungeon where the walls were moldy and full of questionable moss. The guards continued by cing him on the wall and put the chains stuck on the wall on both his arms and feets.

    Tristan tried to pull the chains apart, but his attempt was in vain. It was apparent that the chains were made of some kind of special metal as he couldn''t even budge the former with his monstrous strength.

    Not long after, Serene arrived before standing in front of the bound Tristan.

    As he looked at the golden-haired beauty, Tristan was quite surprised that the girl was able to fool him.

    It seemed true that beautiful woman could really be the best liar, or maybe because he was that gullible? Nah, the former sounded more

    In his defense, Tristan felt there were too many ''distractions'' that made him unable to think clearly.

    Serene stared at Tristan with the murderous look that he had gotten quite used to. Then out of nowhere, the princess suddenly pulled out a long whip with jagged edges before hitting it against the rough floor of the dungeon.

    CRACK!!

    The strike was so powerful that it managed to whittle the hard surface. It somehow reminded him with the first time they met where the princess able to destroy a rock with her whip.

    Before Tristan could say anything, Sereneshed all the words she had been holding back, no pun intended.

    "You lying pig!! How dare you make a fool out of me! You shall receive your punishment!"

    "Wow! Wait! Easy there,dy... I obviously didn''t mean harm, I really was just ying around with you.."

    CRACK!!

    Sereneshed her whip one more time. This time, itnded on the wall right next to Tristan''s head. Even so, there was no trace of fear visible on his face, only shock.

    The female elf took out a parchment and start reading it word by word

    "The elf''s power could only be done on a close distance. It can be undone without hurting the host" she then stare back at him "TELL ME! Is this is right or wrong!?"

    Tristan was stunned by the words uttered by Serene. It took him a moment to process it. It was clear the princess was reading the intel these people had on his skill.

    Once again, his thoughts wandered before stopping at Barry, the Erantell captain guard. It must be him who gave all of that away. It looked like he really had to give that Barry another visit in the future.

    Serene noticed that Tristan was silent. Her re intensified and her voice rose higher.

    "Will permanently hurt Mina you said!? You made a fool out of me!!"

    CRACK!!

    This time, the sharp whip hit and wounded Tristan''s chest, causing blood to start spilling out of it.

    "Need to be delicate now, didn''t you say?!"

    CRACK!!

    One more score to Tristan''s chest - another wound mark added to his collection, which then auspiciously followed by another spill of blood.

    Unfortunately, the fire within the Valkyrie didn''t seem to be extinguished as she grew more and more furious.

    "To have the AUDACITY to hurt Mina!"

    CRACK!!

    CRACK!!

    CRACK!!

    "How''s the special need? HUH?!"

    CRACK!!

    "Do you enjoy it now?!"

    CRACK!!

    "Taste this special reward from me!!!"

    CRACK!!

    CRACK!!

    After several, probably dozens ofsh, Tristan''s body was covered in wounds and blood as it was bleeding all over. His body began to shake violently, while the sounds of gasping breath and gritting teeth could be heard faintly.

    The princess gradually looked happy as she watched the liar suffered under her hand. But then, the shaking suddenly stopped as the detestable elf began shouting out loud.

    "I surrender!! I surrender!!"

    However, the expression and the tone Tristan used definitely did not reflect the words he currently blurted out. Realization dawned on her - he was currently mocking her.

    Serene instantlyshed him a few more times, but the elf still kept his mocking attitude. Hell, his voice became even louder instead.

    "Please, goddess! Do what you want to this lowly mortal! Do what you want with me! One more time please! Harder!"

    A train of words drove out from Tristan''s mouth, while Serene kept her act of moving the whip in her hand. The female elf could not believe that the loathsome elf didn''t feel hurt at all.

    In fact, Tristan did feel almost nothing from theshes. His body seemingly could withstand attack much stronger than he thought. Naturally, he still felt a little pain here and there, but there were no serious external injury, much less internal one, thanks to his durable body.

    Tristan found it surprising that the princess was so angry about this. It appears Tristan really hit her spot by making a fool out of her. But still, the punishment amuses him. He didn''t realize the gracefull princess would enjoy a little BDSM activity

    After a few moreshes, Serene finally realized that they didn''t much affect Tristan. Her rage made her want to punish him more than just theseshes, but apparently, she can''t. Hence, she decided to stop the whipping to spare her the fruitless effort.

    "I really hate you, elf!" said Serene, half shouting, while gritting her teeth. Turning her head to the side where the elven guards were, she said, "Release him!"

    Without waiting, Serene immediately began to walk out of the dungeon. She came with the expectation of crushing the despicable elf, only to came out with even more anger and exasperation than before.

    As Serene disappeared from the sight, the guards swiftly released Tristan from the chains binding him. Tristan took a look at his chest, and saw the wounds had started to close themself while the bleeding stopped. He was ecstatic as his body truly had a fantastic regeneration capability.

    He then escorted by the guards again as they walked through the same narrow tunnel. He was about to get out from the dungeon when he suddenly noticed there were several voices he could recognize.

    He shifted his gaze towards the direction the voices came from and saw arge cell on the corner of the dungeon.

    Tristan looked past the metal bars and stared at the five figures sitting on the cold ground. They were all human, but their voices and figures seemed very familiar to him.

    Tristan traced his memories, trying to find out who these people were. Luckily, he didn''t have to do it for too long because one of them recognized his long white hair, and Tristan''s ears caught what he was saying.

    "Guys, that''s that guy. The blood elf."

    A look of understanding appeared on Tristan''s face, but just to be sure, he moved closer to the cell to get a clear look at them. That''s when Tristan knew his guess was right.

    They are the space knights.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 108 - Earth

    The cell was damp and cold, water dripping from the mold-infested ceilings, and every so often, the sounds of nging metal could be heard. A scent that can be described as musty mixed with a bit of rot permeated the air, making the ce ufortable and difficult to breathe in.

    Inside the cell, Tristan sat with 4 men and a woman, all of them seemingly familiar.

    Those five were the space knights he was fighting against back at that ruins.

    One of the men, a brown-skinned, muscr guy with army cut hair, stood, approached him, and red, trying to use his height to intimidate Tristan.

    "So, it really is you, blood elf."

    Tristan merely looked up from his sitting position and calmly asked. "Yes, it is me, what do you want?"

    Phiuu! The guy spat on the floor, right next to Tristan''s feet, and said. "You killed three of my mates. Just watch, when I manage to get out, I will make sure you regret it!"

    The guy made a crushing gesture with his hand, while Tristan stared at him before rolling his eyes. What a clich¨¦ sentence, he had heard this tough guy routine at least twice a day back when he was in prison.

    Though Tristan knew that inciting his anger wasn''t the best decision, he decided to answer just for the fun of it.

    "Haha!! How you n to do that?! you can''t even defeat me with your fancy guns and suits! Big talk from someone behind the bar!"

    "Huh, I don''t even need my suit to kick your ass!"

    This really was a waste of time. Tristan wasn''t really just inciting him for the fun of it. He chose to say that to remind the guy of his disadvantage and see if he can be reasoned with.

    Apparently not, they are just ssic jarheads.

    Tristan turned around and was prepared to leave when a much heavier voice spoke from behind him.

    "Are you a human or an elf?"

    Now, this is a more interesting question. Tristan turned back and saw a burly man with a scar covering half his face. Tristan remembers him, he was the space knight captain who was strong enough to beat him to a pulp.

    Tristan walked closer to the steel bar, while the burly man stood up and walked with confidence.

    "Don''t mind my men; you can talk to me instead. My name is Siegfried, captain of the Grey Wolf. What is your name?"

    "My name is Tristan." He looked at the burly man up and down. He seems reasonable enough to have a civil discussion.

    "You are not an elf, aren''t you, Tristan? That goblin must have operated on you¡­ In fact, no need to answer that, I''m sure you''re human. I have seen the goblinb and those poor human remains"

    Oh, smart and direct, and seemingly strong enough. Tristan thinks this one he can talk with.

    "You are right. I am a human."

    "I know for sure, you are not from here, Where are you from, Which?"

    "It''s a called Earth, do you know anything about it?"

    The scar-faced man seems to think for a moment before saying. "No, I am afraid. There are tens of thousands of human worlds in the universe, and all of them can be quite simr to each other. There is simply no way to keep track of them all, without me having ess to the system"

    "I see¡­" Tristan nodded.

    As if the man could read his mind, he continued.

    "I guess, we are the same in a way, Tristan. Both of us are stranded here."

    "That is true." Tristan agreed but said nothing more. He wishes to hear what the man trying to sell"

    "I think we humans should help each other, Tristan. You help us get out of this ce, then when I have ess to the system, I am sure I will be able to find where Earth is and get you back home. Are you interested?"

    This is definitely something that he interested in.

    "Ok¡­ continue...I''ll consider after I know more of your n."

    The scar-faced man went silent for a moment, but in an instant, he nodded and smiled.

    "I guess even though we''re both humans, you can''t just trust us right off the bat, huh? Then sure, I will tell you. It''s a pretty simple n... Get us out of this ce, and then we can go to my ship''s crash site. Assuming the controls still work, I can contact a ship to pick us up, then we can take you home on our ship. Just like that."

    "What if it''s not working?"

    "My men here Chieng" Siegfried pointed toward an Asian looking man "Though not look much he can fix things, we can work things out eventually"

    Well, Tristan had to give props to him. That n sounded half-believable, and from experience, he could tell that at least half of what the man said is right.

    Fortunately, Tristan has the best solution for this problem. A better way to get 100% guaranteed truth. He decides to scan the burly man called Siegfried

    [Human]

    [Battle Power: 112]

    [Spirit Force: 48]

    This guy is definitely not an Arcadian, and with his current power level, it shouldn''t be impossible to seal him.

    [Blood Seal]

    [2000 blood essence required to proceed.]

    2000 blood essence? That''s pretty high for such stats. Was his system broken? Tristan looked at the man, trying to find a sign as to why does it require so much blood essence to sealed him.

    The next information appeared, and it only made Tristan even more confused.

    [Sealing sess rate: 7%]

    What the hell? Why was it only 7%?!

    Even though Tristan had to admit the man was strong, that rate of sess is just outrageous. Even the stronger Kingsde soldiers were still in the 20%-30% range when ites to sess rate.

    Just what makes this space knight so different from them?

 Chapter 109 - Allies

    There seems to be something that differentiates these space knights from regr humans.

    Their leader had offered him a presumably temporary truce, and the least Tristan could do is check how strong these people are.

    Well, other than the captain named Siegfried.

    Tristan looked at a brown-skinned, muscr guy with army cut hair, the one who tried to instigate a fight against him earlier. When he looked at him, the man narrowed his eyes, forcing Tristan to re at him back. He was tempted to fight this man then and there, but for the sake of cooperation, he chose to hold back for now.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 89]

    [Spirit force 39]

    [1200 blood essence required to proceed]

    [Sealing sess rate 19%]

    Next, Tristan looked at the Asian-looking guy that was introduced as the mechanic of the team. a guy that is a bit shorter than the others, whose ck hair was done in a spiky style.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 87]

    [Spirit force 62]

    [1300 blood essence required to proceed]

    [Sealing sess rate 20%]

    Third, Tristan looked at a white-skinned, skinny man with corbone length messy blond hair. His skin was covered in tattoos of various animals.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 78]

    [Spirit force 91]

    [1300 blood essence required to proceed]

    [Sealing sess rate 19%]

    Lastly, Tristan looked at a woman without legs. This is the magic user who challenged him back in theirst encounter.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 52]

    [Spirit force 262]

    [Sealing sess rate 14%]

    [1700 blood essence required to proceed]

    From the stats, all four of them are definitely one level below the Kingsde guards, but somehow, they have lower sealing sess ratepared to those elite soldiers of the kingdom.

    Tristan noticed that each of them has a tattoo of barcodes and bits and pieces of metal poking out from their flesh, which could mean that they were enhanced using their technology. Considering the lower sealing chance, they might have some kind of item installed in their body that would protect their mind from the enemies'' enhancement magic.

    If Tristan has the resources to create a half-man, half-robot creature to fight against the elves, he would need to install such a chip on them.

    In the end, the space knights are really not worth spending his precious blood essence on. They were not really strong individually, so the secret for their power must be in their weapon and armor. If they don''t have their devices, they really aren''t worth the cost.

    "So, tell me Tristan, what do you think?" Siegfried quirked his eyebrow and asked.

    This Siegfried definitely offered something Tristan sought for his entire time here, but when he looked at the others, especially the brown-skinned man who threatened him before, he simply chuckled.

    "Haha¡­ True, but it is hard for me to trust you, knowing I killed three of your men."

    Siegfried smiled. It seems he has prepared himself for this response.

    "Tristan, of course we are angry about that. No matter what, they are still myrades, but first and foremost, we are soldiers, and in a war soldiers will die all the time. This time, we are talking about our survival."

    "Soldier, huh¡­ I see, then what about your duty as soldiers? What of your mission? You can''t lie to me, I know that one of your missions is capturing me."

    "Yes, but capturing the goblin was also our mission, and we failed on that, too. We will be punished for this failure, sure, but missions are already a part of our lives, and survival is still more important than all that, don''t you agree?"

    Tristan nodded, casually listening to the captain''s attempts to persuade him. Though they sounded genuine, there was no way for him to trust them fully. His life experiences had told him that all humans are the same, untrustworthy.

    Therefore, there was nothing he could depend on except his perfect skill, the blood seal.

    But, though the skill was powerful, the cost for using it is very high. Not only did he have to pay the high blood essence cost, he also had to gamble against the extremely low rate of sess. For now, he would rather not do it, at least not until he was sure he really needed their help at all.

    If they happened to be lying, which they most likely were, he would be wasting thousands of blood essence for nothing. They will be just a puppet who can''t provide him any information, and can''t help him in battles due to their low strength.

    Finally, Tristan made his decision.

    "I cannot trust you at the moment, captain, but if I am interested, I will get back to you."

    The burly man nodded. He doesn''t seem to be disappointed. Instead, he calmly said.

    "Think about it. We are probably the only allies you can have on this, and we might be your only chance to ever return to your world."

    Sadly, Tristan had to admit that he''s probably right. One day, he would definitely find the right time to cut the information right out from them. But for now, they''re not his priority, not now at least. Perhaps when he has more blood essence, or after he has upgraded his blood seal to level two, he would try doing that.

    But one thing was certain, he would return to deal with themter.

    Right after they talked, the march of soldiers could be heard, and the guards unlocked the cage, before letting Tristan out and escorting him back to the room where the Kingdes were. Right as he walked in, Nyx nced at him from where he sat and watched Tristan sit on one of the chairs.

    "What happened? You look a mess! Did you just fall from a horse?" Nyx asked with a sardonic chuckle.

    "Noment."

    They stayed for two nights, but it seems the queen was still nowhere to be seen.

    "Hey, seriously, when will we be able to see the queen?! I can''t just stay here for an eternity, you know."

 Chapter 110 - Hot Spring

    On the morning of the fourth day, Tristan waszing around on the couch when he noticed hismunication stone shining.

    He grabbed the stone and waited for the appearance of the long-awaited message from his dear sister.

    Few secondster, La''s message finally appeared and Tristan quickly glued his attention over it.

    [Morning, brother! How are you? I''m doing great here, by the way. Have you finally seen the Elf Queen? Is she beautiful? Anyway, I just learned how to blow up watermelons with my spell! No one can mess with us two siblings anymore! Hahaha!!]

    Like usual, Tristan sent his own message by grasping themunication stone firmly and thinking what he wanted to convey.

    [I''m fine. Take good care of yourself, and don''t make trouble]

    There was nothing Tristan could say about the Elf Queen as it had been three days and the old hag still didn''t appear. Heck, not even the daughter paid him a visit again, much less the mother.

    Surprisingly, and coincidentally, the moment Tristan cursed the seven generations of the mother and daughter duo, the elf attendant brought with her the ''good news''. It seemed that the Queen would see them today.

    ''Hooray! Now I can finally leave this ce!'' Tristan thought to himself.

    Because of that, they were allowed to freshen themself in the bath.

    Upon hearing the word bath, Tristan involuntarily perked his ears up and eagerness filled his being. He was wondering what kind of bath the elves had. Would it be filled by various flora and fauna? Would it be a waterfall that flowed down a high cliff?

    Tristan quickly shook his head when he realized he was being distracted. Afterwards, he immediately urged the elf attendant to lead the way to the bath.

    Soon, they reached the bath and Tristan waspletely surprised when the elf attendant led them into a semi outdoor area where a massive tub existed. The water was releasing faint white steam, while the area was mostly surrounded by Mother Nature. The overall ambience and atmosphere reminded him of an outdoor hot spring bath on Earth.

    ''Now this is a treat!''

    Tristan only ever saw this kind of bath in the television and magazine, and who would have thought he''d have the chance to try it in another world.

    He was so excited that he wanted to immediately jump into the bath. Fortunately, he didn''t do so because the attendant then proceeded to show several doors, each leading to apletely different hot spring from the other.

    Right now, before him was a natural hot spring surrounded by lush trees with snow floating all around. The beauty of the spectacle presented in front of him made Tristan stunned for a moment.

    Soon, Tristan already took off his clothes and made his way into the spring surrounded by faint steam. It was nice to be able to enjoy such things in the midst of a chaotic world.

    While he was immersed in the serenity of the moment, Tristan suddenly noticed there was a figure approaching from amidst the mist. He didn''t realize that someone else was here.

    To his surprise, the figure that came out from the mist was a beautiful female elf, with long shiny golden hair. For a second, Tristan was worried that she was that crazy princess, but after taking a closer look, it was apparent she wasn''t her.

    The female elf was bathing in a half naked state, with only ayer of bath suit covering just a few parts of her body. Even so, Tristan could clearly see her gorgeous and voluptuous figure, which became even more evident as she swam closer to him.

    "Greetings, stranger."

    "Greetings." replied Tristan while trying to be as calm as possible.

    It looked like the female elf didn''t notice Tristan''s nervousness as she said, "I hope I''m not bothering you, stranger."

    Tristan shook his head slowly and said, "Of course not. There''s a lot of room here to share. Feel free to go anywhere."

    The female elf suddenly chuckled, and Tristan responded with his own even though he didn''t really understand why he did that.

    "My name is Leena. Nice to be your acquaintance."

    "You can call me Tristan."

    Since the distance between them was only about 3 meters, Tristan could observe the female elf in a more detailed manner. She looked slightly older than him, but her voice and the gait she showed had the feeling of gracefulness of a mature adult and youthfulness of a bright adolescent.

    The woman was currently circling around Tristan. Her gaze told him that she was examining his entire body, which, frankly, made him feel a little ufortable. Tristan was trying to keep his bearings when she suddenly traversed the distance between them, approaching very close to him.

    He could vividly feel her smooth skin touching his, and through his enhanced sense, her plentiful bust was seen clearly despite being hidden under the veil of mist and water.

    Tristan could feel his breathing quicken as all this happened. Soon, he froze as the woman began to gently touch and care for his hands. The subtle touch of her fingertips brought a shiver down his spine. As if that wasn''t enough, her hand began to trace his arm, feeling the muscles hidden within.

    "You have excellent skin and amazing muscles, Tristan."

    The woman whispered those words in a sultry tone, which managed to make Tristan''s body tremble involuntarily.

    Tristan was surprised by this female elf''s thought-provoking actions. Back on Earth, this kind of approach could be considered as a seduction from a woman, with a message that she was interested in the said person. Hence, he wondered if it was the same case with the elves.

    Tristan schooled his expression, responded to the woman''spliment with a simple thank you, and said, "You also have great skin, Lady Leena."

    Leena shed him a smile, and she then proceeded to do something that truly shocked him.

    Out of nowhere, the woman grasped hismando.

    "!!!"

    Not that he objected to being touched by a gorgeous woman, but there was definitely something weird going on here.

    Leena saw Tristan''s shocked expression and only gave him a faint smile before letting go of his little brother that had just woken up from his slumber.

    She then said, "Do you have a mate yet, Tristan?"

    "A mate?" Tristan asked in a confused tone. The female elf''s choice of words was certainly peculiar.

    Realizing her mistake, Leena rephrased her words, "Apanion, a partner for life."

    "Ahh¡­ a wife? No... no such thing, yet."

    "Excellent," replied Leena before she swam to the shore and walked out of the spring.

    Even though blurred by the mist around the spring, Tristan could still see the visage of her figure - her half naked body where water was dripping all over her.

    She then left without even a slight nod or goodbye.

    ''What a strange woman'' Tristan thought.

    His mind thought of the woman for a while before he decided to throw her to the back of his mind because he still had to enjoy the marvelous opportunity he had at the moment. When Tristan finished his bath, he immediately put on his clothes, and met the Kingsde members

    It was time to meet the Elf Queen.

    ***

    The group walked through a long hallway before stopping right in front of arge golden ornate door. Tristan entered the door along with the members of the Kingsde, and found it was a massive room with a crystal throne at the end.

    He noticed Serene standing right beside the throne and looking stunning in her long silver off-shoulder dress. Tristan also saw Elder Anmar, the Queen''s adviser, standing directly opposite where Serene was. Then, his gaze stopped on the figure sitting on the majestic crystal throne.

    When Tristan saw the Elf Queen''s face, he fell silent.

    Unaware of his reaction, Elder Anmar introduced the figure sitting on the throne.

    "You are now standing before Queen Leena, the ruler of the Vanyar Kingdom."

    "What the Fuc¡­"

 Chapter 111 - The Queens Decision

    The situation Tristan was currently involved in had be weirder due to the unanticipated revtion. Who would have thought that the female elf who he coincidentally met during his bath time was the Elf Queen. He truly couldn''t corrte the flirtatious and amorous figure he had seen with a position that fundamentally ruled an entire kingdom with absolute authority.

    A question instantly popped into his mind. ''How old is she actually?''

    Tristan recalled his estimation, which was between mid 30s with 40s as the upper limit. He estimated these numbers based solely on her appearance. However, when he remembered the fact that an elf''s lifespan extended over a thousand years, her real age was certainly beyond his estimated number. Even so, nothing could change his opinion that the Elf Queen was definitely the most awesome MILF he had ever seen.

    The queen was currently sitting high on her throne, exuding an impressive level of grandeur. She took a nce at Tristan and he swore he could see a faint smile on her face. s, before Tristan could take a second look, the thunderous voice of the queen''s adviser, Elder Anmar, ruined the peace in the area.

    "You are now standing before Queen Leena, the ruler of the Vanyar Kingdom."

    Before long, Tristan saw everyone, including the Kingsde and even Serene, bowing to the queen. Therefore, he followed.

    It was then continued by Captain Raika, who gave a report of her mission to the queen. After Raika finished the report, the queen smiled and said, "You have my gratitude, Kingsde. Now that the elf is already here. You all can return back to Arcadia."

    Tristan and Raika were both surprised with the queen''s words. They didn''t expect such a decision to be given by the queen.

    Immediately, Raika knelt on the ground with one knee. She lowered her head as much as possible and said, "Your Excellency, King Can has ordered me to escort the elf back as soon as possible. He.. was quite adamant about this."

    "Captain, I will give you a letter to bring back, helping you exin my wish to the king. Will that be enough?"

    Raika was silent, seemingly thinking about the matter. Momentster, she opened her mouth, "Your Excellency, I would rather wait here if that would be the case."

    Unexpectedly, the queen stood up and pped her hands, "Very good! You are an excellent Kingsde indeed. Under my permission, you may stay here as long as you wish." The queen then turned towards her adviser and said, "Let them roam around freely. They have my full permission."

    "Your wish is my order, my queen."

    At moments like this, Tristan believed he had to say his own piece. Honestly, he had enough of being dragged by the waves.

    "Excuse me¡­ My.. Excellency.." said Tristan in a loud enough voice, making everyone''s attention turn towards him. Noticing that everyone was on him, he forged on with his speech, "As much as I was amazed with the beauty of your kingdom, I regrettably still have something I need to do at Arcadia. Therefore-"

    "No." the queen ruthlessly interrupted Tristan before he could get his point across. It was clear that she had unterally made the choice for him.

    "You will stay here, Tristan." said the queen while enunciating the word ''will''. "You will learn the way of the Elf."

    Tristan was confused as he subconsciously muttered. "The way of the Elf?"

    ''What was that supposed to mean anyway?'' - Tristan''s mind.

    The queen naturally couldn''t hear his thoughts.

    "Yes. This will be important for your future and ours"

    Hearing that, the question marks in Tristan''s mind grew even more dramatic.

    "I honestly don''t get it, my queen, what future?"

    "Tristan, I will officially invite you to be a member of my family the Vanyar royalty. Therefore, you have to understand our custom to fit in."

    At this moment, Tristan felt like he was standing in a thick fog. He was extremely lost - confused by the situation.

    Ignoring Tristan''s obvious condition, the queen called upon her daughter, "Serene!"

    "Yes, my queen."

    The queen gazed at this daughter of hers and said, "You have reached youring of age. For it, I have prepared a marriage for you."

    In the blink of an eye, Serene turned pale. She was shocked with what the queen said, and silent when the queen talked to the elder.

    "Yes, it''s settled. In 13 days, there will be a solstice moon. That would be the best time for marriage."

    Tristan finally realized where this conversation was going, and didn''t like it one bit. This had turned into a big joke! Another person would decide on who he married? What the f?

    He wisely reevaluated his opinion of the queen to a madwoman.

    He took a deep breath, and surprisingly, the princess did the same. Their actions attracted the others and as if there was some kind of connection between them, they at the same time said, "I object!"

    The two of them were shocked and turned towards each other. They could clearly see the awkwardness on each other''s faces.

    Seeing the amusing sight, the queenughed cheerfully and said, "I was right! The two of you will definitely make excellent mates for each other!"

    Ignoring her mother''sment, Serene quickly approached and knelt in front of the queen.

    "Mother, please take your words back!" Serene didn''t even address the queen as queen anymore, and referred to her as mother - which showed how desperate she was.

    "Marriage is a big thing! A momentous one, even! I can''t just marry.." Serene stopped her words for a moment and gave Tristan a hateful nce. "A random elf!"

    The queen was silent as she heard her daughter''s words. After a while, she nodded her head and said, "You''re right, daughter. This is indeed not fair for you."

    "Thank you, mother!" Serene smiled widely because she had just dodged a deadly arrow.

    But then, the next words spoken by the queen gave her an even bigger headache.

    "Therefore, to solve this problem, we will hold the gauntlet in 10 days. We will see who else will seek to be your mate and may the best one win"

    The queen nced at the shocked Serene and said with a smile, "Is this fair now, my dear daughter?"

    Serene was speechless - she was left with no words by her mother. Tristan, on the other hand, was relieved. But to be sure, he asked.

    "Your Majesty, if I don''t win or don''t participate, then that means I don''t have to get married, right? Hahaha.." This would probably be the weirdest question he had ever asked in his entire life.

    The queen, however, looked at him with a teasing smile on her face.

    "We, the Vanyar, aremitted to being one family with the Blood Monarch. Therefore, if you don''t marry my daughter then you will marry me."

    "...."

 Chapter 112 - Prophecy

    This was the most amusing situation Tristan had ever been in. How in the bloody hell did a simple quest suddenly turn into a marriage arrangement? It just didn''t make sense!

    What was the reason that the queen was so insistent with her intention of arranging his marriage? Moreover, it was also the first time for Tristan to hear someone mention the word Blood Monarch. It made him curious yet also wary. He absolutely had no idea about the queen''s true intent towards him.

    Still, the main point was, what in the actual world was going on? Did the queen know something about this strange body of his?

    s, before Tristan could get deeper into his contemtion, the sharp voice of a woman broke him out of the trance.

    "Mother, that is absurd!!"

    Intense panic was visible on Serene''s face as she shouted involuntarily. Her body shuddered at the thought of her mother marrying Tristan, the thought of calling the damned elf ''Royal Father'' will be such a nightmare for her.

    Thinking about the probable possibility, another shudder instantly enveloped her - further solidifying her will to reject this idea with everything she had.

    On the other hand, Tristan watched the situation with a nk expression. It really was such a weird situation no matter how strange this world had been towards him.

    This definitely not normal, is it?

    To be sure, Tristan shifted his gaze to the side, to see the reaction of the Kingsde captain and the queen''s adviser. As expected, he could clearly see that the always cool Captain Raika and the calm Elder Anmar were also making unusual expressions.

    Unfortunately, the crown had spoken its royal decree.

    The queen swiftly ordered everyone to leave the ce, except the two people relevant to the matter - Tristan and Serene. Making sure the coast was clear, the queen casually returned to her throne and spoke in a tone that made Tristan''s eyebrow rose.

    "Tristan¡­"

    "Yes, Your Excellency?" responded Tristan in a serious manner. The tone of the queen''s words signified that she was about to ask something monumental.

    "Do you find my daughter attractive?"

    "..."

    Tristan lost his bearings for a second, before he quickly schooled his expression. He took a nce at the still kneeling princess and said, "Yes, very attractive."

    "Then, what about me? Do you find me attractive?" asked the queen with the familiar teasing smile.

    Once again, Tristan was speechless by the level of flirtation this supposed queen couldunch.

    "Yes, Your Excellency. You are very attractive as well."

    At this moment, Tristan was wrecking his own brain. He was unable to think if this was a trick question or a genuine one. He was afraid to answer differently, therefore he basically gave the same answer. In all honesty, all these questions really blew his mind.

    The beautiful smile appeared once more on the queen''s face, as if she was genuinely happy with his answer. Afterwards, she opened her mouth again.

    "It''s settled, then. We will do what I say."

    Even so, Tristan would not let this be decided just like that, not this easy. He stared at the ruler of Vanyar Kingdom and was about to argue when he realized the queen gazed at him.

    In an instant, Tristan felt as if a strong force pressed on him, suffocating him. A strong aura exuded out of the queen''s being through her simple stare. This was stronger than any he had ever felt before. Even the Aesir, the old wizard, nor the Arcadian King were notparable to the level of aura she was currently emanating. At this moment, he realized that the queen was on apletely different level.

    Without Tristan realizing, sweat was pouring down his cheeks and his knees felt extremely soft that he could hit the floor at any time. A little more push, and Tristan would fall down with a thud.

    The attitude the queen was currently showing him was with only one intention - to give him one important message. You will do as I say.

    It was Serene''s shout that interrupted her overbearing aura, relieving Tristan from his agony.

    "Mother! Please tell me why! Why so sudden?!"

    The queen closed her eyes at her daughter''s question. She kept her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again.

    "My daughter, the time of the elves in this world ising to an end. We are dwindling, and you, as the princess of the kingdom, must know this."

    The queen''s serious remark that came so sudden made Serene lower her head. The queen ignored her as she continued her series of words that sounded like a song that echoed the mind.

    "The leaves are falling, the seas are raging, and the forests are drowning. Blood will rise and the Monarch will lead through the mist."

    There was a hint of sorrow through the queen words

    Then, the queen shifted her gaze to Tristan and said, "Tristan, I actually don''t care if you are a human or an elf. However, I believe you are the man mentioned in the prophecy. With the fact that the Blood Monarch has appeared, it means the end of us, the elves, is near."

    Tristan could definitely perceive the seriousness in her words. The queen wasn''t joking.

    "I have spent many days praying in the shrine, and the god has spoken. We, the Vanyar, will do whatever it takes to support you to be the monarch. In return, you will take one of us as your mate, or rather, wife."

    Tristan was speechless - hecked the words to answer. There were only two possibilities in what might be true. What the queen said was the truth, or she waspletely insane.

    One meant he was now at the mercy of a powerful, probably crazy, elf. While the other meant a lot of pain and work had to be done.

    Both were bad news for him.

    Perhaps he really should not think too negatively about this and just chill, at least the silver lining is he got to have one of these two beauties as a wife.

 Chapter 113 - History

    The news Tristan received this morning still weighed on his mind. From the prophecy dictating he was the savior of the elves, and being offered to be the prince or King of the Vanyar. To be honest, a part of him was ecstatic for having the chance to obtain one of the two beautiful women as his wife, but another, more rational part of him wished the elves would just leave him to do as he wishes.

    Leaving from all the shock, at noon, Tristan went for lunch by himself. Though the Kingsde are no longer following his every move, now half a dozen elves reced them, and they would always go wherever he goes.

    He went to the dining room and served a simple lunch of seasoned vegetables and fruits. Though the dishes were expertly cut and arranged into beautiful formations, it seemed nd, as from what he saw, the dishes only had minimal seasonings.

    Tristan gingerly took a bite out of the dishes, and to his surprise, these elves able to make a tasty vegetable meal. The minimal amount of seasonings made the natural taste of the plump, juicy vegetables on his tongue shine even more.

    As an alternative, they have Lembas bread. All in all, the lunch was decent.

    Right as Tristan finished his food, the elf elder Anmar walked in to the dining room.

    "Tristan, the queen has tasked me to teach you the way of the elves."

    "Yes, thank you, Elder." Tristan smiled and nodded to express his gratitude. The elf seemed kind, and his smile felt warm, but something about the elf just reminded Tristan about the grade school history teacher he hated.

    Try as he might, he had no say in this matter, and all he could do was take it.

    He stood up and followed the elder out of the dining room, but before they could walk out, a figure appeared and stopped them.

    It was Serene, the Valkyrie and the princess of the Vanyar.

    "Elder, I have received the queen''s permission. As such, I will be the one to guide him."

    The elder nodded. "Very well, Valkyrie, I will leave him in your care."

    Having the boring old elder reced by a beautifuldy is surely a big upgrade. Now, he only needed to make sure the princess wouldn''t kill him in the process.

    Serene took him on a stroll around the crystal pce, passing through rows upon rows of doors. Every few meters, Tristan could see nts on both sides of the hall, nted in a pot made of carved gold depicting a tree with thousands of branches.

    After walking for a while, Tristan decided to ask her.

    "Where are we going, princess?"

    The princess did not answer, she kept quiet and kept on walking, and Tristan started to worry. Did she decide to ask permission from the queen so she has a chance to take him into another torture dungeon?

    His suspicions were proven unfounded when she stopped in a big hall lined with pictures and statues. Each picture was framed in an borate wooden frame, while the statues were made from carved white marble and propped atop a pir. It looked simr to an art gallery whenever there was an exhibition.

    Serene turned back to look at him and said. "Now, for today''s lesson, we will start with Vanyar history."

    Tristan nodded. To his surprise, apparently, the girl took the task from the queen very seriously.

    First, she talked about the founding of the kingdom. In the span of its 4000-year existence on this, Vanyar has only been ruled by three previous kings, which means the average ruling span was more or less 1000 years.

    The history of Vanyar coincides with the history of the itself. Seven elf ns, the first settlers, came and took over the from humans 4000 years ago.

    The great battle raged on and on, and it imed thousands of both human and elf lives in the process. However, the elves won, and the human casualty reached millions of lives, while the elves only suffered a few thousand casualties.

    However, even though the elves seeded in taking over the, history was not on their side. Instead of a reward for their hard work and victory, they were punished by a total abandonment from the elf collective.

    "We have never heard from the collective since then. I do not know what happened after the victory, but what I know is that the ancestors cut off allmunications to us."

    "Why?" Tristan asked.

    "No one really knows the real reason, not even our historians, and their answers vary. Some said that we were abandoned because we made some kind of failure 4000 years ago, but nothing definite was able to be confirmed. What we know is that the answer was all in the mist

    "The mist?"

    Serene walked closer to a painting in the center, depicting the whole and the territories. The elven evergreen forest stood tall in the south next to the great oceans of the east. On the north, there was a dark territory depicted as a ce of eternal night, and finally, there was a field of mist on the west side.

    "What is this mist?" Tristan asked.

    "Many believe that beyond the mist, lie something to help us return to the collective."

    Serene asked Tristan to follow, and they passed by several paintings of elven figures. From the way they were dressed, it seems that they were the former kings of Vanyar.

    They reached the end of the room, where Tristan could see a small painting depicting someone that looked like Queen Lenna standing next to a male elf with long, white hair.

    "This is¡­ your father¡­the King?"

    "Yes, Tristan, that is the only painting I have of my father. I have never seen him since I was born."

    "What happened to him?"

    Serene stared at him, as if telling him that he had stepped out of line, but she decided to answer regardless.

    "He went to the mist 50 years ago, and has never returned since."

    "I see."

    Serene talked about how the mist has attracted the attention of curious adventurers, historians, and elven schrs alike, and many were sent to explore the ce nketed in the white mist, but none has ever returned.

    She opened her mouth and spoke, each word carried with a lilting voice that echoed in the mind and touched the soul.

    "The leaves are falling, the seas are raging, and the forests are drowning. Blood will rise, and the Monarch will lead through the mist."

    Tristan could feel a piercing sorrow and a ray of hope contained within the song. Yes, this was the prophecy that had be the focus of the elves since ancient times.

    "Tristan, my mother believes that you are the monarch, and you will lead us through the mist as stated by the prophecy."

    Though there may be some coincidence in ce, Tristan was never one to believe in prophecy or destiny. One may wallow in pity all they like, but they can only change their circumstances when they decide to take it in their own hand. With patience and determination, reversing the course of one''s fate would be possible.

    Serene turned back and stared at the beautiful painting of the king and the queen. Now that Tristan was able to look at it properly, they seemed to be glowing with happiness. The painting had captured the sincere, gleeful smile of the queen that day, while the king only had a small smile gracing his handsome face.

    Though the painting was beautiful, she gripped her knuckles and looked down, tears streaming down her face. She blinked it away, shook her head, and looked at Tristan.

    "My father is my mother''s only ''veri''. She always talked about him, and every day, I could see her gazing at this painting with a longing look. Hence, hearing her talk about nning to marry someone else, especially you, really¡­"

    "I understand." Tristan cut in before she finished.

    The princess appears silent longer than usual, but when she finally snaps back to her senses, Tritan can see determination from her face.

    "Tristan¡­ I will agree to marry you for the sake of my mother and my kingdom, but remember, no matter what, you will never be my Veri!"

    The princess'' eyes were glinting with determination, and Tristan''s interest towards her only grew. He had always liked a strong woman who could fend for herself, after all.

    When he thought things were about to be much smoother than he expected, the princess once more said.

    "But! You better win the gauntlet first. A Valkyrie shall never take a ''yenti'' as their mate."

    Tristan was able to see the slight hint of blush add color to her cheeks, before she turned around to hide her expression and said. "Alright, today''s lesson is over

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 114 - Elves Culture

    At the moment, Tristan was on his second day session of learning the so-called the way of the Elf.

    The lovely princess came to pick him up from the quarters where he lived. She stood in front of the door wearing casual, green leather armor. It was ordinary - one that the elven soldiers could get their hands on, but thanks to its wearer, it looked extraordinary.

    The girl looked at Tristan with a smile, but he knew that she was trying hard to force the smile to appear. He did not call her out since being treated to a beautiful smile in the morning was definitely not a bad thing at all.

    Currently, Tristan still could not believe that this beauty would agree to marry him. He truly had to consider his current life as a blessing and a marvelous one at that.

    Today, Serene was taking him on a tour around the City, to let him see the environment and society of the Vanyar kingdom

    As they walked through the bustling streets, she told him that today she was going to teach him about the people - the Elves.

    She started to exin the set of customs, etiquette, and manners of the elves, at least the one living in Vanyar. Things he had to learn in order to act his part as the new member of the Vanyar Kingdom''s royalty.

    While introducing him to a few of the elves, she started to teach him the basics.

    First, the elves apparently had their own way to greet each other, which Serene taught him at that moment.

    It wasn''t umon for the elves to shake hands as a greeting. However, how the elves did their handshake tended to be different than the humans - which automatically meant Tristan would have to learn this other method of shaking hands.

    When the elves greeted each other, instead of grabbing the other person''s hand and grasping it, they would go further and sp the mid-forearm part of the other elf. The hand should be positioned fairly even between the wrist and elbow.

    Moreover, if humans tended to shake their hands with their right hand, the elves uniquely used the opposite, which was the left hand.

    When on a more formal asion - greeting someone who was held in high respect or simply of higher standings, it was more appropriate for the other party to bow.

    Seeing how Tristan had a difficult time performing a simple handshake made Serene shake her head in bewilderment.

    Although it was a simple difference in their culture, Tristan still need some time in order to get used to it.

    It would have helped if Tristan really took an effort on learning it. But honestly doesn''t really care about this kind of thing. he doesn''t even know why he must learn all this thing in the first ce.

    It took Tristan a few minutes to actually able to do it right, though not the apparent awkwardness when doing it.

    After several weird gazes, they continue their walk and Serene continued exining about the different status of the elves.

    The elves were separated into three different sses:

    First, The upper ss; the noble and royalty who were called Yinto.

    Second, The middle ss; the warriors were called Yuri.

    Last but not least, The lower ss; themoners were called Yenti.

    Serene told Tristan that he could differentiate these three sses through the colored sashes that they wore. The Yinto wore a gold sash with silver motifs and streaks on it, the Yuri wore a white sash with faint dark lines, while the Yenti wore a in ck sash.

    A Yenti did not take part in day to day military practices, instead they had a series of standard duties including but not limited to guarding a small town or particr ce. They only had the most basic of military training, and went about their normal daily life until they were called upon. To put it simply, these Yenti were acting like reserve forces.

    Because of that, most Yenti would spend most of their time doing all the other necessary for themunity. Most of them are gardeners to provide food for themunity, and crafters.

    Serene shows how some of these gardeners and crafter work, and nothing that they do was normal. They were more like artists, crafters in the art. Tristan even saw the use of magic in their activity. Making a roof by shifting and forming the roots of a tree was a damn interesting thing to watch.

    Serene told him that at the moment Tristan wasbeled as Yenti due to his nonexistent history in the Vanyar Kingdom. He realizes this was what Serene called him yesterday, hearing this somehow made Tristan a little disappointed. This ss andbeling were really low for a race that ims to be more advanced than humans.

    Serene gave Tristan the information about the number of each ss in Vanyar City.

    Yinto: 192

    Yuri: 1028

    Yenti: 3485

    All in all, the entire Vanyar City housed less than five thousand people, which in kingdom''s standard, was an extremely low number.

    "Why are there so few elves here?" Tristan asked in bewilderment.

    Serene exined that The elves typically didn''t have the strong desire to reproduce like humans and many other races.

    She added that even if they wanted to, female elves generally only had a fertile period every three months and it normallysted for a day or two. Thebination of these factors led to far fewer elven offspring whenpared to other races.

    Right at this moment, Tristan took the opportunity to ask what had been bothering him all this time.

    "Then.. what about... What about sex for elves?"

    This question had been on his mind ever since he couldn''t perform the act with the smoking hot fire magician, Herrera. He really wished there would be a special way, or anything, for the elf to do such a thing.

    Serene seems reluctant to exin the question, but she forced herself to.

    "Sex for elf is a sacrilegious act, we are not like humans who treat it just as a physical release like an animal. With elves, it''s the union of both body and mind"

    Hearing this made Tristan both curious and excited. It appears there really was a reason for hisst ''failure'' and he definitely needs to know more about this

    Unfortunately Serene seems unwilling to explore this topic anymore and decides to ignore him.

    Only when they reached a hugepound on one side of the city did Serene open her mouth once again. Even so, Tristan could still taste the aversion in her words.

    "We have arrived at the Warrior''s hall"

 Chapter 115 - Warriors Hall

    The Vanyar Warrior''s Hall.

    This was the ce where the elves would practice martial arts in the Vanyar Kingdom.

    The wooden que containing the name of this ce oozed off an indescribable feeling, Tristan could see that the ce was surrounded by an unassuming stone fence with a simrly humble wooden gate. Even so, he strangely got the feeling that he would not be able to break the stone fence no matter what he did, let alone the gate.

    It was massive when seen from outside, and even more so the moment Tristan walked past the gate. A huge, half open hall with modest and traditional-looking decorations greeted his eyes, and he could see a verdant garden on the side. The sight exuded the essence of elves that Tristan initially thought, which was adjacent to nature.

    The ce gave Tristan the feeling of a dojo. The zed wooden floor, walls and roofs.

    As his eyes scanned through the entire ce, they stopped at one point. Tristan saw a dozen elves sitting quietly in the lotus position in one corner of the hall. They seemed to be meditating as he could see their chest rising and falling in a rhythmic manner.

    All of them were wearing ck-colored garb under the sashes on their shoulders.

    The other side of the hall was upied by a garden with a stone trail that stretched to its end. Various kinds of nts could be seen on it, adding a little touch of life to the overall ambience. In addition, Tristan also spotted several ponds covered with snow on the surface.

    There were 4 stone statues that stood separately in the garden. Tristan could see three of them had a kind of weapon on them, while thest one had nothing on it. Moreover, he noticed that each of them was carved into a specific posture that enhanced the aura it manifested.

    Serene exins that these statues were the portrayal of the four disciplines of the elven martial arts. Unarmed, bow, dual daggers, and the sword.

    As they walked, Tristan noticed that some of the elves that passed by would bow to Serene, while a few others he saw wearing golden sashes would greet her by raising their palms. This spectacle reminded Tristan that the person currently apanying him was the royal princess of this kingdom.

    "This is an interesting ce. Are we going to train today?"

    Serene answered his question without turning back, but Tristan could clearly perceive the cold tone in her words.

    "It depends whether the masters will take you in or not."

    Apparently, each discipline in the elves martial arts had its own master. Normally, each elf would only have the opportunity to learn under one master. Hence, it was an extremely fortunate event if one managed to make 2 masters willing to teach them their arts.

    Upon hearing that, scepticism diffused out of Tristan''s entire being.

    "Do we really need a master to learn the art? Don''t you guys have any manuals or something? Ah! A video would be the best!"

    "..."

    Serene was stunned for a second. In her mind, she thought she really had to reevaluate this damned elf and change the affix she ced on him. It wasn''t damned anymore, it was abhorrent. She gradually became more annoyed with each passing second together with Tristan, as if he solely existed to annoy her to death.

    While suppressing the raging irritation within her, Serenepletely ignored the elf''s question and continued her exnation, "Each master would give a short instruction about their own discipline once a week. However, if you manage to be one of the disciples, you could receive instructions daily"

    As Tristan listened to Serene''s detailed introduction of the ce, something caught his attention and made him turn his eyes. At the other side of the hall, exactly across from where they were, a training session was being held by an unarmed martial art master.

    Tristan could see there were about three dozen elves currently sitting there, observing and learning from the master in rapt attention. The sight incited interest in him, as he began observing as well.

    Then, he was surprised to see the old, weak-looking elf manage to throw another elf, who looked much younger and stronger than him, onto the ground with one hand. Heck, even the former didn''t seem to be forcing himself to do it because the sequence of the action looked effortless.

    The movements were quick and flowed beautifully yet fiercely just like a raging current, mesmerizing the dozens of elves and Tristan who were watching.

    Soon, the sparring session continued.

    More and more elves would stand and try to bring the old elf down. s, none of them managed to touch him, much less hit him. His agile footwork and precise action allowed him to dodge any attack his opponent threw with perfection. Without Tristan realizing, another elf would hit the ground with the master''s simple move. Another was hit on the back and fell face first to the wooden floor.

    It was an exciting disy to look at, and Tristan was surprised to find out that he was more interested to learn than he thought he would be.

    While waiting, Tristan noticed an elf with a golden sash on him approaching where they were.

    "Greeting to you, Lady Serene."

    Even though he was obviously a noble Yanti elf, he spoke very politely and even bowed to Serene. Then, when Tristan expected this elf to walk away after he delivered his greetings, Serene unexpectedly introduced the short-haired elf to him. Apparently, this elf named Sindur was the top disciple of the art.

    Tristan noticed the way the elf looked at him was not very friendly, which should be easy to guess after a moment''s thought.

    "Are you here to train, mydy?" asked Sindur after retracting his hostile gaze at Tristan.

    "No. I came to introduce the ''Sus Mahna'' to our guest here." Serene answered while not even ncing at the said guest.

    A look of realization appeared on Sindur''s face as he nodded his head.

    "I see.. As you can see, mydy, the master, is still quite busy. Perhaps, I could be of service. I could definitely give the guest some pointers." Sindur spoke humbly. His attitude looked like he really wanted to help, and Tristan would also think so if he didn''t notice the look he threw earlier.

    s, it seemed that Serene didn''t notice his hostility towards Tristan, or chose not to.

    "You are willing to do that, Sindur? That would be great!"

    "Anything for you, mydy."

    It appears a fight has been decided for him.

    ---------------

    Authors Note

    Thank you for purchasing the privilege chapters, the next tier will be published each day. Thank you for your patience. Much appreaciated

 Chapter 116 - Sparring

    Tristan frowned as he heard this conversation, which didn''t have him in any parts. It looked like all the elves had the habit of deciding things by themselves.

    This really annoyed Tristan that made him wonder if arrogance was also a part of elven culture.

    He wanted to argue about this but then, it had been days since hest moved his muscles. It was probably a good time for some light exercise.

    How strong could this elf be, anyway?

    He scanned the elf in front of him and certain information came to his mind

    [Elf]

    [Battle power 132]

    [Spirit force 148]

    Ehem, Tristan took back his condescending thought. He was very strong, indeed. This was one of the highest battle powers he ever saw. It was apparent that the elf did live up to the word of the top disciple in his name.

    s, this elf chose the wrong opponent today.

    "Let''s do it."

    Later, Serene made sure that Tristan had changed to the same ck-colored garb, and then, she proceeded to exin all the specific formalities one had to do. After several minutes of lengthy exnation, he finally stood face to face with this elf named Sindur.

    Tristan was annoyed that the elf put a smirk on his face, as if he was mocking him.

    ''Let''s see if you can keep that expression after you taste my 200 battle power.'' Tristan inwardly thought.

    A momentter, the sparring began.

    Tristan immediately dashed forward and was startled to see the elf could move quicker than he expected. He tried to grab thetter, but the elf suddenly moved in a weird way. The next thing he knew the elf already hit his left thigh with a punch.

    The hit felt like a breeze, but Tristan suddenly lost control of his foot which resulted in him falling down to the floor - his right knee hit the ground with a thud and a shocked expression was seen on his face.

    ''What the fuck did he just do?''

    Tristan still hadn''t processed what just happened.

    The elf in front of him definitely had the biggest battle power that Tristan ever saw, but his 136 battle power was only two thirds of his current battle power!

    It did not make sense that he would be down by one hit.

    However, regardless of how improbable it was, it happened. Tristan''s situation, who was currently kneeling on the floor, was the proof of it.

    Confusion filled his mind as he struggled to stand up and turned to face the elf.

    ''How could he be so agile? How could his punch, which felt like nothing, make him fall down kneeling on the ground? Are the stats disyed by the system wrong? Or did he use magic?''

    A torrent of questions popped into his mind, but without an answer.

    ''This is so embarrassing..''

    At first, Tristan intended to wipe the smirk off the elf''s face as he was confident with his own prowess. But instead, he was the one who hit the floor first - with one blow at that.

    Luckily, he didn''t state his intention outright. Otherwise, he would have to dig a hole to hide in now.

    A momentter, Tristan finally could feel his numbing thigh again. The moment he crossed gazes with the elf, he noticed that the smirk on Sindur''s face widened even more than before.

    Seeing Sindur still in his fighting stance made Tristan follow with his own stance.

    He ced his left foot farther in front of the right foot, while both his hands were raised and positioned in front of his chest with the fists almost parallel to his neck. This was the mostmon stance in boxing, the orthodox stance.

    It was obvious that the spar wasn''t finished yet, and they were ready for round two.

    Then, Tristan realized the elf was mocking his ''unique'' stance as the smirk gradually turned into a sneer.

    Sindur took the initiative as he dashed forward. His footwork was fast yet exquisite as he unexpectedly began to jump and flip around like those Asian assassins in the movies did.

    The footwork was so erratic that Tristan had be confused by looking at it for a moment.

    The confusing and bizzare movement finally ended as Sindur leaped to the air one more time and sent a bicycle kick at Tristan.

    This time, Tristan was ready to block it with his left arm positioned above his head while his right hand was ready to counterattack.

    BAM!

    It was a pretty hard kick, but it didn''t really hurt him. Tristan quickly retaliated byunching his right fist, but Sindur suddenly twisted his body in midair, sending the punch hitting empty air.

    Tristan took advantage by sending a kick before Sindur couldnd on the ground. Once again, the elf dodged his attack in an unexpected way.

    Sindur grabbed Tristan''s leg and used it as means to propel him to another direction, causing the kick to be in vain. He then somersaulted in midair andnded on the ground.

    ''What is this?! What exactly am I fighting?''

    The elf was so flexible and although Tristan was clearly faster, his opponent seemed able to predict his moves.

    Sindur dashed toward him one more time. Naturally, he once again moved in a unique way and threw a punch at Tristan''s lower body.

    The blows connected, and Tristan felt as if his waist had been struck by lightning and almost brought him to his knees again, but this time, he fought the sensation. He sent his elbow to counterattack, but the slimy elf managed to dodge his attack once again.

    Instead ofnding a hit of his own, Tristan got hit again - just below his forearm. As expected, he could clearly feel his whole right arm losing its strength.

    Looking up, Tristan could see the elf mocking him as he stood two steps away from him.

    Tristan was so irritated.

    Sindur advanced once more, but Tristan didn''t use any punches or kicks to retaliate. He just let the elfe near him and when the former was close enough, he instantly charged forward, using his body to m and tackle him down.

    BAAMMM!!

    No fancy moves, just a pure American football style tackle, and it unexpectedly worked. Sindur didn''t see Tristan''s reckless approaching. Thus, his body got smashed by thetter, causing him to fall and roll on the ground.

    Just one hit, and Sindury on the ground helplessly. Pain ran through his body, and he struggled to stand up because he wanted to continue the spar. Several secondster, Sindur got up and a glint shed in his eyes. He was about to enact his n when he suddenly saw a familiar figure approaching.

    Sindur immediately took back his thoughts, rxed his stance, and bowed to the figure.

    "Master."

 Chapter 117 - Master

    It looked like the old master had finished his training session and noticed themotion over here. Hence, the reason for his arrival.

    Serene quickly approached the old elf and gave him a bow as well.

    "Master Ortiz, this man is the one mentioned by the queen. His name is Tristan."

    The old elf, who was called Master Ortiz by Serene, didn''t talk much. He only said, "Please, don''t mind me. Continue, if you must."

    Sindur stood up and prepared his stance once more. Tristan was also silent and altered his stance. He didn''t like to keep the fight half finished, after all.

    Tristan was surprised as he saw Sindur gradually became serious. There was no more smirk on his face, no more mocking nor condescension. His face was extremely calm like ake surface as he prepared his stance. It was obvious that he didn''t want to y around with his master personally watching.

    After the two parties were ready, the sparring continued.

    This second round continued with Sindur managing tond dozens of punches on Tristan, while thetter couldn''tnd any punches as his explosive and sudden moves no longer worked on the fully alert Sindur.

    Fortunately, Tristan didn''t suffer that much of a loss. Thanks to his impressive battle power, Sindur was unable to actually injure him, especially without any kind of weapon.

    The most painful blow he received was simr to being smacked by a wooden block. But for Tristan who had gone through many battlefields and endured unimaginable pain, it was manageable - insignificant, even.

    Besides, even if Sindur managed to use his bizarre punches and made Tristan''s body like jelly; at the end of the day, he could always get up and fight once again.

    Tristan, at the moment, was the true living example of a punching bag!

    Several minutes passed on and the sparring still raged on fiercely. However, things gradually started to change as the situation went into an unexpected direction. Tristan had gotten the hang of Sindur''s move as he managed tond a few grazes of his own. He could feel as if his body was slowly burning; he clearly felt the passion as he tried his best to tackle the elf''s moves.

    Without him realizing, Tristan started to move more efficiently in order to facilitate Sindur''s advances. In the meantime, his actions started to slowly adapt to his opponent.

    After being hit dozens of times more, Tristan finally saw the chance tond a direct strike and he took it without any hesitation.

    BAM!!!

    A jab fell onto Sindur''s face, sending him flying backwards due to the sheer momentum it carried. He travelled several meters in the air before falling t to the floor.

    Tristan let out a satisfied smile. Not only did it feel really good, the sound it made was also wonderful. As his punchnded on Sindur''s face, he could clearly see the shocked face on the elf''s face.

    Imagining the irritated expression that the elf probably had right now made Tristan feel this was one of the best moments in his life. Especially when his soon-to-be beautiful wife caught every single moment of it. For him personally, Serene''s shocked face was truly the best of all.

    Sindur groggily tried to stand up. Momentster, he finally managed to and was about to continue the sparring when Master Ortiz stepped forward.

    Knowing what his master wanted, Sindur stopped himself, took a deep breath before doing a slight bow to Tristan. Afterwards, he moved a few steps back.

    Tristan saw the said master gesturing to him to follow him.

    Turning to look at Serene, who nodded her head, Tristan swiftly followed Master Ortiz who already started to walk away. The three of them made their way inside a smaller room right beside the ce where the master held his training session before.

    One side of the room was open with a view of the garden and a small wooden table was seen in the middle of the room. Tristan and Serene sat across from the old master.

    Silence fell between them as Master Ortiz brewed tea. After serving the two of them a cup, he finally opened his mouth.

    "Tell me, Tristan. What fighting technique did you use before?"

    The question startled him as he never really studied any martial art before, much less knowing any fighting technique. The only thing that could be counted as fighting technique in his opinion was everything that he learned from all those brawls'' between inmates. Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Tristan decided to say, "I guess you can call it Inmate Boxing."

    Keen expression was seen on the old master''s elf.

    "Oh? I hopeter you can give some pointers on this ''inmate boxing."

    Master Ortiz''s words gobsmacked Tristan. Pointers on street fight boxing? He wondered if he could even exin what it was exactly.

    Even though life at that time was hell, this ''boxing'' indeed helped him survive four years in prison. However, how could he borate things like hitting using any objects you could find or staying as far away from ''bending over'' towards your opponent to this old master?

    Even so, Tristan knew that he couldn''t refuse this elder. Therefore, he politely said with a strained smile, "Of course.. M.. Master Ortiz.. I will do my best."

    The old elf nodded his head, took a sip from his cup and continued his words.

    "What do you think about our ''Sis Mahna''?"

    Tristan was silent for a moment, thinking about the answer.

    "Honestly, I think it''s very interesting. It''s fast and unpredictable, and I wonder what those punches really are. They are so annoying."

    Master Ortiz seemed to nod at his statement.

    "Sindur is one of my best disciples. He had mastered the Nerve Striking Art and his Katra was also already in the third stage. Not many elves could defeat him. Hence, it''s quite admirable for you to be able toy a hit on him"

    Even though he wasn''t an expert - an amateur at best, Tristan had heard about the nerve points on human''s bodies and the like. He knew that hitting these so-called nerve points could do wonders for the recipient''s body. No wonder those punches could cause trouble to his body.

    However, what was Katra?

    "What about this Katra, Master Ortiz? What exactly does that mean?"

    Upon hearing Tristan''s words, a look of realization was seen on the old master''s face. Then to Tristan''s surprise, Master Ortiz sighed.

    "No wonder the queen asked me to teach you. You don''t even know what Katra is."

 Chapter 118 - Katra

    The elves were once an extremely violent and emotional race that were easily consumed and corrupted by anger, fear, sadness and joy. Within the ancient text, it was believed that the ancient elves had even reached a point where their violent nature threatened the universe and would lead to the extinction of their own species.

    In the effort to avoid this disastrous fate, the ancient elves decided to develop a cultivation method that would allow them to be able to control their emotions and channel it into a newfound source of strength instead of being consumed by it.

    This was the origin of the creation of Katra, which was the culmination of the wisdom of many elven ancestors.

    Each elf would be taught the way of the Katra from an early age.

    As times passed on and eons fleeted through, Katra gradually became the foundation for almost all of the elven teachings.

    Other than their magic rank, the aplishment of Katra stages became the way the elves differentiate the talented ones amidst the masses. Those who managed to be Katra Masters could control their emotions and body to the utmost of their potential, and reached towards Katra enlightenment.

    From Master Ortiz''s exnation, Tristan found that the benefits of Katra go into enhancing the five senses (touch, smell, hearing, sight and taste) and greatly affect the spirit senses used for magic as well.

    In Sindur''s case, he was already in the mid level of Katra. At that level, he was able to sense the flow of energy within other''s bodies, which was very helpful when he tried to use his battle art ability to pinpoint the nerve points and take advantage of them in the most effective way possible.

    Hearing something that would be able to increase his strength was surely something that Tristan was very interested in. For him, it was like being able to drive a luxury car for free and being given the opportunity to own it in the end.

    Tristan straightened his back, looked at the old master with a determined gaze, and said, "Master Ortiz, please teach me Katra."

    The old elf nodded his head as if he had anticipated Tristan''s words, and made a gesture with his hand. Immediately, all the other elves who had unknowingly came, including Serene and Sindur, gave the master a bow and left the room.

    While Tristan was still surprised by the unexpected development, Master Ortiz already stood up.

    "Come. Follow me, Tristan."

    Master Ortiz took Tristan outside where the snowy garden was. They walked past the exquisite patio, towards a small pagoda that was situated in front of a pond. The old master then motioned for him to sit in the pagoda overlooking the small pond.

    "Now, your training will start from the very basic foundation of understanding Katra."

    Even though Tristan didn''t know what the old master was going to do, he still nodded his head enthusiastically.

    "Yes, Master Ortiz."

    "Now, Tristan, listen and focus."

    Tristan shook his head and swiftly focused his concentration because he realized that Master Ortiz wasn''t ying around.

    The old master started chanting certain words in a repeating sequence. As Tristan heard the words, they seemed to be able to stir his heart albeit slowly. Afterwards, the old master told him to repeat the same chanting until he got it right.

    It wasn''t hard to do at all but the words somehow felt weird when he said them.

    "Now, Tristan, to see your progress.."

    Master Ortiz raised his hand and Tristan watched a ripple form in the small pond in front of him, as if a small stone had been thrown into it. Then through his enhanced senses, he spotted something very small floating on the surface of the pond and approaching the pagoda.

    It was a very thin spider-like creature. It reminded Tristan of water spiders that could also move on the water''s surface.

    "This tiny creature is called a Lowii, and it will be your training partner today." said Master Ortiz as the small creature had unknowingly stood on the old master''s palm.

    Tristan, who was busy trying to get the chant right, was brought out of it because he was stunned by the old master''s words.

    A small, thin, insect creature as a training partner? What kind of training did he actually sign up to?

    Ignoring the dumbfounded look on Tristan''s face, Master Ortiz used his magic to send the Lowii insect back to the pond

    "That insect will only move every once in a while. Therefore, what I want you to do is focus your attention on the insect and feel where it will go when it finally moves while continuing to chant the words in your mind."

    "..."

    Tristan was silent for a moment, processing the old master''s instruction. It seemed that this was some kind of perception training, where he would have to know which direction the Lowii insect would go. Sounded easy enough.

    Master Ortiz then left him to practice by himself.

    Without further ado, Tristan immediately gave it a try. He couldn''t believe that he would have a hard time learning this Katra with his super elf body.

    s, harsh reality hit him like a truck.

    Half a day had passed, but Tristan still couldn''t feel the slightest movement of the insect at all.

    "Left!"

    Tristan got it right, but he knew he guessed it and got lucky, because his next attempt waspletely wrong.

    Half an hourter, Tristan still didn''t know how he was supposed to ''know'' where the insect was going. Even though it was only for a moment, the thought of giving up did appear in his mind. This was because Tristan had absolutely no idea on what exactly the old master wanted him to learn from this training.

    "Right!"

    Wrong.

    "Left!"

    Correct.

    "Right!"

    Wrong again.

    "Is this for real?!"

    Tristan was so annoyed that he wanted to just cast [Blood Seal] on that insect.

    While Tristan was considering that outrageous problem-solving method, he suddenly recalled the invisible string that he always felt when he sealed someone. His hunch told him that this might be the solution he needed. Hence, he swiftly tried to search for that same exact feeling.

    The sun had almostpletely sunk on the horizon and the pagoda he was in was getting darker from the absence of light.

    While chanting, Tristan was surprised when he discovered that in the absence of light, where he was barely able to see the insect, he could somehow feel the string-like feeling - exactly the one he perceived with his blood-sealed human.

    Tristan could somehow feel something from the small insect, but one of the disciples suddenly came and told him toe again tomorrow as it was already dark.

    The training ended at that time, leaving Tristan with a somewhat bitter taste in his heart.

 Chapter 119 - Discipline Of The Fist.

    The next day, Tristan was very curious about the feeling from yesterday, thating to the pagoda was the first thought that came to his mind in the morning.

    This time, he even went there without waiting for Serene toe and pick him up. The elves'' guards, on the other hand, were always ready to follow him wherever he went.

    The moment he entered the Warrior Hall, he immediately searched for Master Ortiz. When he told the old master about what he had experienced yesterday, thetter unexpectedly gave him a piece of cloth.

    Seeing the confused look on Tristan''s face, Master Ortiz said, "Stop relying on your eyes and all the other senses. Just feel it presence."

    It was such weird advice, but remembering how it was easier for him to focus when the surroundings were dim, Tristan decided to follow it. He quickly sat in front of the pond again and put the cloth on his eyes.

    At this moment, Tristan was already able to chant the sequence of words in his mind with fluency. He then once again tried to direct and focus his mind onto something specific in the small pond in front of him.

    Several minutester, with his eyes closed, an unknown energy suddenly came into Tristan''s mind and it connected him to the pond, the air, and everything nearby. Immediately after, he could perceive the tiny thin legs of the Lowii insect.

    "Left!"

    Right when he said that word, Tristan opened the blindfold and saw the insect was moving towards the left side of the pond. He was right!

    "I did it.. I did it! I can feel it!" Tristan said excitedly as he turned towards Master Ortiz.

    The old master just smiled faintly and took a sip of his tea as he saw the exhrated Tristan. At the same time, a notification came into Tristan''s mind, startling him.

    [You have learned the basic first stage of the Katra]

    "I did it, Master Ortiz! I finally did it!!! YEAH!!!" said Tristan while pumping his fist into the air.

    Master Ortiz calmly put down the teacup in his hand and nodded. "Good job. Most elf children usually take a few weeks before they can make the same progress."

    Tristan smiled widely at the old master''s words when he suddenly noticed something odd. A few secondster, he finally realized what was strange and cried a protest in his mind.

    ''Why is the old masterparing me to the elf children?!''

    Oblivious to Tristan''s thought, Master Ortiz opened his mouth.

    "Now that you are done with the first stage. Let''s move on to the second stage."

    This time the Master took Tristan to a different area yet with a familiar sight. A simr-looking pagoda that was situated at the shore of a much bigger pond. This time, however, the pond was filled with hundreds of fish unlike the first one where Tristan could only see water as far and deep as his eyes could see.

    Seeing this Tritan quickly assumed what Master Ortiz was trying to do. There was a small voice in his mind that denied the assumption, causing him to only partially believe it. s, it seemed his assumption was true.

    The moment they sat in the pagoda, Master Ortiz swiftly presented Tristan the second set of words that he needed to chant. In addition, this time, instead of an insect, the old master instructed him to sense a certain sea creature, an eel.

    Just like before, the old master raised his hand and Tristan automatically shifted his gaze to the pond. There, he spotted three small long creatures surfacing amidst the hundreds of fish and approaching the pagoda. They were dominated by yellow color and glistening thanks to the mucus that covered their body.

    Once again, Master Ortiz instructed Tristan to do the same thing - chant the new string of words he was taught and predict the movement of not one but three creatures at the same time.

    This time, it took Tristan a whole day to finally be able to predict the eel''s movement. However, he only managed to do it with one eel, not three of them. This made Tristan realize that he would have to train hard if he wanted to predict the three creatures at the same time.

    Even so, this kind of difficult training only served to make Tristan even more ardent and drove his determination to seed through the sky.

    ***

    On the third day, Master Ortiz suddenly stopped him from doing the same thing because there was still something that he had to teach Tristan in their limited time. Nevertheless, the old master was somewhat satisfied with thetter''s performance.

    Oblivious to Master Ortiz''s thoughts, Tristan swiftly went straight to the old master when one of the eleven disciples told him that thetter searched for him. He was hoping that the old master would guide him or provide tricks on how to reach the second stage faster. Unfortunately, there was no such thing.

    Apparently, most of the adult elves only managed to reach stage two of Katra throughout their lives, while some others who were talented such as Sindur or Serene made it to stage three despite their talent.

    This was because mastering Katra required constant meditation, which involved the suppression of the emotions and breakthrough in the understanding of the mind. Something that shouldn''t and couldn''t be rushed within days.

    While Tristan was dejected that he had to walk on his own from now on, Master Ortiz shifted the topic to what he wanted to do with the former today. He would teach Tristan the elven discipline he mastered, the Discipline of the Fist.

    "Now that you already have a basic understanding of Katra, you are now qualified to learn the unarmed battle art techniques of ''Sis Mahna''."

    Knowing that he had never had any actual martial arts training, Tristan thought that this was a fantastic idea. He was thrilled and excited to learn more new skills!

    Tristan was sure there weren''t many elves who had the focused attention of a discipline master like him. After thinking it through, he arrived at the conclusion that this must be the queen''s doing. Therefore, he should nevery such benefits to waste.

    Without further ado, Master Ortiz immediately dived into his expertise and exined it to Tristan in great care and details.

    It started with the simple basic moves such as punch, kick, block, and so on. Afterwards, Master Ortiz introduced Tristan to a myriad of stances andbinations one could use depending on the situation.

    At the end of the day, Tristan was once again surprised by a notification that suddenly came from the system.

    [You have learned the basics of Unarmed Combat Technique]

 Chapter 120 - Discipline Of The Bow

    Today was, already, Tristan''s fifth day in the Vanyar City. Throughout his entire stay, he had always been heavily guarded despite the fact that the queen allowed him to roam around.

    This ''favorable'' treatment resulted in him always receiving an unnecessary amount of attention due to the number of people that were appointed to guard him.

    Fortunately, amidst the unfortunate things happening around him, there were a few that brought a smile onto Tristan''s face.

    He has managed to reach the first stage of Katra, which should not be an easy matter to achieve. Tristan had, one way or another, felt more adept to his surroundings ever since then. He could see, hear and feel the area around him more clearly than before.

    If Tristan''s battle power previously gave him heightened senses that allowed him to see objects far into the distance - for example, a leaf currently falling from a tree tens of meters away; then this time he could somehow perceive the weight of the leaf and predict how far it would fly by the wind.

    It was discernible that this Katra skill, which seemed to be the elves'' innate ability, was a powerful thing - a one-of-the-kind matter.

    Today, Tristan once again made his return to the Warrior Hall. he was expecting to learn more about Katra from Master Ortiz, and even hoped that he could improve his almost nonexistent, brutish unarmedbat capability.

    But this time, a different master had waited in the Warrior Hall, slightly surprising him.

    It seemed that all these masters received the same request from the queen to train him.

    At the moment, Tristan was introduced by Serene to an archery master, a female elf with short blue hair. She looked gorgeous despite the unassuming garb-like clothes on her.

    "Tristan, this is Master Te. She will be your training instructor for today."

    Tristan noticed that Serene seemed to have a better rtionship with this master as she showed a few smiles here and there during the conversation.

    Just like the previous one, Tristan would receive a private lesson from the female elf.

    And as expected, he was immediately presented with a basic training of using bow and arrow. Looking at the unfamiliar bow and arrow, he was instead excited inwardly about what he was about to learn this time.

    Maybe he could shoot someone from a faraway distance? Maybe he could make the arrows curve and turn in the air?

    His illogical and ridiculous train of thoughts was quickly broken by a re from Serene. From her, Tristan learned that this personal archery training was a very high privilege, one that the other Vanyar elves didn''t easily get. Therefore, she urged him to take this seriously.

    Upon hearing so, Tristan swiftly threw all the distracting thoughts in his mind and focused on the iing lesson.

    There were two types of bow that the elves generally used, the longbow and the shortbow. The shortbow seemed to be an optional training because it was considered to be the weapon of choice for short distancebat. Meanwhile, the longbow was a mandatory discipline that all elves had to learn as it was considered the highest level of archery and always needed in a battle.

    It was exined to him that with the right formation and preparation, a group of elven archers with longbows could critically decide the oue of a war.

    After thinking it through, Tristan couldn''t find much benefit of learning bow when there were guns as an alternative. Thus, he adapted an impassive expression when he heard this.

    The previous excitement of learning archery died down as he followed this train of thought.

    He recalled the sight of the flying ship, which waspletely made of metal, destroying the dozens of barbarians with each of its weaponry bursts. Heck, the barbarians archers couldn''t even do a single thing while all of that was happening. They could only watch as their brethren got sted into smithereens.

    Because of that, Tristan gradually became disinterested in the lessons and his mind drifted to firearms.

    When Master Te managed to fire a bullseye from a mile away, he thought of a sniper rifle.

    When she shows fast multiple arrow shots, Tristan cant help topare with the use of machine guns instead.

    After this ''impressive'' disy, Tristan was eventually convinced in his thinking that bows were simply inefficient. The firepower, distance, rate of fire and number of shots a firearm could do was unmatched whenpared to firearms. It was proven in the Earth''s World War history as none were using arrows anymore.

    Even so, Tristan tried his best to stay attentive to the lesson. Even though he thought there was nothing to learn, it wouldn''t hurt to broaden his view. After all, learning weapons andbat techniques was still very exciting for him.

    However, Tristan started to change his mind bit by bit the moment the second part of the lesson began.

    Master Te began to exhibit things that Tristan was sure a firearm couldn''t do. A multitude of different trickshots.

    The multi shot, where she mounted several arrows in the bow and managed to hit multiple separately ced targets at the same time.

    The curved shot, where Tristan could clearly see the arrow going around the obstacle before hitting the target right in the middle.

    The spinning shot, where the arrow shot managed to easily pierce through several thick tree trunks and even boulders.

    At that moment, Tristan realized there was] something that just couldn''t be reced by firearms.

    At the end of the demonstration, Master Te took out an exquisite wooden box. When she opened it, Tristan could see a pitch-ck bow and a quiver of silver arrows lying inside. He wasn''t sure if this was just his feeling, but he could faintly sense a formidable auraing from the two objects.

    "This here, is an artifact bow." said Master Te when she saw Tristan''s gaze fixed on the contents of the box.

    She took the bow and the quiver out of the box slowly. Her attitude was clearly showing the importance of this artifact bow.

    Next, she spoke to Tristan, "Now, I will show you the prowess of archery."

    Master Te calmly took out a silver arrow from the quiver, ced it on the pitch-ck bow, slowly pulling the string with all her strength until it reached its breaking point and the bow was bent. Then, she let go.

    ¡­

    ¡­

    BOOM!!!

    A deafening sound filled the area and a strong gust of wind suddenly blew as the bow finally released the arrow. A stream of silver crossed through the expanse before stopping at a massive boulder a mile away, obliterating it and the area around it into nothingness.

    Tristan watched with his mouth open as the fired arrow casually carved a patch ofnd out of existence. It finally hit him, the differences between firearms and archery in this world.

    The firearm had its own limitation, where it would stop at its technology barrier.

    Meanwhile, archery could go beyond what a firearm could do, linearly with the skill level of the user.

    Because of the spectacle, Tristan began to be more open-minded about it. He began to train in earnest - shooting a few arrows, understanding and adapting to the weight and strength of bows and arrows.

    In the end, he learned that for elves to be considered good archers also depended heavily on their mastery of Katra. Expert elven archers would naturally shoot arrows with greater numbers and uracy because their high level Katra helped them immensely.

    [you have learned the basics of archery techniques]

    At the end of the lesson, Tristan bowed to Master Te, expressing his gratitude for her lesson.

    Next, it will be time to see the demaster.

 Chapter 121 - Disciplines Of The Blades

    Tristan trained in archery until his shoulders felt sore, before going back to his room and throwing himself on the bed.

    Although it was a tiring day, Tristan''s elf body doesn''t seem to have the need for much sleep.

    As he was lying there, he thought of what Master Ortiz told him about meditating to help increase his understanding of Katra.

    Tristan sat in a lotus position and once more started to chant the second stage Katra words. Unfortunately after only an hour of repeating the words he slowly felt sleepy.

    "This mantra seems effective to put me to sleep," he thought to himself.

    The next day, when he returned to the warrior hall, he was taken to a room where two masters were already waiting for him. He nced at the sheathed des hanging on their hip, and thought.

    "Finally, it''s time for sword art."

    Tristan introduced himself, and so did the two masters.

    One was named Master Myrin, a green haired female elf wearing tight white leather garb, a silken shawl and two short daggers hung on both sides of her hips.

    The other was named Master Haldir, a man wearing a ck hood attached to a simple leather armor of simr color. His ash brown hair was tied up in a single ponytail ced on the right side of his shoulder. A long one-handed sword was hanging on his left hip.

    He turned to look at Tristan and gave a cordial nod.

    The two masters are known experts in the elves'' two main closebat weapon disciplines.

    Although there are perhaps many derivations, the basics of all known elven closebat lies in two techniques, that is, the two-dagger ''Dance of des'' art and one-handed sword ''de Song'' art.

    At first nce, the two weapons required for Dance of des looked like simple daggers, but upon close inspection, it was simr to a smaller version of a one-handed sword, except with serrated edges to increase the power of each strike. Meanwhile, the one-handed sword has a slightly curved de, making it look more like a sabre.

    The de Song is a legendary style, normally only taught to elite elven warriors. The style relies on speed and uracy, with emphasis on shing attacks dealt with dizzying precision targeting the enemy''s vitals.

    The style received its name due to the unique sound produced by the curved edge as their wielder swung the de in wide arcs, and the master''s disquieting tendency to sing a rhythm corresponding to his thrusts and parries only reinforced the image.

    The original form of the de Song was created when elven warriors decided tobine their love of dance and song with their beautiful fighting style and preternatural grace.

    It results in a beautiful yet haunting style, and each fighter moved in ordance to the rise and fall of the ritual song. The slow, sorrowful reminder of fallen brethren became an opening to lead towards a fast, thumping beat to remind each soldier to fight to their fullest. As the moves were based off ritual dances, it provides ease of motion and confused their enemies

    The two masters nodded at Tristan, faced each other, and pulled out their weapons.

    nk! nk!

    The two moved as fast as lightning, each strike blurring their body. Master Haldir the desinger gave an imposing opening strike, while Master Myrin parried the attack with a single dagger.

    Serene watched them spar and told Tristan how fortunate he was to have a chance to watch the two masters performing their skills to him. As for Tristan, he watched, transfixed with their movements. It was an eye-opening experience for him.

    From the movements, both arts appear to have a simr origin, but with two slightly different variations.

    The Dance of des art could be studied by any elf with time and perseverance, but in practice it tends to see more female practitioners than male.

    No one could remember who founded the style, nor was there any surviving records about it except by former masters passing the techniques down to their students, but the truth remains that the style was more popr among elven women although any warrior with more speed and ability than strength would greatly benefit from this style.

    Dance of des resembled the de Song at a cursory nce, as both see the battlefield in a set of rhythms and moved in ordance to the music, but where desingers impose their song to overpower the opponent''sbat song, the dedancers move in a whirling motion, their des cutting through the air with tremendous speed and power.

    Each graceful twist and turn of their body keeps the twin des in constant motion, forcing the opponent to continuously parry and dodge the knives. Thanks to this, they will find it difficult to draw a line of attack, giving the wielder of the art a perfect offense and a strong defense.

    After the two finished their impressive disy, the two Master were ready to guide him.

    Unfortunately, as impressive as it looks, these two de arts were really not easy to master. Not for a beginner like him, and just like the unarmed art and the archery, both arts would require an understanding of Katra to master.

    The training that day starts from the most basic of the art of des.

    Three basic attacks: sh, thrust, and strike. Meanwhile, the three basic defenses were: parry, block, and dodge.

    Tristan just realized even the most basic could really make a difference in a sword fight.

    He patiently learned both arts and at the end of the day, a simr notification came to his mind.

    [You have learned the basics of the dagger techniques]

    [You have learned the basics of the sword techniques]

    Both arts are fascinating for him. Unfortunately, both arts are not possible to perform using hisrge ymore sword.

    He wonders if he should start using a different weapon

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 122 - Impatient

    Tristan had gone back and forth to the Warrior Hall for 4 days in a row. He had learned all the 4 disciplines of the elves and also the first stage of Katra.

    Today once again Serene took him to meet Master Ortiz. The old master wanted him to focus his attention on cultivating Katra once more.

    Surprisingly this time the old master was sitting there on the pagoda, waiting and apanying him as he began chanting the words and concentrating on his targets in the pond. Even though Tristan was puzzled by Master Ortiz''s questionable behavior, he still kept his focus on the task at hand.

    Thanks to the training that he did at the pagoda and some personal training, Tristan had managed to easily tell the movement of one eel and wanted to proceed on the next step which was two eels at the same time. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to separate his focus.

    The moment he tried to focus on the second eel, Tristan would somehow lose his connection with the first one. To put it simply, he was stuck in Katra and didn''t know what to do.

    Left with no possible idea, Tristan searched for the enlightenment which was currently sitting calmly behind him, sipping the teacup in his hand.

    "I need your guidance, master. I don''t get how I am supposed to do it. It looks like I''m stuck."

    The old master was silent for a moment before starting to exin his thought

    "Tristan, how you approach the problem you face wasn''t entirely correct. It''s not wrong, but it''s not effective either. What you need to do is to broaden your Katra. Not on one of the eels, not on the other two either. The pond, you need to do it to the whole pond. That is the way."

    ''How the hell am I supposed to do that? How big is this pond?'' Tristan thought as he scanned the pond who he had to connect with. ''Wait, can this even really be possible?"

    However, it was apparent that was the solution as Master Ortiz didn''t say anything more and continued on his act of enjoying fresh-brewed warm tea.

    Now, all Tristan had to do was just follow it. But even when the sun already rose till the top of his head, Tristan still got nothing from his efforts. He knew he hadn''t improved one bit, and that didn''t please him.

    The Master who was sitting at the side and waiting for him, also didn''t seem to help at all. On the other hand, Tristan felt that the old master''s presence made it even more difficult for him to concentrate.

    Tristan took the blindfold off, turned around, and said, "Master, I wonder if we should take a break and study some hand-to-handbat first. There are some questions I need to ask on ''Sis Mahna''."

    Unexpectedly, Master Ortiz refused - the old master once again insisted that he focus on his Katra cultivation.

    This actually made Tristan feel even worse.

    The stage one Katra that he reached did wonders for him for sure, but he really couldn''t see the need to rush, and even more, he didn''t wish to be told what to do without any reason at all.

    Tristan stood up, gave a bow to Master Ortiz, and said "I apologize, master. It seems that I really don''t feel it today. Allow me to go back and return some other day."

    The old master didn''t say anything, thus Tristan decided to leave. Before he walked out of the pagoda, he could spot the slight disappointment on the former''s face. But Tristan doesn''t really care. He has no patience to just sit there wasting his time especially when there were other things he could do.

    Tristan made his way to the main hall to find Serene was sitting, waiting for him.

    "You''re done?" When Serene saw Tristan nodding his head, she continued. "Really? That''s unusual. Why is it so fast this time?" said Serene with apparent curiosity.

    "Yeah. I guess Master Ortiz doesn''t feel really well today."

    "Really?" Serene looked suspicious, that''s why Tristan quickly said, "Yeah, yeah. Let''s not bother the elder anymore, shall we? Oh, and also, I wonder if this time I can choose what I want to learn."

    When Tristan saw the female elf in front of him still unsure of the reason he gave and not sure that his idea was a good one, he added more words of persuasion.

    "Actually, Master Ortiz thought it would be a good idea for me to learn other things."

    "Oh really?" Serene asked again, this time with a ring look. When she spotted no trace of lies on Tristan''s face, which was obviously intentional, she let out a sigh and said, "Alright. What is it? What do you want to learn?"

    Tristan looked at the girl''s surrendering expression and smiled. "Magic."

    He was sure that a race whose majority of the poption possessed high spiritual power would definitely excel in magic. Even the person who did the casting in the Erantell''s Mage Guild was an elf.

    At the moment, Tristan only had one spell in his collection - the tier one fire spell [Heat Touch]. Therefore, he really wished he could learn and do more spells. He had been wishing for this ever since he saw what Hererra and Petra, the Kingsde member, could do with their spells.

    Upon hearing Tristan''s request to learn magic, Serene contemted the matter for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

    "Well, I guess learning magic could somehow help you understand Katra better."

    The two of them came out of the Warrior Hall and walked through the streets of Vanyar. They were heading towards one of therger structures located at the east side of the city.

    Its scale and design was as big as the crystal pce, but instead of being built out of the trees, this building was built inside.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 123 - Elven Magic

    Vanyar Magic Shrine.

    This ce was one of the important shrines of the Vanyar elves. Its origin was so ancient that it could be traced up to the creation of the Vanyar Kingdom itself.

    In all honesty, Tristan was expecting a ce like a library, or even an academy when he thought about a ce where one could learn magic. Let''s take Arcadia for example, they had a school located next to the pce where youngsters all over the Arcadian Kingdom came and learnt magic.

    Therefore, he was a bit taken back as the ce they went to was more like a temple. Not only did the ce look like a temple, the vibe of it also, in Tristan''s opinion, was not exactly the kind that a mage would choose.

    It was surrounded by the inside of a huge tree and its walls were overgrown by glowing vines with simr glowing leaves. Even though the sight looked eerie at first nce, the ce was unexpectedly exuding a warm and soothing ambience.

    With the pretext of ''learning the way of the Elf'' and with Serene, the Vanyar Princess, stood beside him, the elf elder who was in charge of the ce was very supportive of Tristan''s endeavor. He was enthusiastically exining everything that he knew regarding the shrine.

    Apparently, there were only three rooms inside the shrine.

    The first was the one that they saw the moment they passed the shrine''s entrance. It was evident that this was where the elves did their business as Tristan could see several elves in attendant-like clothes and attitude in waiting.

    Then, Tristan''s attention was caught by something. In this room, there were also simr emblems like the one he saw at Erantell''s magic academy. As he was curious about anything that smelled magic, Tristan proceeded to count the emblems stuck on the wall.

    "1..3..4..7...9?"

    ''Eh?''

    Tristan was confused because he could only see 9 emblems. He counted once more, only to receive the same result. He was sure there were 10 emblems back at the magic academy. Then, why were there only 9 in the elven shrine?

    When asked about this, the elf elder was more than happy to exin about the matter. Apparently, there were differences between humans and elves when it came to magic.

    First, there was only one in a thousand humans who had the aptitude for magic. Furthermore, out of the thousand who had the aptitude, only one was lucky enough to be bestowed with either A or B aptitude. In addition, while humans did possess the aptitude for magic, most of them only had one elemental affinity - with those who had more than one being the rarity.

    As for the elves, nine out of ten elves would be born with magic aptitude. And as if it wasn''t enough, the elves were born with multiple affinities to the elements. They were truly different from the humans.

    The elven people were divided into three main subraces; the High Elves, the Wood Elves, and the Dark Elves.

    "We, the Vanyar, are the kingdom of Wood Elves. The Wood Elves were born with an affinity towards Earth, Water, and nt elements. While you, Sir, with your long white hair, I assume you came from the High Elves. Therefore, you should have the affinity of Wind, Ice, and Lightning by default."

    The elder''s words certainly made Tristan confused.

    "Hmm? Is that so?" Seeing that the elder nodded his head vigorously, Tristan continued his words, "Actually, I only have one affinity, and that is fire."

    It was the elder''s turn to show a confused look the moment he heard Tristan''s words. Not just him, but also Serene as this was the first time she heard about this.

    "Eh? Fire?! Are you sure, sir? Fire, together with Metal and Darkness are the elements of the Dark Elves. And you.." The elf elder scanned Tristan from top to bottom. "Don''t look like them at all, sir."

    Seeing the ring disbelief on the elf''s face, Tristan proceeded to tell the former about his experiences at the mages guild. In fact, he was said to have no affinity to any elements, but the strange thing was, he could cast fire spells. Thus, it made him believe that his result was an error and he actually had an affinity towards Fire element.

    The story only made the elder even more confused. The seriousness on Tristan''s face told him that what he said was all true, but the elder was sure he never read anything like this. Therefore, the elder said to Tristan that he would look through the ancient text and tell him about the resultter.

    "Yes please, elder. Thank you for your help. Oh, and also, please check about the blood elf as well."

    Tristan hated the fact that he didn''t even know himself, and it annoyed him more that the queen knew something about him but decided not to share it.

    Tristan then returned his attention to the emblems and eventually realized the one element that was missing.

    "Light! Howe there are no light spells like the humans?"

    The next information the elder said made Tristan even more confused.

    Apparently, the elf''s body was different whenpared to the human''s. Every elf was born with what they called a divine body, and in the center of all was Katra.

    It could be said that elves had no Light affinity, which automatically made them unable to cast light magic. But on the other hand, it also could be said that all elves had the innate capability of a light element mage thanks to the existence of Katra.

    Yeah, that''s right. The damn Katra that was really hard to master.

    All the information that Tristan had received was too confusing for him at the moment. Maybe he would understand what they meant when he actually mastered the Katra. Until then, he would wisely choose to avoid this topic.

    Now that the exnation was over, it was time to check out the other room.

 Chapter 124 - Engraving Spells

    After all that fascinating story about the difference between humans and elves, Next, Tristan went to the second room of the Shrines.

    The room was bright, illuminated with a stunning, massive crystal floating right in the middle of the room. It was around one meter in diameter, and the glow filled the room with a beautiful, calm blue light.

    "This is the memory crystal." The elder said. "For thousands of years, the Vanyar elves have stored their knowledge there. Even if they are no longer with us, what they have discovered in their lifetime can be found there."

    Though the Vanyar Kingdom possesses massive wealth, easy ess to resources, and a highlypetent military force, the crystal was the real treasure of the kingdom, containing almost four thousand years'' worth of knowledge created by the Vanyar elves.

    "How does it work?" Tristan looked up and down at the crystal. "Do we touch it to receive a spell?"

    "No." The elder shook his head. "Only selected elders are allowed to ess the crystal. Every once in a while, when elder elves create new spells or perfect old ones, they would touch the crystal to store the knowledge inside to be handed down to the next generation. Other than that you will need special permission before able to ess the memory crystal"

    "Then how would the other ess the spell then?" Tristan asked

    The elder replied "Passing down knowledge is an entirely different matter, though¡­" and escorted Tristan to the next room. The ce was narrow, and three elders sat at their tables while concentrating on pieces of parchment in front of them. With a quill made of massive white feathers, they wrote down the spell on the brown parchments that looked like it was made from animal skin.

    "This is the engraving room, where we create spell scrolls."

    Tristan remembered about the parchment he bought in the Erantell Academy. It seems that they were made in this way.

    The elders would take the knowledge stored in the crystal and with the quill-like artifact, they would write down the spell, engraving the parchment with spiritual energy with each letter they wrote down.

    Tristan looked at the piles of parchment stacked on the floor and on the tables before asking. "There are a lot of parchments here. The Vanyar doesn''t seem to have many members."

    "Most of those are ordered by the Arcadians." Serene spoke up.

    Serene exined that once every few months, the Vanyar would send an envoy to the Arcadian City, directly to the Capital City, and through the magic ministry of the Arcadians. That''s when they usually discuss trades. When the trades finalized, the Arcadians magic ministry would distribute the parchments to all the Arcadian cities.

    "Whoa, those things are expensive¡­ You must have made a lot of money selling those."

    "Not really, we didn''t trade in coins, and the Vanyar has no use for them. Look at the items next to the quill."

    Tristan looked at the table, and saw piles of crystal stone in many colors. Some looked cloudy and dull, like it was deprived of power, while others shone bright and set itself apart from the others in the same pile.

    "Those are spirit stones." The elder exined. "They are very rare, and very valuable. In order to do a sessful engraving, energy from the stones is necessary."

    Not many elves possess the talent to do an engraving, and even among those who do, they would only be able to engrave rank 1 to rank 3 spells. An elf with the ability to engrave a rank 4 spell was considered an artisan, and they would be sought after by many. But then such elf still needs es to the memory crystal to create the scroll.

    "Therefore If anyone wishes to learn higher-ranked spells, they would need to get ess to the Memory Crystal, but it''s easier said than done. Not just everyone could have permission to ess it, and the learning process won''t be as easy as reading the scrolls."

    The trip was quite an eye opener for Tristan. Now, he knows more about the trading rtionship between Vanyar and the Arcadians, and from there, he might be able to glean what other kingdoms'' rtionship with each other looks like.

    The time for learning is done. It''s time for him to ask what he came here for.

    "I am currently learning Katra. Is there any way to learn it through these scrolls?"

    The elder was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "No, unfortunately, there is no such scroll, but learning more spells and getting used to casting spells were proven to help in developing the Katra. As with any other method, though, the result will vary between elves. What works for one elf might not work for another."

    "Well then," Tristan shrugged. "Can I have a few fires spells to learn? A few rank 3 ones will do"

    The elder didn''t answer right away.

    "If it''s about the coins, I am sure the queen would provide them." Tristan shrugged nonchntly and smiled at the elder before ncing at Serena. He hoped she would go along and nod, but the woman merely turned away. Before her face was out of his sight, Tristan saw her face turn red, but was it anger or embarrassment? He couldn''t really tell. Maybe a bit of both.

    Tristan decided to check his leather pouch, quickly counted the coins and asked while ying with the pouch. "Alright then, I have some gold right here. Show me what kind of fire spells you have?"

    Yet again, the elder turned quiet in bewilderment. This time, Serena took the chance and spoke up.

    "Did the lessons on elven history and society go over your head or did you forget to bringmon sense today? We the wood elves don''t do fire spells and also, the elves dont trade in coins."

    Tristan sighed and rubbed his head, There are piles upon piles of scrolls here, yet he could not learn any of them.

 Chapter 125 - Relaxing

    It had been a long six days of too much learning of the so-called ''the way of the Elf'' for Tristan. It was quite an interesting experience. It would be perfect if he could learn some spells though.

    This morning, Tristan sensibly decided to rest his body. After all, it was mandatory to have a day-off after 5 days of work, let alone 6, right?

    The moment he awakened from his obscure dream, Tristan chose to walk out of his bedroom and hang out at the luxurious balcony his room had. Seeing the red sky gradually turning blue was a mesmerizing sight for him. It was quite a beautiful morning.

    The green scenery, the white snow, the melodious chirpings and the windy nature. Now that he was rxing, Tristan slowly felt that living in this Vanyar City wasn''t half bad, extraordinary even. He was sure that many people back on Earth would be willing to pay a high amount of dors to live like this.

    Except for the food department that definitely could be improved to a higher standard, everything else about the Vanyar Kingdom was marvelous.

    Even though most of the elves were arrogant, these past few days Tristan discovered that these people were at least more straightforward than the humans who were full of deceit and lies. There was no need for him to stay on his toes all the time as there wasn''t much cloak and dagger around; At least, that was what he found so far.

    There was also the prospect of marrying a beautiful woman on the table. If this matter truly happened, Tristan should have more freedom and also, the status of the royalty of the Vanyar.

    Then when he already received the status of royalty, he just had to make sure to pick his sister up, bring her here, and all would be set. All in all, being surrounded by thousands of skillful elves guaranteed the safety of him and his sister.

    It truly sounded like a n, an extremely great one.

    While Tristan was lost in his reverie, it was at this time that a group of elven guards suddenly came barging in and told him that he was summoned to the throne room by the queen.

    It had been a few days since theyst met because Tristan had been busy learning the so-called way of the Elf. Finally, a weekter, the wonderful Milf, Queen Leena decided to speak with him again.

    Just like before, the queen was seen sitting on her crystal throne with Elder Anmar standing beside her. But this time, there was another person in the hall beside Serena and Captain Raika, who was clearly still waiting for him. That person was Master Ortiz.

    The assembly started with Captain Raika, once again, delivering King Can''s request to bring him back to Arcadia as soon as possible. Regarding this matter, the queen casually answered, "Don''t waste your breath, captain. The king will not have him until I finish my business with him."

    The queen sent her usual teasing smile at Tristan while she was saying that. He inwardly shook his head at that, but unbeknownst to him a faint smile appeared on his face.

    Tristan could see Raika tried her best to persuade the queen, but she instantly stopped what she was doing the moment thetter started to frown. The rage of the crown wasn''t something she could handle, after all.

    Captain Raika could only bow and retreated to the side. Afterwards, the queen shifted her attention to Master Ortiz.

    The queen continued her words, with a mood that was clearly worse than before.

    "I hope that the next news I hear will be a good one, Master Ortiz. Please, tell me the progress. "

    The old master stepped forward, bowed, and started speaking in a very polite tone, "I apologize, my queen. I will need more time with him."

    Upon hearing this, Tristan released a frown of his own. These elves truly had the habit of talking about someone else, and acting like the person was not even in the room.

    On the other hand, the queen''s frown deepened when she heard the old master''s words. "It''s been 5 days, Ortiz! How much longer do you need? What''s his progress?"

    The old master bowed again as he said, "I truly apologize, Your Majesty. We were still learning the basics, he needs more time!"

    "The progress Ortiz!"

    The old elf was startled when he heard the queen''s half-shouting words.

    "He''s currently on his way to reach the second stage, Your Majesty."

    Hearing this, the queen seemed to be even more annoyed.

    "That means he''s still on the first stage" then she let out a long sigh.

    While all of this was happening, the others were obviously doing their best to keep silent.

    Queen Leena was silent for a moment before turning her head to the side and saying, "Anmar, how''s the wedding and the Gauntlet''s preparation?"

    Elder Anmar who had been silent all this time finally opened his mouth.

    "Everything is on standby, ready for your confirmation, My Queen."

    When she heard that, the queen turned to her daughter before looking at Tristan.

    "It''s settled then. Anmar, give out the news. In 5 days, we will hold the Gauntlet and the winner will marry the princess."

    Once more Serene was appeared troubled by the decision.

    At this moment, Master Ortiz suddenly bowed again and said, "The elf is not ready, My Queen. He will have no chance of winning."

    The queen stares towards Tristan and said "He needs to be"

    Tristan received her stare with a confused look. He really didn''t understand the queen''s intention. Wasnt the gauntlet was prepared for the princess benefit? and now that the rted person had actually agreed on the matter, was this gauntlet or whatever still necessary?

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Please join the discussion at Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 126 - Motivation

    The queen''s decision only confused him. From what he could glean from Master Ortiz'' words, it appears that winning the gauntlet will certainly depend on his mastery of Katra. As of right now, he only reached stage one, and there is no way he could win it.

    If this is the case, could it be possible that the Queen no longer wanted him to marry the princess?

    As he was lost in thought, Serene spoke out.

    "My Queen, for your sake, I would ept any duty even if it costs me everything. But, if you wish for the elf to be my mate, it might be better to give Master Ortiz more time with him. Then, he will have a better chance to win."

    Tristan nced at the princess, her decision to speak up making him wonder about the intention behind her words. Did she want to postpone the marriage even further? Did she finally take a liking on him and wanted him to have a better shot at winning?

    Well, She probably just really loathed the idea of Tristan marrying her mother if he lost.

    But, if that was really the case, does this mean the queen really wanted him to marry her instead?

    Tristan unconsciously grinned, His head filled with the idea that both mother and daughter were fighting over him.

    Unfortunately, the queen''s next words trampling all over his fantasies.

    "Daughter, each day I pray at the shrine, the more vivid my vision of the fast-approaching end." The queen shook her head. "Only couldn''t deny what I saw, for our end is nigh, and we do not have much time left."

    Apparently, the queen was just too worried about the prophecy. But then if she really was in a hurry, why must they bother with the gauntlet at all?

    "Excuse me." Tristan interrupted. "wouldn''t it be easier to just¡­ forgo the gauntlet? I mean, if it''s just marriage you are looking for... I am ready..."

    "..."

    Seeing the reaction of the people aroun, Tristan decided to shut up. He just realized halfway how shameless he sound. He knew what he said had a basis in valid logic, but thinking about it and speaking it out loud is very different.

    The queen stared at him, and to his surprise she was finally smiling again..

    "Haha aren''t you the funny one¡­ you see we of the Vanyar aremitted to supporting the blood monarch, but it''s just your current condition is very worrisome"

    "What do you mean?" asked Tristan

    This time the queen gave him a serious re.

    "The blood elf is the legendary elven race. It was written in the ancient text that the race could easily reach the top stage 7 Katra and pave the way towards full enlightenment of the body and spirit. Now, you only being able to reach stage 1 is very concerning indeed"

    The queen paused, and continued.

    "Tristan, this is really serious¡­ if you are unable to master Katra then I believe you will be consumed by the monarch''s power¡­ and instead of bing our savior, you will be the harbinger of our end, and I am not going to risk that. Do you understand what I mean?"

    Tristan tried to hold back his shock.

    Of course, Tristan is smart enough to understand what she means. To put it simply, if he managed to win the gauntlet he would marry the princess, and losing the gauntlet would probably mean his death by the queen''s own hand.

    Tristan smiled even wider. This woman really is crazy. She was capable of asking his hand in marriage in one second, then threatening to kill him in another

    A momentter the queen''s serious re changed into a smile.

    "Tristan, think of it positively, Let''s think of this gauntlet as a motivation for you to try harder!"

    Her expression changing at the drop of a hat like that was unsettling.

    "Do not worry, Tristan, I have faith that you will win this gauntlet. I am sure as a real blood monarch, you will seed"

    Tristan smiled back, trying to contain his bewilderment.

    Facing such a threat, Tristan unconsciously stared towards Captain Raika thinking about a possibility of escape with the help of the Kingsde

    But, as if the queen already knew his line of thinking, the queen once more spoke to the kingsde captain.

    "Captain, Unfortunately, to prevent any trouble, I will need to lock you and your team up until this matter is settled."

    Captain Raika nodded solemnly, while ncing at Tristan from out of the corner of her eyes.

    Everyone started to whisper amongst each other. No one expected the queen to make such a decision. Right in the middle of their heated exchanges, the queen announced the end of the meeting. No one objected.

    Tristan couldn''t hold in his frustrated sigh¡­

    It was just today that he started to feelfortable living in this city with the elves. He had thought that perhaps staying in this world won''t be so bad, after all.

    But now once again his life was threatened. From that shitty King and this crazy queen, he really can''t depend on any of them he needed to stand on his own. He needs to get stronger, faster.

    The queen left the room, with everyone following suit. Right as Tristan decided to also walk out; Master Ortiz approached and tried to reassure him that he would do everything he could to help Tristan advance his Katra stage before the gauntlet.

    Honestly he did not have much confidence that the old master would be able to help him much.

    It is time to check out what this gauntlet is all about. The gauntlet will start in five days, and he still doesn''t have any information about it.

    "Dammit!"

    There''s really no time left to be frustrated about this.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion, please Join Avan''s Discord server at https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 127 - The Race

    Right after the shocking assembly, Master Ortiz brought him to check out the ce where the Gauntlet would be held.

    The ce was situated on the south side of Vanyar City. It was one of the forest hills that stretched into the horizon. Moreover, it was located near the impassable mountains in that direction.

    The two spent quite some time walking before they arrived at a clearing on that hill. This ce could be said to be the back of the Evernight Woods.

    "This is where the Gauntlet will start, Tristan, and it will end at the other side of the hill." said Master Ortiz as he looked at his unofficial disciple.

    Meanwhile, Tristan was attracted to the words that the old master had just said.

    "Start? End? Is the Gauntlet going to be some kind of race, Master?"

    At his inquiry, Master Ortiz unexpectedly nodded his head. "Yes, I guess it can be said to be a race."

    The old master began exining the purpose of this so-called Gauntlet. Apparently, it was first created for the elves'' initiation to the elite elven group. Gradually, it turned into a way to upgrade one''s ss from lower to the middle ss.

    However, after thousands of years where the number of elves slowly dwindled, the Gauntlet didn''t have as many participants as its former years anymore. In fact, thest Gauntlet was held 5 years ago.

    Other than initiation, the Gauntlet also was sometimes held as a way to solve disputes between the elves.

    Tristan nodded his head as this kind of behaviour was the same with humans as well. Thus, nothing new for him to see so far.

    What he was most concerned about was the challenge itself. After all, it couldn''t possibly be a normal race. There was no way the queen and Master Ortiz said that he wouldn''t win if it was indeed the case.

    Unsurprisingly, it was exactly as he predicted when Tristan asked Master Ortiz about this matter.

    "Yes, Tristan. The participants are required to be blindfolded while their hands will be tied behind their back."

    "I see.. That''s the reason needed,"

    "Yes, exactly. With the bounded hand, it also prohibited the participants from using any magic, therefore its purely depend on skill and Katra"

    After saying that, Master Ortiz started to walk Tristan through the Gauntlet''s tracks. Tristan immediately took this seriously as this could possibly be his advantage on the iing Gauntlet.

    The first course was steep woods. 3 miles worth of hiking through a very dense forest with countless trees and shrubs acting as obstacles.

    This course should aim at the participants'' stamina and their capability to avoid the obstacles through the assistance of Katra.

    Tristan was sure he would still feel the difficulty even if he did this the normal way - without the blindfold. He didn''t even dare to imagine traversing this blindfolded with his current aplishment in Katra.

    After the duo of master and disciple crossed through the first course, they were weed by the second course which arguably adapted the same theme as the first one. Right before their eyes was a very steep cliff that spanned dozens of meters upwards, with tens of protruding parts where one could easily fall if they grabbed the wrong spot.

    Tristan could see there were dozens of wood poles stuck in certain ces on the cliff, which certainly acted as the method the participants used to pass this course. With their hand tightened at the back, this second course definitely required both Katra and skill.

    The third course was a ravine. It was a hundred meters long, with a depth that Tristan couldn''t even see the bottom of it with his enhanced sense. There were three steel chains that dangled from where the two were to where the other side of thend was, connecting the two terrains separated by the ravine.

    With a single look, Tristan automatically knew what the participants had to do in this course.

    "I see.. Passing on the chains while blindfolded...Yeah.. not exactly my cup of tea.'' Tristan inwardly thought.

    The fourth course was thest one. But strangely, Tristan only saw another clearing that was exactly the same as the starting point. He looked around and still didn''t see anything worthy of a course. Hence, he turned to Master Ortiz.

    "There is¡­ nothing here, Master. Are my eyes ying tricks on me, or is there really nothing here? "

    Master Ortiz didn''t affirm Tristan''s words, instead he pointed his finger to the distance.

    "You see there, Tristan. In front of us. That white tree, that is the finish line."

    Tristan looked over and spotted a row of white trees that were strangely positioned with a huge opening in the middle of them.

    "I assume there will be something prepared in this clearing, Master. Am I right?" said Tristan as he turned to Master Ortiz.

    "You are correct."

    The old master exined that thest course was a surprise that none of the participants knew of. Sometimes, there were just traps buried on the ground. Other times, it was a line up of am archery firing squad, and the most recent Gauntlet had a group of elven soldiers guarding thest course fully armed with the des.

    "Don''t forget the fact that other participants will surely find a way to try to stop you from winning."

    Tristan nodded at the tip Master Ortiz gave as he knew that was exactly what would a race do to itspetitors. Most of the time it''s easier to tackle the otherpetitors than get ahead.

    This was the Gauntlet that Tristan had to win in five days. It was.. quite surprising for sure.

    Even though the elf body that he had made him unafraid of these courses, Tristan wasn''t really sure if he would win either as brute strength wasn''t exactly the main focus here.

    It was apparent that mastery in Katra would help him tremendously. s, Tristan was still stuck on the measly first stage.

    After knowing what he would have to face, coupled with enough ''motivation'' by the queen, Tristan decided to return to Warrior Hall, following Master Ortiz to the familiar pond with a renewed vigor in cultivating Katra.

    The moment they stepped to the pagoda, Tristan bowed to Master Ortiz.

    "I apologize for my behaviorst time, Master. Please liberate some of your patience for me as you guide me in the path of Katra."

    Master Ortiz only nodded his head at Tristan''s words.

    ***

    At the moment, Tristan waspletely focused as he tried his hardest on his Katra. s, one whole day had passed, leaving the former with nearly no progress at all. He truly didn''t get how he was supposed to ''connect'' with the whole pond.

    Seeing the fruitless result of Tristan, Master Ortiz allowed him to continue his training through the night. But again, he still received no progress when the sun already rose on the horizon.

    Tristan could also see the old master was troubled by this.

    At this moment, a figure came to the pagoda where they were. It was Elder Anmar, the queen''s adviser. Master Ortiz swiftly approached the man as Tristan could see the two talked for quite some time. Afterwards, the old master came to him.

    "Tristan, I believe you should follow Elder Anmar here. He has a different way to help you cross the bottleneck you face."

    Upon hearing so, Tristan''s face lit up like a light bulb. He honestly couldn''t stand another day of sitting in front of the pond. Therefore, he was quite excited about this.

    "Really?!"

    Tristan quickly bowed to the old master, and swiftly followed Elder Anmar who was already in the distance. They exited the Warrior Hall and entered the streets, heading towards the south part of the city.

    Several minutester, Elder Anmar stopped in front of a building. The wooden sign that was ced on the side surprised Tristan.

    The Elven cksmith.

 Chapter 128 - Learning To Craft

    The ce Tristan went to was the Elven cksmith.

    It was located in a carved stone structure atop a massive hill. Amongst the sea of trees, a trail of gray smoke could be seen rising from the chimney. The structure was half-open, allowing Tristan to see from afar the half a dozen elves busy working in the ce.

    Tang! Tang!

    The sounds of a hammer hitting the anvil echoed throughout the ce, while the burning forge provided relief from the snowy weather.

    "Master Laril!" Anmar shouted.

    To Tristan''s surprise, the person who came out to greet the two of them was a female elf. At first nce, she looked petite, with long yellow hair reaching down to her mid-back. But when they were closer, Tristan could see lithe muscles on her hands, something he had never seen from the other elves.

    "Master Laril, this is Tristan, a very important guest of the queen."

    "Yes, Anmar¡­ I can hear you, what does the crazy queen want from us now?"

    The female elf words quickly gave Tristan two thumbs up in his mind.

    Tristan looked away, pretended not to notice, and smiled while performing the bow he learned recently as an act of respect.

    "So, what do you want? I am busy!"

    "Master Laril, I have a quest you could do to please the queen. We are hoping that you would be willing to teach this elf the art of cksmithing to improve his Katra."

    The elf woman looked at Tristan up and down, nodded, and said. "Hmm, I could really use a hand. We are quite short-handed these days. Do you have any experience in cksmithing before?"

    Tristan was about to say yes, but on the other hand, he doesn''t believe his time making license tes as forcedbor in prison counts as cksmithing.

    "Unfortunately, no, I haven''t. But I am a fast learner"

    Master Laril frowned, and she was about to reject the offer. But, Elder Anmar talked about Tristan''s physical strength and convinced her to let him try for a day or two. With the help of the queen''s name behind the request, she agreed.

    Now, everything is in her hands.

    "Elder Anmar, will cksmithing really help me?" Tristan asked.

    He finds this whole thing really weird. But, Anmar exined that there are two proven ways to improve Katra by methods other than magic. One is meditating, something which Master Ortiz is really good at, and the other is by crafting.

    From what research was conducted on the improvement of Katra in each elf, continuous crafting was proven to rx the mind and produce an effect simr to meditation to cultivate Katra.

    The brief exnation somehow made much more sense to Tristan than the philosophical tangents Master Ortiz is prone topsing into every time he asked for help.

    "Tristan, I reckon, as you''re not like any other normal elf. You will have a much easier time cultivating Katra by doing something other than sitting, am I right?"

    Tristan himself has no idea whether Elder Anmar''s theories are true, so he could only smile and nod in response while hoping the elder was right. If this ended up working, he will surely regret being distracted by the princess'' pretty smile and not listening to this elder in the first ce,

    Elder Anmar looked at Tristan with a stern gaze and added.

    "Please be respectful towards Master Laril, and take your duties seriously!"

    Tristan was surely interested more about this cksmith master after hearing from the elder that from all of the Vanyar elves, apparently only she and the queen managed to reach the fifth stage of Katra.

    His time here would surely be beneficial, indeed. In addition, this woman doesn''t seem to love the queen much, so probably it would be a good idea to be close acquaintances with her.

    "I will returnter to check your progress, Tristan. Remember, give it your all."

    "Thank you, Elder Anmar." Tristan gave the man a respectful bow.

    He watched the old man leave, before turning around to approach his new master. No matter what happens, he will make this work.

    Other than Master Laril, there seemed to be only five disciples here, and all of them were busy. One was working on a de with a brilliant white gleam and a handle encrusted with jewels, while another was forging a chest te made of an odd, gold colored metal with specks of ck. None of them even took notice of him, eachmitted to their own work.

    When Tristan was about to speak to Master Laril, one of the elves stood up and smiled at him.

    "Hello, new apprentice. I am Atos, Master Laril''s second disciple, and here, all the others are my junior."

    Tristan introduced himself, and the elf responded with a nod before exining about the ce.

    The ce has half a dozen forges in which each of the disciples actually has their own workspace. The master on the other hand has her private workspace. Other than the storage room where they ced the finished product there was not much else to exin about the ce.

    Apparently, the forge wasn''t usually that busy, but the queen had just issued an order of 200 set of elven des and armors to be delivered under a strict time limit. Hence, most of the disciples have tomit their time to fulfill that request.

    "I see. Great! Just tell me what to do, and I will help. What could I help you all with? Armor? Sword? Don''t tell me¡­ a dagger?"

    Right when Atos was about to answer, Master Larik approached him, handed him an item, and said.

    "Nope, you a beginner will be making this."

    Tristan stared at the u-shaped object given by the master with slight bewilderment. It was a horse shoe around the size of his hand.

    ¡­ Really?

    Now, the blood monarch, the one who leads the elves to glory or the harbinger of their destruction, has to make horseshoes?

 Chapter 129 - Blacksmithing

    Tristan blinked his eyes over and over, to make sure what he just saw was not wrong. Incredulous expression was seen on his face as his brain projected the object in his hand.

    "A horseshoe? Really?"

    s, it was obvious that Master Laril was serious as Tristan spotted no humor on the former''s face. Therefore, he could only sigh and ept hismentable fate.

    Horseshoe was one of the most wanted pieces of metal equipment in the Vanyar Kingdom and other kingdoms beyond. It was because of the existence of war horses. A warrior would only need one sword, while each of their horses need 4 horseshoes.

    In this world, where horses were still the number one means of transportation, it was a no-brainer that horseshoes were in high demand.

    Apparently, since the master and her 5 disciples were needed to make the 200 elven swords and armormissioned to them, there was no one who was doing the seriously needed horseshoes. Naturally, now that Tristan had offered himself at the door, Master Laril would take this chance to solve her predicament and train the former at the same time - killing two birds with one stone.

    All in all, it truly made sense. Even so, Tristan had to make sure he wouldn''t waste hisst few days making horseshoes, though. After all, his current situation was dire enough.

    ''This better be really great at helping me improve my Katra.'' Tristan secretly thought in his mind as he put the horseshoe down.

    The elf normally made the horseshoe customized to fit each horse. However, as Tristan was just starting, he was told to just make the average size horseshoe which obviously was not easier.

    Atos was assigned by Master Laril to show and teach him the basics of cksmithing.

    Tristan followed the former as they made their way toward the forging room.

    Without further ado, Tristan''s adventure in cksmithing began.

    cksmithing consisted of three main items - The forge, the anvil, and the hammer.

    Tristan watched in clear interest as Atos took one small piece of steel ingot before putting it in the forge that was already heated to maximum. When the ingot reached a certain temperature and it was ring crimson, he took it out with the tongs in a fast tone and put it on top of the anvil.

    Without wasting even a second, Atos grabbed the hammer thaty on the side and used it to pound the scorching steel with everything he had. The pounding was so rhythmical that it almost made Tristan involuntary hum some tone.

    In no time at all, Tristan could see the ingot was bending into the shape of the letter U by the relentless strikes Atos had unleashed upon it. Then, when the ingot had been pounded to the desired shape, Atos swiftly picked up the now U-shaped steel with the tongs and flushed it into some kind of liquid in an open container.

    A sizzling sound was heard and clumps of steam appeared as the ingot dived and cooled in the liquid. Atos repeated this process a few more times and within less than fifteen minutes, a horseshoe was made.

    Thest touch was doing the punching to make holes and smoothing the overall horseshoe.

    Tristan watched the entire sequence of the craft, and couldn''t help but think, "That''s it? That seems very easy, and surprisingly a very interesting thing to do. Definitely much better than sitting on the pagoda tracking eels."

    After storing the freshly made horseshoe, Atos stepped aside to let Tristan taste the beauty of cksmithing. Standing where Atos stood earlier, Tristan began to move as he followed the steps etched in his mind.

    First, he took a simr steel ingot and put it on the zing forge. Tristan subconsciously let out a smirk as he was confident he would receive sess in the endeavor. All of this was because he was sure he had counted the heating timing properly.

    ''Around 50 seconds, I am sure of it.'' Tristan inwardly thought as his mind acted like a clock, counting down the time to its seconds.

    After his counts reached fifty, with the tongs already in hand, Tristan took out the searing ingot, ced it on the anvil, and began pounding after grabbing the hammer.

    Tang! Tang!

    s, Tristan''s expectation where the ingot would bend to his will didn''t happen as it immediately broke into pieces by his one hit.

    A surprised, puzzled, then confused expression could be seen on Tristan''s face as he tried toprehend what just happened. Standing next to him, Atos was being so nonchnt as if he had expected it. He picked up the broken pieces on the anvil and melted it down into a new ingot.

    "Don''t worry. We knew it would happen. So, don''t be disheartened and try again."

    Atos even returned to his work, leaving him to take his time to make the horseshoe.

    In the meantime, Tristan was berating himself heavily for underestimating the difficulty of the craft. He sighed and thought he truly shouldn''t belittle the craft that probably had only 5 people in the entire Vanyar City.

    He grabbed another ingot and threw it to the forge again, but this time, instead of counting the heating process, Tristan looked and observed it carefully. Still, he didn''tpletely abandon the counting method, but instead, used it as aplementary approach.

    Tristan decided to experiment with the process. He took the ingot out in different timings, to see how it would do; the first attempt was a few seconds early, while the next was a few secondste.

    The one which was early was still too hard, which resulted in cracks when Tristan tried to bend it. Meanwhile, the one which waste was too soft and broke even easier than before.

    Finally, after dozens of attempts, dozens of different timings, and dozens of wretched failures, Tristan seeded. For the first time, Tristan hit the ingot and it didn''t break or shatter into pieces in one hit.

    "I did it!"

    Slowly but surely, with the utmost level of carefulness, Tristan used the horn part of the anvil in order to bend the ingot to the U-letter shape. He raised the hammer and sent it down, and then..

    Tang!

    The ingot broke again!

    "What the hell?!!"

    Yeah, the craft of cksmithing was definitely much harder than Tristan initially thought.

    At this time, Master Laril came andunched in to berate Tristan. "At this rate, you will only ruin my forge!"

    Tristan bowed and said, "I''m sorry, Master. Please guide me as I''m lost about this."

    "You moron! You came here to learn Katra, right?! Then use it to understand the steel!"

    Master Laril told Tristan that elven steel was very special. It was durable yet light, but it needed outstanding care in order to shine. Allegedly, the steel required a very specific heat to reach its maximum crystallization. In addition, it was so sensitive that pounding it required a specific strength as well.

    "You understand now?! If so, go and do it properly! If you are unable to make one today, don''t bother to return tomorrow!"

    Tristan finally understood the reason Elder Anmar brought him to this ce to learn Katra of all ces. Katra would help him understand theplexity of the steel, which indirectly made him have to advance his aplishment in it.

    With this in mind, this time Tristan didn''t immediately throw the steel into the forge. Instead, he held the ingot in his hand, closed his eyes, and chanted the words for the second stage of Katra. He didn''t know how much time passed, but he slowly started to feel the steel ingot - its weight, its structure, and so on.

    Then, in the middle of this, Tristan suddenly thought of an idea that probably could help himpletely understand the ingot instantly. He grabbed it hard and suddenly,

    zing mes materialized on his hand, burning the ingot down.

    [Heat Touch]

    [25 Blood Essence consumed]

    Everyone in the forging room, who had been observing Tristan, were surprised, including Master Laril herself.

 Chapter 130 - Achievement

    "You can do fire magic?! How can that be?"

    Atos said while admiring the ingot that had turned into some kind of glowing, liquid bar in Tristan''s hands.

    Out of the corner of his eyes, Tristan could see Master Laril herself was also looking at him with interest from afar for a bit before she returned back to her own work.

    The steel ingot in his hand kept on burning, and Tristan decided to put it back before it truly melted. Within seconds, the ingot hardened yet again.

    When he touched the ingot, there was a distinct feeling he couldn''t truly ce, but it felt familiar. Once again, he used the Katra to focus on the cooled ingot, and now he gained aplete understanding of the steel structure.

    Tristan grabbed another ingot and ced it on the forge. Now that he understood the structure, he could tell at what point the ingot would reach its maximum crystallization. Without further ado, he took out the ingot before pounding it into a thin piece and bending it.

    It was his first bend, and it was understandable that it would not turn out perfect.

    Tristan took another ingot, concentrated on it, and did the same steps. This time, he managed to do it right.

    He has created his first finished steel horseshoe.

    "Very good!" Atos praised. "Now, you just need to make 4 identical pairs with the perfect thinness."

    "Of course!" Tristan answered, full of spirits that now he could see some progress.

    Tristan took more ingots and started making more horseshoes. He repeated the process beginning from forging, pounding, to cooling the resulting item down. He did all that while fully submerged in the Katra.

    At the end of the day, Tristan managed to create 8 sets.

    "Not bad¡­ Not bad at all, Tristan! I believe that you might have a knack for the art of cksmithing." Atos said.

    The next day, Tristan repeated the same thing. Before this, he was skeptical, and to be frank, having to forge horseshoes felt a little insulting. But, he couldn''tin about the results.

    He realized that not only could he feel the item he''s working on, but also the burning mes of the forge was very fascinating to see.

    Tristan kept on pounding and pounding and bending, his mind empties from all other worries. All his energy and focus was directed towards the items in front of him.

    At the end of the second day, Tristan has just managed to create his 50th set of horseshoes, which means 200 pieces of horseshoe in total.

    During his total productivity, he was in such a trance as he was fully submerged in the perfection of his craft.

    Tang! Tang! Tang!

    He pounded and pounded.

    Suddenly he could feel something within himself had just unlocked, a notification came to his mind.

    [You have reached the second stage of Katra]

    "Yes! I made it! This is great!" Tristan smiled, unable to contain his excitement.

    Finally, two days of doing nothing but making horseshoe had bore fruit.

    While he was still cheering for his achievement, he realized Master Laril had called on him.

    "Tristane to my workshop!"

    Tristan nodded. In this situation, his mind usually would just wander everywhere, but now, he found himself oddly focused. There was nothing but his cksmithing lessons and the structure of the metals.

    Inside the private workshop, Master Laril looked up and down intently before saying.

    "I can tell you have reached your second stage Katra."

    "Yes, Master. Thank you for the guidance." Tristan said respectfully.

    "I did no such thing! This is all from your effort, Tristan"

    "Yes, Master." Tristan nodded.

    "I called you here because I need you to try something for me. I am actually interested in that magic you showed yesterday."

    Master Laril walked to the back of the room, rummaged through her ingredients, and came back with a different ingot. The ingot has a simr silver color to steel, but there was a slight bluish glow that was visible in the ambient darkness of the ce.

    Tristan touched the metal, and he could feel the cold seeping through his finger.

    "Tristan, try to melt this down with your hand this time."

    He concentrated on the ingot, while swallowing his disappointment of being asked to do it again. Each time he cast the spell, he would have to pay in blood essence, and as for now, that is a very limited resource he would rather not waste.

    [Heat Touch]

    [25 Blood Essence consumed]

    The mysterious, bluish glow started to turn yellow for a few seconds, before the yellow quickly died down only to be reced back with blue.

    Master Laril looked at the result with a slight disappointment. Tristan could tell he failed her test, whatever it is.

    "What was it, Master? How can I help?"

    "it''s nothing¡­ Ah, this material is a very special metal called Valerian steel. Due to it being naturally cold, it was not easy to forge because it would need high, intense mes continuously so it wouldn''t set in before we could shape it. Apparently, your fire touch was still not strong enough,"

    The master was silent for a few seconds before continuing.

    "Its very convinient to have an elf that could do fire magic in here, and i have never seen a fire touch magic to be that powerful really¡­ That aside, you will try to work on this steel next."

    It was not Valerian steel, but it also seemed like a luxurious item. The ingot has a primarily silvery color, with greenish streaks in some parts.

    "This one is mithril, we are using this for our special enchanted weapons. Now, you can start working on this material."

    Mithril looked rigid, more simr to a jewelry decoration than an ingot, but it was actually much stronger than the previous steel, a new challenge that he was ready to ept.

    This particr metal also seems to be very hard even after being heated to its maximum crystallization. This forced Tristan to pound as hard as he could. Fortunately, he has his 200 battle power helping him.

    TANG! TANG! TANG!

    The heavy pounding Tristan showed attracted the attention of the other apprentice cksmiths. His power was matched by no one save for the master herself.

    The second day passed, and the third day rolled in. Elder Anmar came by to check on Tristan, but before he could say anything, master Laril threw the elder out, not even allowing him to see Tristan.

    "Just tell the queen that Tristan is now in my care!"

    Just like that, Tristan became an irreceable figure in the Vanyar elven cksmith.

 Chapter 131 - Sword

    Tang! Tang!

    The loud and sonorous sounds of metal being manhandled could be heard through the air as the shadow of a figure was seen standing before a zing forge that let loose its scorching heat. A hammer could be seen in the figure''s hand, as it was lifted into the air and sent down with force onto a crimson-colored bar ced on the anvil.

    It had been four days since Tristan first came to the cksmith and one could say he had spent his time there ever since. At first, there were natural difficulties as he forged through the craft of cksmithing. However, he now could proudly say he sessfully reached the second stage of Katra and was currently making his way over to the third stage.

    It took him quite a long time to memorize, understand and get used to the third set of words for the third stage of Katra that was taught to him by Master Laril.

    Hence, in order to reach the third stage of Katra as soon as possible, Tristan once again submerged himself in the craft.

    At the moment, Tristan was working with the fabled material he had seen in movies back on Earth. Mithril.

    Mithril was truly a top notch material as it possessed much more strength and durabilitypared to the elven steel he worked with before when it was made into finished equipment.

    As he had already finished the horseshoes days ago, Tristan wanted to try making a different equipment. Because he was still considered a beginner, not even an amateur, he opted for the most basic form of des, the sword.

    When making a sword, the normal pounding and bending techniques he had used on horseshoes were simply not enough at all. Heck, one could even say those were inadequate to create the base of a sword. After all, what Tristan was going to make was a weapon, which certainly involved many other techniques other than the former two.

    Therefore, Tristan gave his all as he began to learn other techniques of cksmithing, such as drawing, tapering, upsetting, spreading and so on. Those were the basic techniques to shape metal.

    However, the most important technique Tristan learned, which in his opinion was also the most exciting, was the hardening.

    It was a process consisting of several steps that would end in hardened metal, or in Tristan''s case, hardened mithril.

    First, one had to remove the impurities within the metal they wanted use.

    By soaking the mithril in a certain liquid that looked like oil before throwing it into the forge, it would give Tristan an easier time when he had to go through afterwards. When the mithril was glowing red, he had to pound it multiple times, which then created ayer that could be peeled on its surface, which were the impurities of the mithril that were forced out.

    This process had to be repeated until there was no moreyer formed, which indicated thepletion of the step.

    The second step was called folding.

    A process where the metal, that was free of impurities, would be folded into two before pounded into one and thrown into forge once more. This also repeated multiple times until a much stronger metal was made.

    This technique wasn''t needed when one made horseshoes, but it was crucial for weapons, especially swords. In addition, all of this was done while making sure the metal was fired until its maximum crystallization.

    After the metal had gone through the above mentioned steps, that was when it was ready to be shaped into its desired shape.

    Tang! Tang! Tang!

    That piece of metal had never been out of Tristan''s hand the whole day.

    From the amortization process, the folding process and, finally, the forming process itself, the Mithril went through all this as Tristan focused his entire concentration on the craft.

    He did all of the steps while chanting the third stage Katra in his mind. At the end, Tristan felt his Katra had improved the moment he finished the de. s, it was still far from enough to let him reach the third stage.

    Thinking that tomorrow was already the time for the Gauntlet to begin, Tristan just hoped his second stage was enough topete in it.

    At the end of the day, Tristan only managed to finish one sword, which was considered slow, as other disciples could easily make two or three swords a day.

    He could only shake his head and sigh at this. Tristan knew very well of the massive gulf between them.

    Even so, Tristan''s speed of aplishment already received fair recognition from Master Laril. Apparently, his strength, which was a cut above other elves, greatly helped in the process, which was supposed to be difficult for a beginner like him.

    Seeing the first weapon he made on his own and receiving acknowledgement was definitely a satisfying feeling. Much to Tristan''s surprise, a notification appeared in his mind as he appreciated the sword in his hand.

    [Sword - Mithril - tier 3 weapon]

    [Length 0.9 meter, weight 3.5 kilogram]

    This reminded him of the first time he held a weapon, which was the ymore that was currently stored in his interspatial ring. Tristan took out the massive sword andpared the two''s stats.

    [ymore - Meteorite - Tier 4 Weapon]

    [Length 2.2 meters, weight 42 kilograms]

    Shockingly, the ymore was still a higher tier weapon whenpared to a Mithril weapon, which was already considered very precious by the Vanyar Elves. This fact made Tristan wonder how Cursaac managed toy his hands on this weapon.

    The sight of the massive weapon attracted everyone''s attention, as the five cksmith disciples as well as Master Laril herself crept closer to Tristan, very much interested in checking it out.

    Noticing the keen look on his master and fellow apprentices, Tristan asked in a polite tone, "Master, I wondered how big is the difference between the material of these two weapons..."

    Master Laril, whose gaze locked on the ymore, looked at Tristan and shed a smile.

    "Why don''t we just give it a test?"

 Chapter 132 - Test It!

    Master Laril was so interested that she took time off her extremely packed schedule in order to test the sword. Her fingers swept over the surface of the de while her eyes narrowed, examining it in great detail.

    "I can tell that it''s good material.. Well then.. Let''s see how it fares against elven steel, shall we?"

    Apparently, the Vanyar had no other way to test the prowess of the sword other than the most direct method, sparring it against other weapons made of different metal.

    Seeing the elven cksmith master holding a sword in front of him, Tristan couldn''t help but to check her stats.

    [Elf - female]

    [Battle power - undefined]

    [Spirit force - undefined]

    "Dammit!" Tristan cursed silently. He wondered if this scanner was outdated and he needed to upgrade it somehow. It gradually became obsolete now that he kept meeting people he couldn''t measure these days.

    Oblivious to Tristan''s sour mood to, once again, an undefined result. Master Laril looked at him with a tint of eagerness in her voice.

    "Are you ready, Tristan?"

    Tristan swiftly recalled his wandering thoughts as he nodded his head solemnly.

    "Yes, I am ready whenever you are."

    Knowing her prowess, Tristan did not hesitate to decide on fighting with his full strength. After all, holding back against an undefined figure in his current status was just pure suicidal.

    nk!

    nk! nk!

    At the moment, Master Laril was using a normal elven steel sword, one that could easily be found on any elven soldiers roaming around the city. But to Tristan''splete amazement, the sword was able to hold on against his massive ymore.

    This was surprising because during the war against the barbarians, Tristan had an extremely easy time cutting through the barbarians as their weapons would break after receiving one or two hits from his sword.

    A frown appeared on Master Laril''s face, as if she thought Tristan was holding back against her.

    "Harder!" shouted the female elf master.

    The muscles on her arms slightly contracted, but her sword was steady as she received every swing that Tristan sent with all he had. The bulging veins that were seen on his arms and the redness that gradually filled his face truly proved that Tristan didn''t hold anything back at all.

    Just as expected, the master was able to handle his 200 battle power with ease.

    nk! nk!

    After sending five strikes, Tristan eventually realized that the shing sound between the two swords sounded a bit different. At first, he thought it was just a feeling, but after concentrating his Katra on it, he was sure it was true. It looked like his improved Katra had made him more sensitive towards these kinds of things.

    Through his enhanced senses, Tristan noted the elven sword had small shards breaking from the de. Then, he somehow could tell that his next swing would break it and unexpectedly, it really did.

    Craaackk!

    While Tristan watched as the elven sword shattered into pieces, Master Laril nodded her head in satisfaction.

    "Good! Your sword is able to break our elven steel in 6 hits."

    Brought out of his thoughts by her words, Tristan looked at Master Laril when she suddenly took the equipment he just made, the mithril sword.

    "Let''s see how good the one you make ispared to your own sword!"

    A fervent expression was seen on Master Laril''s face, the kind that made Tristan unable to reject her request. Thus, he reluctantly nodded his head while saying goodbye to his first sword creation in his heart. Apparently, his entire day of hard work would be in vain.

    "Okay!"

    nk! nk! nk!!

    The familiar sounds of metal shing with each other once again resounded through the forging room. This time, the mithril sword was able to pass a threshold of a dozen hits before Tristan could perceive the de beginning to break down due to the stress received from the multiple impacts. Its exterior was fine, but he knew that it would break sooner rather thanter.

    As Tristan knew the weapon well - courtesy of his own creation, his Katra was able to tell the entire situation of the sword and predicted that the sword would start to chip after another half a dozen hits and shattered on the next. As predicted, the situation happened just like that.

    Master Laril''s eyes shone as she looked at Tristan''s swords, the one still in his hand and the one which had already broken apart.

    "Not bad! Both your sword and the one you made are very good swords! Good job!"

    When Tristan thought the experiment was over and Master Laril would go on her way, she actually took out another mithril sword. He could see the same passion burning in her eyes, and honestly, it slightly terrified him.

    But then, Tristan''s eyes were soon attracted by the new sword as he could sense something peculiar about it.

    Noticing the look on his face, Master Laril opened her mouth, "This is an enchanted weapon, Tristan. If you went to the magic shrine, you would definitely have known about this."

    Tristan could see the de had a marking, an engraving on it. Luckily, the system didn''t let him down as it quickly showed the relevant informant about the sword.

    [Short de - Mithril - tier 3 weapon]

    [Enchanted - Increased durability]

    [Length 0.6 meter, weight 3.5 kilogram]

    "There is only a simple enchantment on it. Let''s give it a try against your sword!"

    nk! nk! nk!!

    This time, it took Tristan more than 30 strikes before the first chip appeared on the mithril sword. While he was amazed by the prowess of enchantment, the light in Master Laril''s eyes shone even brighter as she looked at the ymore.

    "Amazing! How amazing!!"

    At this moment, Tristan finally understood how good his initial sword was. He fell into a deep thought as he realized that without this sword, he would not have survived the dozens of battles he experienced.

    In the meantime, Master Laril beckoned her hand to the disciples.

    "Alright.. Shall we try with our best steel, then?" the female master murmured, oddly making Tristan feel a chill go down his back.

    Atos walked out of the forging room, only to soon return with a box in hand. From the box, Master Laril took out a translucent sword with bluish gleam diffusing off it. The sight of the sword made Tristan subconsciously think of crystals. A sword made of crystal.

    Seeing the mesmerized yet intrigued look on Tristan''s face, Master Leril let out a wide smile.

    "This sword is made of Valerian Steel. Now, should we give this a try?"

    [Sword - Valerian - tier 4 weapon]

    [Length 0.6 meter, weight 3.5 kilogram]

    Seeing that both swords were tier 4 weapons, Tristan thought for a moment before saying with a smile, "Why not?"

    ''This time, it could probably keep going until the end of time.'' Tristan thought with a wry smile.

    nkk!!!

    A much louder sound resulted from the sh of the two swords!

    Both swords were seen trembling in their wielder''s hands at once!

    Seeing this spectacle, amazement was seen on Master Leril''s face.

    "Amazing! The two are about the same quality! Again!!"

    Tristan took advantage of this opportunity to recall the des Singing technique he learnt and tried to apply it into the ymore.

    nk nk nk!!

    Tens of confrontations, and Tristan started to get a hang of it. The technique wasn''t supposed to bepatible with arge sword, but Tristan''s strength was allegedly able topensate for it.

    nk! nk!!

    "Very good! Now try to ept this strike!!"

    Tristan wasn''t sure with his assumption, but it looked like Master Laril had cast a spell on the sword as the bluish gleam of the sword exuded intensified. Subsequently, she swung it from above with all her strength.

    Tristan swiftly raised the ymore in an attempt of parrying it. But then, his face instantly changed the moment the swords got into contact.

    CRAAACKK!!

    A Horrendous look appeared on Tristan''s face as he watched the ymore in his hand crack.

    "NO!!!"

 Chapter 133 - A Visit

    "Nooo!!!"

    Tristan was horrified. The precious sword that has apanied him all this time was cracked and chipped out.

    What did he expect?

    With such a crude idea and a stupid test, one of the swords was bound to break.

    Master Laril approached him and took the cracked ymore from his hands. She turned it around several times and studied each ridge intently.

    "Hmm¡­"

    "What is it, Master?" Tristan asked, and he approached his master, trying to get a closer look at the sword and determine what caught his master''s eyes.

    Although Tristan tried to be as casual as possible in front of her, deep down he was enraged and sad from witnessing what just happened. The sword had always been with him since he came to this world, and in a way it was a constant help in this chaotic world. He will make sure his master would be responsible for this oue.

    "Tristan," Master Laril ced the sword and said. "This material is very strong, dare I say even stronger than a Valerian Steel, but from the grains of its cracks, I can tell how crude the creator was."

    The master cksmith couldn''t believe that such a great material was being treated so crudely.

    "Tristan, just leave the weapon to me, and I will try to reforge the material and even maximize its quality. What do you think?"

    "Yes, master. Please." Tristan nodded. Well, to be fair, that was the least she could do considering what she did to his de. If he was lucky, maybe she would throw in some enchantment as well as a bonus.

    "Alright then, juste back after you finish the gauntlet. We can talk more about this after I finish studying the material.

    "Alright then, thank you, Master."

    In thest few days, he didn''t think about the uing gauntlet at all, his cksmithing studies always leaving him tired by the time he was done. Though his Katra levels had indeed increased, he has no idea how much that would be of help tomorrow.

    Either way, he has tried his best, and now, he has to make the best of whatever oue he will be dealt with tomorrow. If there was anything that left an impression on him these few days, it was the benefit of staying calm in the face of an overwhelming situation. It made him more confident about the gauntlet.

    Now that he thought about it, there was little chance the queen would actually kill him ¨C even if she had indeed nned such a thing, she wouldn''t do it that easily as he held some degree of importance in her prophecy. Besides, he had thought of a few tricks to win the gauntlet.

    Finally, he said his farewells, looked at the sword onest time, and decided to return to his living quarters.

    Along the way, he looked at the still barely setting sun and decided to take a small stroll through the streets of Vanyar. Though there were notable differences, in a way the Vanyar civilization is no different from its human counterparts. Enchanted crystals that hung along the streets had started to glow as night drew closer, illuminating the road in various colors.

    The bustle of day was just starting to die down, people retreating back into their homes to recuperate from their daily business. Elves covered from head to toe with silver armor started to patrol in pairs.

    He took note of a ce seemingly frequented by many elves before returning to his quarters for real this time.

    Inside his room, he took off his top and sat cross-legged on his rug to meditate on his third stage of Katra. The moment he closed his eyes, he could feel as if he became one with his surroundings. The cold airing in from outside the balcony felt sharp and crisp. The softness of the rug beneath his feet, and the sounds of talking from afar, so far away from the smithy that stood atop the hill.

    Time went by quickly while he was in the trance, and without him realizing it, the outside noises had died down and disappeared as everyone went to sleep. For a while, there was only him, the cold breeze, and his breathing.

    Then, he could feel the presence of someone moving in his room. Their steps were slow at first, but they steadily became louder as they approached, pulling Tristan away from his trance.

    Though the ce was dark, and they were not quite close yet, Tristan knew who they were.

    She was the arrogant princess. But, what was she doing sneaking around in the middle of the night like this?

    He sensed her standing right in front of him and even heard the sound of her sword as she drew it and pointed it to his neck. Knowing she won''t hurt him, Tristan decided to pretend to sleep.

    "Wake up!"

    Tristan pretended as if he was snapped away from his trance and slowly turned around.

    "Whoa, whoa! What are you doing here, Princess!"

    "You can''t even sense my presence? How bad is your Katra, really, if you can''t feel meing!"

    "Well," Tristan gave her a nonchnt shrug. "Maybe it was your sneaking skill that was great, Princess."

    The princess frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose after hearing his casual answer.

    "Stop it! Everything is a joke to you, isn''t it?" She snapped.

    "No, no¡­ Of course not¡­" Tristan scratched his head. He was startled by her sudden outburst, but he was also quite amused. There is no reason to reject a nightly visit from a woman, especially one as ravishing as her.

    "Alright, yes¡­ So, what do you want, Princess?"

    The princess took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment before sheathing her sword.

    "I came here to get you out from Vanyar!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 134 - Despicable

    "Why?" Tristan stared at her in confusion. "Is there any problem?"

    "No!" She covered her mouth and looked around to make sure no one was around beforeing back to Tristan and whispering. "Okay, juste and follow me."

    The princess, sneaking away at night and suddenly wanting to take him away from Vanyar? That may be a tempting offer, but one question remains, and its answer will change his decision.

    "Does the queen know?"

    Serene''s face turned sour, and from it, Tristan can tell the answer.

    "I came to help take you out of Vanyar. So, we can''t waste any time here! Let''s go!"

    Tristan looked at her intently, as if trying to find her reason, before asking. "Before that, tell me why first."

    Princess Serene frowned, not expecting the barrage of questions. "Isn''t it obvious? Whether you win or lose, we both will lose. No good wille of it" She stops for a second before continuing "There is no way for you to defy the queen while you are still in Vanyar territory. Escape is the only way."

    Tristan stood up from his seated position, wincing as he did so as he had sat cross-legged for too long. Though he kept an eye on her, he walked to the chair and satfortably.

    The princess red at him in irritation.

    "Are youing or what? I have prepared everything you need, you only need toe with me!"

    "Come with you to where?"

    The princess was more visibly irritated now, and she seemed to be on the verge of throwing the nearest object. "Outside of Vanyar, dammit!" She shouted, not caring about her voice. "Have you been listening to me the whole time, or are you just naturally that stupid?"

    "After that, what? Say that I agree ande with you, what should I do? Where should I even go next?"

    "Anywhere, you want, I''m not your caretaker, I don''t care where you''re going."

    "Then¡­" Tristan looked at her seriously. "I refuse."

    Her escape offer, tempting as it is, would only make him a fugitive, something he would rather avoid dealing with for the moment. Right now, everything hinges on his decision. He has his sister being held by the Arcadian king and there was also the sword that needs fixing, he will be staying in this ce for a while.

    "Are you stupid?! You will not win tomorrow''s gauntlet, and then the queen will kill you. There is nothing for you to gain by staying here!"

    Tristan smiled, like he just saw an enemy''s obvious weakness.

    "Princess Serene, if that were true, there would be no need for you toe here, the fact that you are here is only proof that she won''t. Cause if she is really going to kill me, wouldn''t it be a good thing for you?Then don''t tell me you came to help me now because you worry about my life? That''s so nice of you¡­"

    "You shameless bastard!" The princess''s face was red with anger. "Even if she wont kill you, dont you ever think that she would marry you!"

    "¡­ Calm down, princess, this is veryte¡­" Tristan nced at the direction of his room''s door with a mocking smile.

    Thatment shook the princess even more, and she was about to pull out her whip to attack him before she finally came to her senses.

    "Anyway, who even said I will lose? I''m confident I will win tomorrow!"

    "Huh?" The princess stared at him like he was crazy. "Sure, I heard you already reached stage two. But, a few stage three Katra users will join tomorrow, including Sindur!"

    "Hahaha.. Is that supposed to make me worry? I defeated that guyst time, and I will make sure his defeat sticks this time."

    "You arrogant fool! Are you making fun of the gauntlet? The gauntlet is not that easy!"

    Tristan may have thought otherwise, but there was no reason to waste energy debating against her in the middle of the night like this.

    "Alright, princess, I will prove to you that I will win tomorrow. Just make sure to prepare yourself, because tomorrow, everyone will know that you are going to marry me."

    "You, you shameless-" The princess lost her cool right then and there, and she took out her whip, but rage made her strikes dull, and Tristan was ready.

    Tristan took his chance and dashed forward as fast as he could, pinning her on his bed and imprisoned her beneath him by using both his arms to pin her hands.

    "How dare you?! Get off me!"

    "Why? isn''t this what you came here for, princess? Let''s have a taste of what is toe after our marriage¡­" He gave a teasing smile.

    "You¡­ I hate you! You''re an animal!!"

    Tristan didn''t reply. He stared at her beautiful blue eyes, her cherry lips, her slender and smooth neck, and both herample breasts

    He would be lying if he said he wasn''t excited about the idea of having some fun with her, his lower body more honest than he thought. Her skin was really soft, setting his loins ame with excitement¡­

    "You are such a despicable person¡­ You may have my body, but you will never be my venti."

    Seeing her calm down and not resisting him, made a smile came to his face

    "This, now, is so much better princess. When we are married, I expect you to always submit to me."

    He traced patterns onto her cheeks with the tip of his index finger, while Serena looked away from him.

    "Now, now, princess, listen to me. I think this marriage will be for the best for both of us. I have no desire to run nor I care about the prophecy. I just thought I would survive better with your family helping me. Do you hear me?"

    The princess nodded, still looking away from him.

    "Mark my words princess, as long as you obey me and don''t attempt to betray me, I will make sure to take care of you as I would care for a family member"

    She nced back at him, startled at his words.

    Once more, Tristan touched her cheek, but his touches were sincere, and his smile carried no trace of his earlier teasing.

    "Remember This!I will never force myself to you unless you beg me to! ¡­ Now, go away, let me get some rest for tomorrow."

    He let go of her hands and stepped off the bed. She quickly stood up, stared at Tristan for a few seconds, before deciding to take her leave.

 Chapter 135 - Gauntlet

    Shimmering light of dawn seeped through the gaps of the lush forest, providing life to those beneath it. The melodious sound of birds chirping echoed through the air as the cool morning breeze swept through thendscape.

    Today was the tenth day since Tristanst met the queen and marked the second week of his stay in the Vanyar Kingdom. On this day, amotion was happening throughout the bustling city of Vanyar.

    Hundreds of elves could be seen filling out the streets, heading towards the south part of the city and gathered at a wide clearing in the Evernight Woods.

    Today was the day. The day of the momentous event, the Gauntlet would be held.

    It was such a huge event that nearly all the elves who lived in Vanyar came, which could obviously be proven with the current sight.

    A group of people wearing formal attire that exuded a regal aura arrived in the clearing.

    The chatter gradually died down when the elves saw the arrival of this group of people. Respect and adoration could be seen clearly on their faces.

    In this group of newly-arrived people were the Queen of Vanyar Kingdom, Queen Leena, and dozens of esteemed elven elders.

    Tristan could recognize Elder Anmar, the adviser who seemed to always apany the queen, Master Ortiz, who taught him Katra and hand-to-handbat, and the other masters of the Warrior Hall''s disciplines.

    What Tristan didn''t expect was the presence of Captain Raika as well as the Kingsde members. Heck, he could even see Nyx waving his hand at him.

    As for Tristan, he was currently standing in the center of the clearing together with two dozen elves who stood separately. Those who had the slightest inkling of what was going on would know that this group of elves were those who would be participating in the event.

    Standing alone in the sparse group, Tristan spotted Sindur, the disciple who sparred with him. He beamed a polite smile and waved his hand at thetter as a greeting, but Tristan didn''t expect the man to approach him. Moreover, he brought two unknown elves with him.

    "Greetings, friend." said Sindur politely, to which Tristan replied in the same manner. After all, he was a cultured person.

    Subsequently, Tristan sensed that the two elves who Sindur brought were not weaker than him.

    The elf on the right was a man with arge build, which was a little unusual to see among the elves. Meanwhile, the other one was a female elf with green lustrous hair that reached to her back.

    Sindur turned to the two elves and said, "Friends, this is Tristan, the one we should give thanks to for this event."

    Tristan was trying to ignore Sindur. Heck, the only reason he even greeted the man was because of their earlier encounter. After all, he had faintly noticed thetter''s intention at that time.

    s, if he liked to have a better stay in the Vanyar Kingdom, he would probably have to be polite again.

    Therefore, he nodded his head at the two and greeted them with the proper elves'' handshake manner that he had learnt.

    Therge elf was called Elyon, and from the impression that Tristan had, the man was extremely quiet - bordering cold as he stood there without much to say after greeting him. On the other hand, the female elf named nis let out a hostile attitude towards him, which certainly confused and made him wonder as he had never met her before.

    However, now that the other party clearly didn''t like him, Tristan also had no obligation to be polite either. Hence, heunched a questionced with poison.

    "Are you all joining the Gauntlet? I wonder why females are joining.." said Tristan while his gaze wandered around.

    nis seemed to look at Tristan in an even sharper gaze when she heard his words. With a tone that obviously screamed enmity, she opened her mouth, "I came to protect Serene''s honor! You don''t deserve her, outsider!" She emphasized thest part of her words, as if reminding Tristan of his status.

    Unexpectedly, Elyon grabbed her shoulders and stopped her from talking more.

    "Please don''t mind her" Elyon said when he saw Tristan looking at him.

    Afterwards, the two left, or rather, Elyon dragged nis away, leaving Sindur with Tristan.

    The man appeared and acted politely, but Tristan noticed all the wordsing out of him were in a condescending tone.

    He ''kindly'' told Tristan that the two were stronger than him, and that he had to be careful of them. Apparently, the two were already in the peak stage of stage three Katra and were expected to break through to stage 4 after this Gauntlet.

    From Sindur, Tristan found out that he, Elyon, nis, and Serene were the four top disciples from each discipline - the hand-to-hand, one-handed de, dual dagger, and bow.

    After more meaningless andplimentary talks, Sindur gave Tristan a slight bow and wished him good luck before he walked away.

    As he watched the man leave, Tristan fell into deep thought. He had to give it to them as it was apparent that they weren''t all talk. Tristan had analyzed them when they talked earlier, and the numbers weren''t lies. The two had simr battle power stat with Sindur and Serene, which meant a real deal.

    Other than them, although there were a lot of participants who had reached stage three Katra, none of them had their battle power passed through the 100 mark. Seeing these, Tristan was quite confident he could win the Gauntlet.

    The moment Queen Leena took a step forward, all participants and the audience instantly turned quiet. There was a total silence.

    As the queen''s gaze swept over, the elves were seen lowering their heads as they didn''t dare to look at the queen directly.

    "People of the Vanyar, today, we finally held the Gauntlet once again after 5 years of its absence. As the tradition goes, those who manage to pass the Gauntlet will receive their warrior status!"

    The queen then turned to the side and raised her hand. A momentter, Serene was seen walking in a silver dress that made her appear absolutely beautiful.

    "It is my wish that with this Gauntlet, I will be able to find the right mate for our princess, my daughter, and the kingdom''s Valkyrie, Serene."

    Tristan noticed all the elves gave a slight bow to the queen''s decision. If this happened within humans, he was sure they would definitely cheer and whisper immediately, but it looked like it was different with the elves. One more difference between the two races.

    After announcing that, Queen Leena talked a bit about the sacred tradition, the Gauntlet. Apparently, it was a great honor to have the best warrior united with the princess.

    "Let the best warrior win!" said the queen in a loud voice, which was then quickly followed by the others.

    The queen''s deration signified the start of the Gauntlet.

    Immediately, all 25 participants began to be tied up with special elf silk, one over their eyes and one around their hands which had been ced behind their backs.

    As the silk covered his eyes, Tristan was surprised that he couldn''t see anything at all. In addition, he discovered that hearing ability was partially impaired. Even so, Tristan wasn''t worried. In fact, a faint smile could be seen on his face.

    The Gauntlet was about to begin.

 Chapter 136 - Chase

    With his visionpletely removed from the board, Tristan was forced to use his hearing to proceed.

    Tristan didn''t have to wait for long as a sound from some kind of trumpet resounded through the air several secondster.

    Wooooottt!!!

    The first sign had beenunched, but he still didn''t move. The rules stated that the trumpet had to be blown three times before all participants could dash to the first course.

    Wooooottt!!!

    The second trumpet had been blown, and the audience could see the participants tensed their bodies in the efforts of getting the head start.

    On Tristan''s side, he was able to feel the presence of all 25 participants with thebination of Katra and his enhanced hearing.

    As if he could see them with his two eyes, Tristan knew their muscles were tense and their hearts beating wildly - all participants, except three people who appeared to be very calm. Their breathing was orderly and Tristan couldn''t sense a hint of worry in them.

    Before the third trumpet sound was heard, Tristan once again used his Katra to scan his surroundings. The movement of the grass, the swaying of the leaves, and the direction of the wind. For a moment, he was submerged in the wonderful sensation.

    If it wasn''t for his sess in reaching the second stage, Tristan would not be able to feel this.

    Wooooottt!!!

    The third andst trumpet was sent out, and the participants immediately dashed forward heading to the first course.

    The first course was the steep 3 mile hill with hundreds of trees along the way, hindering and dying the participants on their journey.

    Tristan was sure he could traverse that three mile in less than three minutes, if it was a clear hill with no obstacles. Unfortunately, that wasn''t exactly the case.

    The blindfold and the obstacles would certainly make the task quite a hurdle to finish in ten minutes. Not only to Tristan, but also other participants.

    Hence the reason why Katra was the focal point in the Gauntlet, and just like what the audience expected, the three number 1 disciples were able to run ahead from the others, separating from the pack as they shot through the course.

    Currently, Tristan''s mind was filled with a series of shouting and sounds of footsteps. It was very difficult to perceive the obstacles using Katra, especially in the high-speed situation and condition they were in right now.

    Fortunately, Tristan already prepared an easy solution to allow him to pass through this first course with a breeze. Hence without further ado, he started running while trying his best to hide the wicked smile on his face.

    ----

    The hand-to-hand best disciple, Sindur, was one of the front runners. He managed toe out ahead of the other participants, with Elyon running alongside him and nis, the only one he thought could beat him in this course, running slightly ahead.

    The passion within him burned fiercely because it had been his dream to marry the princess aka Serene. He thought that it would be only a pipe dream of his when the queen presented the best opportunity for him to realize it. Therefore, he would not let anyone prevent him from doing exactly that.

    At first, he was worried about that damned outsider elf, but he was surprised when he saw that the elf was still unmoving even when the race had begun.

    "Beginners!" Sindur thought to himself while inwardly scoffing at Tristan.

    When he fought against the elf thest time, he discovered that the elf had no Katra at all. Hence, he was sure that the reason the elf was petrified there was probably because thetter was not sure on which way to go. After all, a loss of vision wasn''t a small matter.

    The thought gave him a good chuckle as Sindur kept his dash through the hill, dodging all the obstacles in the way and trying to chase that female elf.

    He was so focused on nis that he didn''t realize that a figure was chasing after him at breakneck speed. When he realized about it, he was shocked because that figure was moving too fast!

    "That stupid elf! How did hee right behind me?!"

    Confusion filled Sindur''s mind as he tried to think of the reason. But then, he shook his head and decided to not pay any attention to Tristan again.

    "Never mind him! he''s bound to crash if he keeps going at that speed!"

    Even though Sindur thought like that, he still secretly kept his attention on Tristan. As a result, he was given the surprise of his life.

    Tristan managed to dodge all the trees smoothly and still kept his mind boggling speed. He was so fast that he quickly reached the position right behind Sindur.

    "How could this be possible?!!"

    Seeing the nearing Tristan, Sindur immediately sped up while also kept dodging the obstacles. Even so, Tristan was still able to follow him despite that, which was confusing to him.

    Dozens of meterster, Sindur finally realized that not only was the elf able to dodge the obstacles perfectly, thetter even took the exact same path as him. Thus, it hit him.

    "He''s following my track!!"

    If Tristan could read Sindur''s current thoughts, he would definitely nod his head, beam a shit-eating grin, and give two thumbs up to thetter. That''s right, this was exactly what Tristan''s first n was.

    Instead of trying so hard to sense the trees, it would be easier for his second stage Katra to focus on one person and trailing behind it.

    This was the reason Tristan didn''t immediately move when the Gauntlet began. He waited for a while and after he chose his target, that prick Sindur, he quickly used his unmatched 200 battle power to stay in thetter''s shadow. This was the easiest way for him to pass the first course, and he did exactly that. Tristan didn''t even hesitate when he thought about this.

    As a result, he managed toe out from the sea of trees in less than five minutes.

    "The hell?! You are following me!!?"

    Facing the usation, Tristan shamelessly- calmly replied, "No, no, no. That''s ridiculous! Why would I do that?"

    Seeing the expression on Tristan''s face, Sindur knew he was right.

    He could only grit his teeth and slowed his run, "Fine! If that''s the case, go ahead first!"

    Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, Tristan slowed his run as well.

    "No, you can go. I need to catch my breath a little!"

    "Dammit! You shameless bastard!"

    Knowing Tristan''s strategy, as soon as Elyon and nis passed through the first course, Sindur shouted, "nis, Elyon! Let us go as nned!"

 Chapter 137 - Annoyed

    The second path was exactly as Master Ortiz had shown Tristan, a steep cliff about a hundred meters high that had to be conquered with their restrained condition.

    The nearly ny degree cliff certainly felt a lot different when he saw it then and now, when he was blindfolded and could only ''see'' it with Katra.

    Heck, he even could only feel the lower part of the cliff with his second stage Katra, causing the upper part to be obscure in his sense. Coupled with the fact that his hands were bound, the only way to go up was through the dozens of wooden poles that stuck out of the cliff like a certain object.

    He realized he would need several seconds to sense the pole with his second stage Katra, and in this kind ofpetition where speed ruled above all, his current capacity was simply not enough.

    Hence, he nned to use the same strategy once again. Tristan would use his enhanced hearing and Katra to remember which poles hispetitors chose and rushed to that particr spot. All in all, being the consequent was much easier than being a pioneer.

    After several seconds of contemting, Tristan decided his target to be the MAN among them all once again, the almighty prick Sindur.

    However, when Tristan thought Sindur would be jumping and start climbing, the man stopped right beneath the steep cliff.

    As a result, he also stopped in his tracks and decided to wait because he thought the man needed preparation before starting the climb. Unfortunately, that was not what happened next.

    The prick actually waited for the others!

    "nis, Elyon! We will do as nned!"

    ''What the hell!? They are working together?!'' Tristan was screaming in his mind as he saw the three number 1 disciples reunited.

    The moment Elyon arrived where Sindur and nis were, they nodded to each other and leaped to the cliff at once. The trio took the three nearest wooden poles, but when Tristan expected them to jump again, they stopped and decided to wait.

    ''What the hell they were waiting for?!!''

    Once again, Tristan was confused by what happened.

    At that moment, Tristan could hear more elves had passed through the first course and make their way to where he was. All of a sudden, the area beneath the cliff became crowded.

    At that exact same time, the trio jumps up to continue. Tristan quickly follows only to realize many other elves were jumping at the same wooden poles the trio leaped onto earlier. With all their hand-tied this only result in them crashing into each other.

    "Dammit!" Tristan cursed. Meanwhile, Sindur and the other two continued their climb and had nearly reached the second course''s end.

    Tristan was annoyed as he heard Sindur''s taunting from the top of the cliff.

    "Just get back to where you came from!! Hahahaha!!"

    The condescending words that came from the prick truly made Tristan angry. It was apparent that those three ''number 1 disciple'' were working together to make sure the outsider, which was him, failed in the Gauntlet. This situation was exactly like something that happened in a school, where all the kids bullied that one kid who was different from the rest.

    Even though he was angry, Tristan didn''t lose his cool as he wasn''t willing to give up. Hence, his mind quickly went into full capacity, trying to find another way in order to kick those people''s ass.

    A momentter, it seemed that Tristan had thought of a way as he separated from the crowd and headed back to the woods. He picked the tree closest to the cliff and started kicking using his entire battle power.

    BAMM!! BAAMM!! BAAMM!!

    A tall, thick tree fell towards the cliff after receiving Tristan''s revenge-filled kicks.

    As the huge tree slowly made its way to the ground, Tristan quickly jumped onto it and ran over the fallen tree. The other participants who witnessed all of this happening were dumbfounded, while the shadow of the fallen tree loomed over them.

    When Tristan reached the end of the tree, he lifted his foot and sent it down as hard as he could, causing him to shoot into the air towards the top of the cliff. The leap, which was powered by his 200 battle power, was enough to let himnd on his destination.

    Now, in front of Tristan were three chains where three annoying elves were running on them.

    Tristan didn''t waste any time as he immediately jumped and stomped on one of the chains. The stomp, supported by the momentum of gravity and the strength of 200 battle power, made the poor chain shake violently, as if a mega tsunami was passing through it.

    Tristan smiled widely when he heard Sindur''s scream.

    Bingo!

    He swiftly did another jump, heading to the location of the shout.

    Then, Tristan ''identally'' stepped on Sindur before he used thetter as a stepping stone. Thanks to Sindur''s help, he managed to lengthen his jump and reach the end of the chain.

    Thest thing Tristan heard before he sped away was Sindur screaming his lungs out as he fell down from the chain.

    ''That''s the consequence of toying with me! Have fun down there, you bastard!'' Tristan thought to himself, while a smile appeared on his face.

    With Sindur removed from the board, there were only two morepetitors for Tristan to beat, and they were currently several meters in front of him. He wanted to take the lead before they reached the fourth course, but unfortunately, Tristan only managed to close the gap when they arrived at the fourth course.

    The fourth course was a row of dozens of archery squads. They were all waiting at the finish line, with their longbows nocked with arrows. Not long after, the sound of the air being split apart by something could be heard.

    Swish Swish Swish ¡­

    Dozens of arrows rained from above. Some of them made an arc in the air while others flew in a straight line, speeding towards the three front runners.

    Sensing the iing arrows, nis and Elyon immediately tried to dodge them. They sidestepped, shifted, and moved their body in various ways, dodging the arrows perfectly while also keeping their advance steady. Naturally, Tristan decided to follow their trail.

    However, the problem this time was, the closer Tristan got to the finish line, the harder it would be for him to dodge the arrows as they would be faster and harder to predict. At first, Tristan''s battle power really helped him in dodging the arrows. But now, he really had to depend on his Katra because the arrows were too much for his senses to handle.

    Swish!

    An arrow flew past his ear at a very close distance.

    In his mind, where Katra projected everything that he sensed, Tristan saw a bundle of energying towards him. Those were the arrows. He tried his best to dodge them, but he could barely handle it the closer he got to the finish line.

    Then, what he was afraid of eventually happened.

    St!

    Tristan''s shoulder was pierced by the arrow that came faster and harder when he reached the halfway point. Because of that, he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.

    While he was gritting his teeth in pain, Tristan could see his twopetitors almost out of his detection range, heading towards the finish line.

    A thought popped into his mind.

    ''Am I going to lose?''

 Chapter 138 - Archery Line

    Woooootttt!!

    When the sonorous sound of the trumpet reverberated through the air, Serene was dumbfounded when she saw that shameless elf just stood in ce while the other participants swiftly ran towards the first course.

    The damned elf was already a few seconds behind before he finally decided to run and enter the race. Looking at the figure who sped away, Serene scoffed, "Huh!? Winning he said?! He can''t even start properly!"

    When the 25 participants had left the clearing where the starting point was, Queen Leena, her entourage, as well as the whole audience immediately began making their way to the finish line which was in the opposite direction where the race began.

    The ce where the Gauntlet was held was a U-shaped terrain where the participants gathered at the foot of the hill, started there and made their way up through the courses before going back down to the other clearing which was the finish line.

    Shortly after, the hundreds of Vanyar elves had already crossed the woods and arrived at the other clearing.

    Seeing the elven archer squads already lining up before the finish line, Serene turned to her mother with a surprised expression.

    "We are doing the archery squad in thest course for this Gauntlet?"

    Leena turned to her daughter and let out a faint smile, "Yes, dear. We are."

    Actually, the archery lines were the hardest among all the other options of obstacles throughout the history of Gauntlet.

    It was mainly because the elves were born with innate talent for archery, and thus, these archers were obviously not going to shoot inurately, let alone aimlessly. In fact, they were certainly ordered to do their best to stop the participants from advancing in this Gauntlet.

    At that moment, Serene subconsciously thought of the arrogant elf. Realizing that her thoughts were about him, she quickly shook her head and pped her cheeks.

    "Huh?! Why am I worried about him..?! Anyway, he might not be able to even get past the second course with the way he is now."

    While Serene was busy scolding and belittling Tristan in her mind, Leena who was next to her gestured to her aide. Soon after, the aide came to the queen carrying a longbow in his hand.

    She took the longbow and handed it to Serene, bringing her out of her thoughts.

    "Huh? What''s wrong, mother?"

    "Daughter, I want you to join the archery lines."

    "!!?"

    Shock, disbelief, then a doubtful expression appeared on Serene''s face in rapid manner. Noticing her daughter''s emotions through the look she showed, the queen smiled and looked at the direction where the course was.

    "This way, you can''t say I force your marriage. Well, on second thought, I guess I am forcing you to marry someone. But now, you have the freedom to shoot whoever and however you want." the queen said those words with an indescribable smile on her face.

    As she had no reason to refuse, Serene took the bow and made her way to the line. While doing so, she was contemting what her mother had actually nned for her in secret.

    s, she wasn''t given a lot of time to think as her thoughts were interrupted by the cheers that suddenly broke out from the crowd. The reason for the abruptmotion was due to the appearance of two figures approaching the fourth andst course.

    Serene looked over from behind the archer squad and as expected, those two figures were Elyon and nis. For a moment, she wondered where Sindur was as she couldn''t see him behind the duo. But then, Serene quickly threw him to the back of her mind as the two were still the best of the three.

    Once again, her thoughts returned to that shameless elf and when she saw that the said person couldn''t be seen, she was convinced he didn''t make it.

    Following the arrival of the two, the two dozen elven archers started tounch their volley of arrows. Naturally, the two began their sequence of dodging and advancing toward the finish line.

    Between the two, Elyon and nis, Serene knew the former was a bit stronger. Therefore, she decided to put more strength onto the arrows when she shot therge elf. Moreover, she also thought that it was probably best for her if nis was the one who won the Gauntlet.

    Swish Swish Swish

    In no time at all, the first arrow was released from Serene''s bow, speeding toward Elyon. Unfortunately, thetter managed to dodge it by arge margin.

    Knowing that her first shot was a warm up, Serene swiftly notched her bow and fired another one at the man. However, this second shot also missed its target.

    Serene was annoyed when she saw her arrows were dodged because she was hailed as the best prodigy on archery and thus couldn''t ept what had happened. Hence, she once again loaded the bow with an arrow and fired it.

    This time, Serene had used her maximum strength and the technique in her repertoire. The arrow was moving in a curved angle, hiding its presence behind the arrows shot by the other elven archers. As a result, Elyon could not dodge the arrow as it nailed on his thigh, hindering and making his movement slower.

    As the elves already prepared healer at the end of the lines, she wasn''t worried about it and it seemed everything was under her n, and a smile appeared on her face.

    When Serene thought she didn''t need to do anything anymore, suddenly another cheer broke out from the audience.

    She quickly shifted her gaze and saw a white-haired elf entering the vicinity of fourth course. Her eyes widened as she could clearly see the face of that elf.

    "H-How?! That fool!!? How could he?!!"

    Her mouth was wide open as she was surprised by the unexpected development. In addition, the elf''s appearance somehow sprouted warmth in her heart.

    Serene immediately shook her head violently when she realized what she was feeling at the moment,

    "No! No! I won''t let him win!"

    As the damned elf reached halfway through the course, Serene armed her bow and dispatched her fourth shot to him. The arrow split the air as it flew in a straight line towards its target.

    To her surprise, her simple shot pierced the elf''s shoulder, making him stagger and almost fall to the ground.

    "That stupid elf!"

    Serene set another arrow and aimed at the elf. However, she couldn''t continue her action. She didn''t know why her hand suddenly didn''t have the strength to pull the string.

    The image of what happenedst night, the image of the man above her, suddenly appeared in Serene''s mind, making her cheeks blush and her ears turn red. Then, she remembered how helpless she was at that time, and that made her regain her strength.

    "That bastard should pay for what he didst night!"

    Without further ado, she fired her fifth arrow.

    St! The arrow flew at an even greater speed than before and hit the elf, causing the ground to stain red.

    Seeing the elf was still advancing, Serene sent another arrow at him.

    The sixth shot made a beeline in the air and seamlessly made itsnding on the elf''s stomach. As a result, more blood sttered out of thetter and colored the lush grasses with an entirely new color.

    Serene was irritated when she saw the elf was still not stopping. Therefore, she prepared her seventh arrow.

    This time, she decided to use one of the archery battle art techniques, the Piercing Shot!

    The arrow zoomed through the air at breakneck speed as its tip revolved rapidly, giving it deadly pration capability. It once again struck the elf, this time on the thigh, and pierced through it before darting away. However, the elf still didn''t stop.

    He continued forward even though his figure was bleeding. Step by step, faster with every passing second.

    Angered, Serene took thest three arrows in the quiver and loaded it with her strongest technique. Before releasing the arrows, her gaze locked on the figure at the distance.

    He was a dozen steps away from the finish line, while his body was riddled with at least a dozen arrows. Even so, he kept persisting.

    Seeing it, her fingers that pulled the string suddenly faltered. As a result, the arrowspletely missed their original target.

    The white-haired elf dragged his bloodied body and stepped into the finish line, as the winner.

 Chapter 139 - Winner

    St!!

    Fresh, warm blood fell to the ground as Tristan''s shoulder was pierced by an arrow that carried tremendous force. He was kind of surprised that those elves were really not ying around.

    Were they trying to kill off their best warrior here?

    Tristan could clearly perceive the volley of arrows that were raining down on him and the other two. He could also somehow tell that both Elyon and nis had begun to slow down as they got closer to the finish line.

    Well, it was to be expected as there was no way those elven archers made thisst course easy to pass through.

    Returning his attention to his own situation, Tristan was trying his best to predict the iing arrows. s, they were simply too fast and too many for the current him to handle.

    St! Another arrow sessfully carved a ce on his body.

    ''Dammit!'' Tristan cursed as his body paused because of the sudden pain.

    At the moment, his speed was arguably slower than the other two. Tristan realized that, within a minute or two, those two would reach the finish line. Meanwhile, he still had quite a distance to traverse.

    Tristan knew he had no more time to hesitate. Therefore, he just carried out what he had nned in mind.

    The n was, instead of using his efforts to dodge the rain of arrows, Tristan decided to just advance forth and charge through the terrain toward the finish line as fast as he could.

    This was actually the crazy n he thought of, and one that he hoped he didn''t have to do. Unfortunately, it appeared there was no other way he could take if he wanted to win the Gauntlet.

    Just like what those people said back on Earth, ''desperate times call for desperate measures.''

    Stt!

    Another arrow hit Tristan shortly after he decided to abandon all forms of dodging.

    It certainly hurt like hell, but just like previously, his body seemed unstoppable. The pain only bothered him for a moment before he continued his relentless rush.

    As a result, the observers could see Tristan get hit by an arrow, grimaced in pain for a second, and kept advancing as if nothing had happened.

    The sight incited countless gasps and murmurs among the audience.

    Tristan ignored themotion as his focus was ced on the finish line. His enhanced senses and Katra were driven into their utmost limit as Tristan paid attention to any arrowing towards his face. Other than those things, he just kept running forward.

    Satt!! Spatt!! Stt!!

    Arrows continuously made their way andnded in Tristan''s body. There must already be tens of them sticking on his body right now, but the man kept going forward as hepletely ignored his condition.

    However, this reckless, desperate, bordering on insanity action was certainly not in vain because Tristan finally managed to get past Elyon and nis. The two could only watch in shock as he ran past them with a body riddled by dozens of arrows.

    St!

    "Aaaaarrrgggghh!!"

    Tristan screamed in pain because this arrow was stronger than the previous one. Even so, he kept his rush toward the finish line. Without him knowing it, the hundreds of elves who witnessed the scene were awed, as well as bewildered by his actions.

    An elf running through the rain of arrows andpletely ignoring thetter. Blood was soaking all over his body, but the man acted as if they were nothing as he kept charging forth.

    This was definitely one of those acts that would be memorable to them for quite some time.

    Especially so, when said elf eventually crossed the finish line and emerged as the winner of the Gauntlet.

    The moment Tristan crossed the line, his body instantly fell due to the pain as he knelt on the ground.

    Not long after, the expected notification came.

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host needs immediate treatment]

    [Restore health for 500 Blood Essence]

    [Proceed?]

    "No!" Tristan firmly rejected the notion in his mind.

    500 Blood Essence was too much for him. Besides, he had finished the Gauntlet. Therefore, he just needed to endure the pain and waited for the treatment.

    Several secondster, the silk covering his senses was quickly being taken off and Tristan could clearly see three elves approaching him. Two people began to cast healing magic at him, while thest one was pulling arrows out of his body one by one.

    He looked around and realized the crowd not far from him had been cheering at him.

    Tristan gave his best to hide the smile that wanted to reveal itself.

    He couldn''t lie.

    Even though he didn''t care much about the cheering crowd, winning did give him some satisfaction.

    It took him several minutes ofprehensive healing before Tristan could stand on his own feet again. He could see on one side, the queen and the elders had been waiting for him.

    In all honesty, Tristan felt his entire body was still aching with pain. However, he still tried to approach them with the coolest manner he could possibly exhibit.

    As he got closer, Tristan could see the queen was looking at him with a wicked smile hung on her face. She was about to speak when an elf came running towards their direction, catching the attention of both parties.

    The elf was Sindur. He was covered in dust and dirt, while dozens of bruises could be seen on his body. It was apparent that the fall didn''t kill him.

    ''Hmm.. what a pity..'' Tristan thought when he saw the pitiful appearance of the man.

    Under the gaze of countless elves, Sindur came forward and knelt right in front of the queen.

    "My queen, I must inform you that Tristan has cheated through the entire Gauntlet''s courses."

    The moment Sindur''s words were heard by the crowd, innumerable whispers and murmurs started ensuing between the elves.

    A frown appeared on the queen''s face, but she still asked Sindur in a calm voice.

    "What is the reason for your usation? What did he do?"

    A glint appeared on Sindur''s eyes as he felt this was his opportunity to bring the damned outsider down. Hence, he kept his head low and opened his mouth, "My queen, he didn''t really rely on Katra to win the Gauntlet! He has been following me and using other means to pass the courses."

    Tristan wanted tough when he heard the elf''s reasoning.

    Naturally, he had countless ways to reject that ''reason'', if it could be called one, but Tristan was more interested to see what the queen was going to do about this. But then, something unexpected happened.

    It wasn''t the queen who spoke first, but rather someone Tristan dared not imagine doing.

    "Don''t be a sore loser, Sindur. Just ept your defeat!"

    It was the princess, the Valkyrie, Serene, who defended him.

    While Tristan was dumbfounded by the unanticipated development, Serene turned to the queen.

    "My queen, I believe¡­ the.. Elf. has proven himself."

    Tristan couldn''t believe what he was seeing and hearing now. Did the girl take the wrong medication today? Or the sun rose from the opposite direction?

    What is going on?

    Either way, Tristan could see the queen was staring at him with the same wicked smile, as if she had expected this.

    "Well said, my daughter!" She then turned to kneeling Sindur, her tone neutral. "Sindur, your usations are baseless¡­ Therefore, the winner of this year''s Gauntlet is¡­ Tristan!"

    The queen proceeded to raise her hand and once again dered.

    "My people, elves of the Vanyar, I present to you, the Champion!"

    Hearing the queen''s deration, all the elves swiftly cheered for the emergence of their new champion.

    It was obvious that the queen wasn''t finished yet. She approached Serene and looked at Tristan.

    "Tristan, with this, I present you my daughter''s, the princess, hand to you. Do you ept it?"

    Tristan shifted his gaze to the beautiful blonde elf, who was fidgeting under his gaze.

    With a well-hidden smirk, he firmly said, "Yes, my queen. I ept."

    The elves once again cheered. Tristan came closer to Serene, the two were facing each other while surrounded by the cheering crowd.

    At this moment, Tristan wasn''t sure what to say to her. All in all, he was grateful that the girl stood up for him. Therefore, he really should say something nice for once.

    He stares at the beautiful blond girl in front of him and felt fortunate, but then he suddenly realized that Serene was actually holding a longbow in her hand.

    "That bitch!!"

 Chapter 140 - Nobody

    The day, and the Gauntlet altogether, was quickly over with that conclusion.

    Queen Leena had announced the two, Tristan and Serene, for their wedding ceremony that would be held in three days, at the peak of the solstice moon. A fortuitous time, they said.

    Following thepletion of the event, the crowd swiftly dispersed as they made their way back to the city. They could not wait to share what had happened today to those who were unlucky enough to not be able to attend the event.

    ***

    Tristan spent the rest of the day healing his wounds and recuperating his battered body. To put it simply, he was just taking a good rest in bed.

    Late that afternoon, Tristan was woken up by the sound of knocking on the door. He groggily got up from the bed and walked towards the door to receive the visitor.

    The moment he opened the door, Tristan''s lethargic eyes instantly shot out as he immediately sobered up. The one who visited him was, to his surprise, Queen Leena. It seemed that she came by herself as he couldn''t see anyone beside her.

    While Tristan was wondering the reason for her unannounced visit, the queen beckoned him to follow her. Unexpectedly, she took him to the pce balcony, where there were just two of them at the moment.

    Silence fell between them as the queen did not open her mouth and Tristan waited for her to speak first. This awkward situation persisted for dozens of seconds before the former eventually broke the stalemate.

    She shifted her gaze from the scenery of the city and looked over to Tristan, scrutinizing him from top to bottom.

    "I see that you have recovered from your wounds."

    Tristan nodded his head while showing a polite smile.

    "Yes I am, my queen. I am nowpletely healthy. Thank you for your concern."

    The queen, or rather, Leena stepped closer to Tristan, causing the distance between them to be less than one meter. She slowly raised her hand before she began touching his arms and shoulders with a curious expression on her face. After doing so, Tristan noticed the woman seemed mesmerized by her findings.

    "It''s reallypletely healed.. How amazing.." Leena muttered in a voice that would be impossible to hear if Tristan didn''t have his enhanced senses,

    Looking at the captivated expression on the queen''s face, Tristan said, "Just the arm and shoulder this time, my queen?"

    Tristan''s unexpected question brought halt to her actions. Remembering what she did back at the hot spring, the queen smiled then let out a chuckle.

    "Maybe next time." She answered with the trademark teasing smile on her face.

    The queen then returned to the scenery while saying, "I hope you understand that the Gauntlet was necessary."

    Noticing where this was going, Tristan opened his mouth after being silent for a while.

    "Are you talking about the marriage?"

    Surprisingly, the queen shook her head at his words.

    "No. Not just that. The main objective that I tried to achieve was for you to show what you are to my people, and.. You did really well."

    The queen then proceeded to exin her reasoning. Apparently, even Elyon and nis were asked to make it difficult for him, which in return would give Tristan the respect he needed the moment he defeated them.

    "Respect that I need?" asked Tristan in a strange tone.

    The queen didn''t notice his tone and only nodded her head.

    "That''s right. You would need it, Tristan. For the reputation and the royalty status you are about to hold. This is what the Gauntlet, and the wedding is all about."

    The queen''s exnation honestly only gave Tristan more concern. It was obvious that the queen was somehow obsessed with him, due to the prophecy or another particr reason.

    Instead of being happy, he wondered if this reputation and status would give him benefits, or just in trouble.

    Looking at Tristan''s expression, the queen continued, "The faster you believe the prophecy, the better for all of us."

    Tristan only became more cynical when he heard that.

    "My queen, how could I believe in them when I am not even one of you? I am only a human. A nobody that was unfortunate enough to be forced into this body."

    Hearing the apparent scorn and mockery in his words, the queen was silent. Momentster, she opened her mouth.

    "You may be a human who was forced into the Blood Elf body... However, you are not a nobody... What happened today should be proof of that. Also, you should believe that nothing at work here was a mere coincidence."

    The queen looked at Tristan straight in the eye as she approached closer than ever, causing thetter to feel the former''s breath on him.

    "Now, hold still." The queen said before she once again raised her arm. She put her delicate finger onto Tristan''s forehead.

    In an instant, a small glow appeared on her finger. At the same time, Tristan felt a little jolting from his forehead before spreading all over his body.

    Oblivious to his reaction, the queen closed her eyes while her finger was still in its position.

    "Such an amazing potential.. A tremendous power is still hidden within you, Tristan." She said with an amazed sigh. She continued what she was doing until a shocked expression suddenly appeared on her face and she moved a step away from him.

    The queen''s sudden action naturally confused Tristan. So, he asked.

    "What is it?"

    In a matter of seconds, Tristan watched in bewilderment as the shocked expression on the queen''s face gradually turned into one of amazement.

    "There is still something sealed inside of you, Tristan. A soul that is very powerful, it could be said as terrifying."

    Upon hearing so, Tristan''s mind swiftly assumed that she was talking about the mysterious man inside the bloodke, the one that he had seen a few times already.

    "Who was it, my queen? Do you know about this?"

    "This.. I don''t know, Tristan. I was unable to reach beyond the barrier as it blocked me"

    Hearing this made Tristan extremely concerned. The Elf Queen was supposed to be the strongest elf in the Vanyar Kingdom. Thus, for even her to be unable to do it certainly raised many gs in his mind.

    "Is there any way to somehow get him out of my body?"

    The queen was brought out of her thoughts by Tristan''s question and serious expression.

    "I, I really don''t know, Tristan. But I believe Katra can help you in this matter."

    Tristan''s mood turned sour when he heard it was about that confusing Katra again.

    Before the queen left, she stopped in her tracks and turned around

    "I hope you will take good care of my precious daughter, Tristan."

 Chapter 141 - Forges

    The next day, Tristan had decided to make his return to the Elven cksmith.

    Currently, he was walking through the streets of Vanyar City, relishing and enjoying the privileges he was given, courtesy of the things that had happened yesterday.

    He was enjoying one of the benefits of winning the Gauntlet, which was the fact that there were no longer elven soldiers stationed and ''guarding'' him.

    Tristan was finally free to do whatever he wanted!

    In addition, he noticed that the way the elves looked at him had somehow changed as he walked through the bustling streets. There was something different about their attitude around him, and Tristan was sure about this.

    This fact became even more apparent when he saw the same thing happen with the five people, Master Laril''s disciples, at the cksmith.

    The moment Tristan arrived at the cksmith, the five immediately stopped what they were doing and approached the former in an eager yet polite manner. They congratted him on his win with a wide smile, which made Tristan smile wryly at the ring differences.

    "Wow.. being a champion does give a different treatment, doesn''t it?" Tristan subconsciously said as he was overwhelmed by their enthusiasm.

    Atos, who had unknowingly stood next to him, answered Tristan''s rhetoric statement, startling the living hell out of him.

    "A champion, yes.. But you are also the soon-to-be royalty of our Vanyar Kingdom. Thus, we definitely can''t mess around with you anymore Tristan"

    Tristan and the five disciples chatted for a while, talking about literally anything regarding yesterday''s event. It wasn''t long before Master Laril came and beckoned him to her workshop.

    At the moment, Tristan was overjoyed at the thought of what the master might have prepared for him. After all, that was the reason for today''s visit - to check on his sword which had been unjustly broken.

    s, what awaited him when he entered the workshop was a sword that was in a worse condition than thest time he saw it. He was pretty shocked by the pitiful sight of it. If previously the sword only had a small chip and faint cracks on its surface, now it had been broken down into five different pieces of varying size.

    Tristan wanted to scream, start a rampage, and bring hell upon the workshop. However, he quickly calmed down and forced a smile while facing Master Laril.

    "Master, What happened?." Tristan said while looking at the remnants on the table.

    Master Laril looked at the flustered Tristan with a t expression.

    "I have two pieces of news, good and bad. So, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

    Tristan was surprised that an elf apparently could ask questions like this. Brushing his surprise aside, His aching heart at the moment couldn''t stand more bad news"

    "The good news is that I have confirmed that the material of your sword is slightly better, evenpared to Valerian steel."

    Tristan nodded his head as he could somehow assume this fact.

    "The bad news is this particr material needs a very strong forge in order to heat it up, let alone melt it down. Unfortunately, our Vanyar forge can''t reach that requirement."

    Tristan was dejected when he heard that. He nced at his ''sword'' and looked at Master Laril.

    "Then, what do you reckon I should do, Master?"

    Master Laril had expected his question. Thus, she immediately answered.

    "There are two known forges that could melt this material well. One is the Great Forge owned by the dwarves, the other is the one owned by the dark elves who resided in the dark territory."

    If one could say Tristan''s mood was bad when he heard that the Vanyar had no method to restore his sword, now his mood just hit rock bottom.

    He wondered if he should ask forpensation from the female master in front of him. After all, she was the reason the sword broke in the first ce.

    As if she could read his mind, Master Laril said, "I feel responsible about this matter, Tristan. I really do. Therefore, I promise that if you are able to reforge the sword,e to me and I will personally put enhancements on it for you."

    Master Laril''s offer seemed like a decent deal, but that would only happen if he was actually able to do the task. To put it simply, it was basically an empty promise until Tristan managed to reforge the sword, which certainly was not an easy matter.

    Even so, he couldn''t just blurt that out directly.

    "Thank you, Master. But I am afraid that I will not survive that long without having a weapon."

    Master Laril nodded her head and led Tristan to the storage room, showing all the weapons they currently have.

    "You can take one weapon that catches your fancy, Tristan."

    Looking at the shelves of weapons before him, Tristan involuntarily sucked a deep breath. He quickly scanned his gaze over and inspected those which caught his attention.

    Momentster, Tristan was seen sighing to himself. The reason for that was because he couldn''t find anything simr to his sword. Apparently, this was because the elves didn''t really like greatswords. Hence, he chose thergest and longest sword he could find.

    [Long de - tier 3]

    [Length, 1.2 meters, Weight 7 kilogram]

    [Enhanced - increase sharpness]

    The sword was the longer version of elven-styled saber that looked a bit like a Japanese katana on Earth.

    Tristan gave the sword several swings and found the experience was quite different but exciting as well. Moreover, it also matched with the de Singing skill he had learnt. Thus, he was quite excited to cut a few enemies with it.

    However, Tristan decided to not show his excitement and showed a resigned, disappointed look. Thanks to that, he managed to convince Master Laril for a set of Mithril armor.

    The Master gives him enough material to make one himself.

    Even with the help of the other disciple, It took him two whole days to finish his mithril light armor.

    The next day, just one day before the momentous event, the kingdom was crowded with visitors.

 Chapter 142 - Visitors

    On this particr day, the Vanyar City was flooded by visitors, causing the already bustling streets to be even more so.

    There were three groups of people that came to the city today. All of them looked simr to the elves that lived in Vanyar City, but each of them had a slightly different attire.

    These people were the representative of the three other Wood Elves kingdoms who also resided in the Evergreen Forest.

    Each entourage had about a dozen people, which made the total of three groups to be less than fifty. However, although fifty people might not seem to be a big number, as Vanyar City was not often graced by visitors, these people managed to make the normally peaceful environment be rowdy.

    Every elves that lived in the city knew that those people came to witness the wedding that would be held tomorrow.

    Tristan, in particr, had no apparent interest in the wedding itself as it was only for his own convenience. But as much as he tried to be casual about this, the wedding he would be in was still going to be a royal wedding.

    Therefore, since early this morning, Elder Anmar had been briefing Tristan about what he should and shouldn''t do during the entire ceremony. He was fed by countless information while his body was prepared for the event.

    At the moment, there was a group of elven crafters who prepared his wedding grooming of sorts. From clothing, hairdressing to even skin treatment; these people quickly and precisely took care of Tristan''s body in order to make his appearance before the wedding as grand as possible.

    While he was experiencing all of this, Tristan couldn''t help but think that the elven tradition was quite rich to be followed.

    In the afternoon, when Tristan had finished and went through all these annoying activities, he realized that there was another group of visitors that could somehow instantly make a ruckus within the Vanyar elves.

    Before he could check what was going on, Tristan realized themunication stone that he always kept on him was glowing. Hence, he quickly took it out and checked what message his sister sent over to him.

    [Brother, do you miss me? I hope you do.]

    Tristan found the strange message worrying, thus he quickly replied.

    [What happened? Is there something wrong?]

    A concerned look was apparent on his face as Tristan waited for the reply. Luckily, he didn''t have to wait long as the stone once again glowed several secondster.

    [I have a very big surprise for you, Tris!]

    The message caused Tristan to pause for a moment. He smelled something was up but wasn''t sure what it was exactly. Tristan replied

    [What is it? Tell me.]

    Tristan sent a message and waited for a reply. However, there was no further answer even though tens of seconds had passed. While he was worried about her unresponsiveness, Tristan''s gaze coincidentally turned to the outside and saw something that startled him.

    The next group of visitors that came, the one who causedmotion between the elves, was actually humans. In fact, from the white attires that those people wore and the figure who led them at the front, Tristan realized that the Arcadian King himself hade to the Vanyar Kingdom.

    ''King Can?!''

    Tristan wondered as to why the king of a kingdom made it here personally.

    Shortly after, Tristan was brought out of his contemtion by a knocking sound on the door. He was being summoned to join the assembly with the Elf Queen.

    As he walked through the hallways heading towards the assembly room, Tristan suddenly realized a familiar figure approaching him at great speed.

    A girl with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes.

    The moment their eyes met, the girl quickly hopped toward him with her hands wide open. The girl was La, his sister.

    "There you are, Tris! Surprise!!" eximed La with a massive smile seen on her face.

    "La! Why¡­ how..?!

    "Hahaha! I am so happy to see your shocked face! This is priceless.."

    "What are you doing here, La? Has the king decided to let you go?"

    "Huh! I don''t really know. I was suddenly summoned by the king and was told that I would go to meet you. Of course, I would not say no to it!"

    Honestly, Tristan was really happy that he finally could see his sister. But then he realized something from La''s words.

    "So, you don''t know what you and the king came here for?" Tristan asked with a smile, which turned into a mischievous smile when he saw La shaking her head.

    At that same moment, a girl with long blonde hair was seen near where they were, causing Tristan''s eyes to light up. Tristan waved his hand and spoke in a voice he thought was loud enough for her to hear.

    "Serene,e! Let me introduce you to my sister!"

    Serene turned her head and saw Tristan waving his hand at her. At first, she wanted to ignore him, but thetter part of his words made her stop. In the end, Serene approached the two with a smile on her face.

    "This is my sister, La." said Tristan with a smile, while La was looking at Serene with a surprised expression.

    Obvious to the prominent impression that she unknowingly received, Serene gave La a formal elven handshake, which certainly baffled the young girl, as a greeting of respect.

    Seeing that, Tristan said to La, "And sis, let me introduce you too. This is Serene, the Princess of Vanyar Kingdom, and the girl that I will be marrying tomorrow."

    La was mesmerized by Serene''s beauty as she nodded. But then, her smile froze when she heard thetter part of Tristan''s words. She stiffly turned her head around, only to see a mischievous smirk on Tristan''s face.

    Tristan brought his head to La''s ear and whispered, "Your shocked face¡­ is priceless."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 143 - Me And You

    While La was speechless by the unexpected revtion, Serene, on the other hand, was interested in the things Tristan said.

    "Sister? Is that mean you also an ounder La?"

    Hearing someone called out her name, La nodded her head thoughtlessly in her shocked state. It was apparent that what she heard just now was too much for her to process within a short time frame.

    "Well, you are very wee here. Please make yourself feel at home."

    After a close scrutinization, Serene realized that La was the girl that Tristan was carrying that day. She quickly put it all together, it appears this girl came from the same world as Tristan. Unexpectedly hearing the word ''sister'' put a strange smile on her cheek, one that Tristan didn''t manage to see as he was busy teasing his sister.

    Realizing that the two siblings were in their own world, she excused herself and gracefully walked away heading towards the assembly room under the gaze of the two.

    The two young women appeared to be full of smiles and friendly with each other at first nce, but as soon as Serene walked away, Tristan was faced with his sister''s murderous re. The level of intensity she unleashed made him subconsciously take a step back.

    "MARRIAGE?! What the fuck, Tris! Are you crazy?! Do you have a screw loose in your head?!" La screamed with all her might, causing her voice to echo through the hallway and nearly deafening Tristan in the process.

    Hell, before Tristan could even try to exin, La continued her streak of rampaging.

    "Now I can SEE why you like staying here so much¡­ You are literally making yourself at home!"

    "Wow! Wow! Wow! Chill, sis. Chill. Give me a chance to exin!" Tristan said hurriedly while catching all the small punches La currently threw at him.

    La eventually calmed down several secondster, but she still kept her re at Tristan, as if she would kill him if what he was about to say didn''t satisfy her.

    "La, I was forced to do this. The story is quiteplicated, and we don''t have the time to talk about it in detail. In a way, I did this for you. I did this so we will be safer in this godforsakennd!"

    Upon hearing that, La sneered, "Huh!? Don''t even think for a second that I will believe your lecherous face!"

    Now, it was Tristan''s turn to be speechless. He was dumbfounded by the exaggerated reaction that his sister showed at the news.

    "Woah.. Is that really how you see me? Anyway, just believe me! This is all just a kind of political marriage! Nothing more, nothing less." Tristan exined, in an effort to quell his sister.

    Unfortunately, it was in vain.

    "Political marriage, my ass! What do you know about politics, you horny scum!?"

    La exploded once more, which was then followed by a rain of punches heading to the offender.

    La was so irritated by the matter that she left him and went to the assembly room by herself, leaving Tristan standing there with his hand stretched out in the air. After a while, he pulled back his hands and walked to the assembly room with a faint smile on his face.

    Tristan, although surprised with her reaction, still found the situation to be amusing. In fact, he was happy about what just happened. He was d that his sister was back to her usual self again.

    When Tristan entered the ce where the assembly was held, he could see that it had been filled with important figures. He could tell other than King Can, the dozen other people were the elders of the other Elven kingdoms.

    Elder Anmar, who had unknowingly appeared beside him, still acted as his guide as he began to exin who the guests were.

    Those who wore white and green tunics were hailing from the Mirkwood Elven Kingdom, thergest and most popted kingdom among the elven kingdoms. It was located in the center of the Evergreen Forest.

    Tristan''s attention then was caught by the elves who wore grey tunics with faint streaks of white. They were the Ithilien elves. Their kingdom was situated on the southern side, adjacent with the border against the impassable mountains.

    Lastly, the elves who were originating from the Forlond Kingdom - those who wore yellow tunics with a hint of dark. They upied thend next to the Chaotic ins in the eastern side of the Evergreen Forest. They were known as the ones that have many rtions to the orcs.

    These three kingdoms were all elven kingdoms that consisted of Wooden Elves, and including Vanyar Kingdom into the equation, were 4 of the 7 elven kingdoms in this world. This meant that the elf branch of Wooden Elves upied more than half the existing kingdoms.

    However, it seemed that the main star in this assembly was King Can, whose arrival wasn''t expected by the queen. The reason Tristan dared to assume that was because almost everyone''s attention was on the man.

    Not long after, the assembly finally began. The main agenda of the assembly was Tristan being showcased by the Elf Queen and introduced to the many parties here. Although it appears as if this was just simple, he can tell that nothing simple about it at all. All the guests give him a strange look and with his enhanced sense he can hear whispers of his name being continuously mentioned.

    Throughout the meeting, Tristan could see that although the Arcadian King seemed to be arguing to the Elf Queen about everything that was happening at the moment, the two appear to have a very good rtionship. Thinking about it though, he felt it made sense. After all, the queen was still the former''s aunt.

    At one point, Tristan noticed that King Can was staring at him with a mixed look, this made him wish he can tell what the queen has been talking to this Arcadian king.

    After quite some time, all the guests in the assembly were being excused as both the Arcadian King and the Vanyar Queen seemed to have very important matters to discuss further in private.

    The two siblings once again reunited for dinner, but it was obvious that La was still pissed about what happened. The girl was pouting her lips while staring daggers at Tristan.

    When dinner was done, Tristan swiftly grabbed La''s arms and took her out to the balcony. Naturally, La tried to struggle free.

    "What the hell do you want now, let me go!!"

    Seeing the fierce reaction, Tristan shook his head in helplessness but there was no way he was going to let her go.

    "Hey, calm down! Calm down, alright? Why are you so mad about this, sis? It was me who got forced into this! Not you!"

    Upon hearing Tristan''s words, La took a deep breath as she tried to calm down. She realized that what her brother said was true and her reaction was indeed a bit too much.

    "Alright.. I apologize. I am overreacting."

    Tristan waved his hand at that.

    "Never mind about that. So, what is it? What is the thing that''s bothering you?"

    La, who already calmed down, lifted her head when she heard Tristan''s question. She looked at him straight in the eye and asked, "Tell me. Do you like this princess?"

    Tristan unhesitantly replied "No. No! I told you that I was forced."

    Suddenly, La raised her hand and put two fingers on her forehead. Then, a white light gradually appeared on them. On the other hand, Tristan suddenly felt a slight headache.

    "This is a new magic that I learnt, brother. A spell unique for light element users like me. It''s called [Mind Read]."

    Before Tristan could say anything, she continued.

    "Your mind is too hard for me to read in detail, but I can somehow tell¡­ yes.. You quite like this elf princess. So, ¡­ tell me..why do you lie to me, Tris?"

    "That''s a great skill indeed. But are you sure you''re learning it right? The result must be a mistake!" Tristan was halfughing as he said that, but clearly, La wasn''t in the mood for a joke right now.

    La looked at him with an indescribable gaze.

    "You might not understand it, Tris, but me seeing you in this strange body, being away from you and then¡­ founding you marrying an elf princess. I¡­ feel... I am losing you, Tris."

    Hearing that, Tristan gently grabbed her shoulder with his two hands.

    "Sis, use that mind reading again and hear this! I promise you! You will not lose me!"

    He stops for a second, stares at her, and said

    "It will always be me and you against the world!"

    La''s head was lowered so Tristan couldn''t see her expression. He quickly lifted her head up and could see her eyes was watery as she said,

    "Congrattions on your wedding"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 144 - The Wedding

    The wedding was held at night, with the sacred tree as their most valued witness. The tree was a massive, towering white tree with purple leaves that seemed to glow in different colors depending on the angle one decided to look at it. Within the confines of the Evergreen Forest, not many simr trees could be found.

    It was a royal wedding, the night sky full of stars twinkled above them, adding a dignified atmosphere to the ceremony. Within this ce, there were a little over 100 guests, but it was neither rowdy nor crowded.

    Although the ceremony might be a simple, outdoor wedding, the magical feeling from the ce alone was palpable. Each seat and decoration around the ce was made with magic.

    The seats were made of roots as a base, with vines and flowers of various colors serving as the cushion and adding more color to the otherwise brown furniture. A massive, glowing flower decorated the back of the seats, adding a beautiful touch shining under the glow of the tree.

    The elven priests stood and gathered, while the other elves started to y their musical instruments. One was strumming their deft fingers on something that looked like a harp, while another created an apanying melody with their ocarina. The songs helped set the mood and made everyone rx.

    When the silver light of the moon shone at the peak of the tree, the ceremony was started.

    "Let they who seek the blessed union be named and brought forward under the loving branches of the sacred tree.''

    Tristan was called first, andter, Serene came to follow him.

    He came here without much in the way of expectation. But when he saw the goddess walk towards him, His feet turned frozen stiff.

    The princess wore a long white flowing silk dress, silver and gold beads forming the sacred symbols of the elven gods, while her golden hair were decorated with a woven crown of silver flowers.

    Under the glistening branches of the sacred tree, the two faced each other.

    The elven priest presented a small, delicate sapling for all to see, ced the sapling between the bride and groom, and began the ceremony.

    "Unity is Bnce, Bnce is Unity, take the sacred words into your heart, and understand your own intertwined paths."

    The elven priest bent down, picked up two matching silver rings from the base of the tree, and gave them one each. Then, he gestured for the couple to let their fingers intertwine before binding their hands with white silk.

    Tristan tried hard to remember. Elder Anmar had drilled to him the long line of vows some time ago, and while he personally doesn''t really care about whether he would get it right, the girl in front of him made him reconsider his stance. In the end, he resolved to speak the vows as best as he could.

    "By root and seed, by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit, by life and love, I swear upon the sacred name of the Seldarine, the god of the Elven. Under the watch of the eternal shade, I, Tristan, take thee, Serene, to my hand, heart, and spirit, our pure white vows binding us together in this moment. Let the setting of the sun and the rising of the stars be our witness, that not even death shall part us, for we shall be born again, at the same time, at the same ce, and as each other, where we shall meet, know, remember, and love once more."

    Serene followed and spoke the same thing with her gaze focused towards him. Under the light of the sacred tree, her eyes seemed to light up like gemstones.

    Even though Tristan managed to focus still, his heart felt like it was hammering next to his ears.

    She finished her vows wlessly, and the elven priest spoke the final blessing before unbinding their hands.

    Now, the two are officially married, and they turned to look at the audience.

    In the front seats, King Can and all the elven elders sat together, while the rest of the rows were filled by the elven masters.

    Among them, Tristan could see his sister staring at him with a wide smile but also teary eyes.

    The queen walked towards Serene and smiled before taking out a small, ornate wooden box. Inside, there was a ne with a shiny green crystal on it. The queen gave the ne to Serene, before taking out a ring adorned with a simr green crystal.

    "Wee to the family, Tristan."

    Right after Tristan epted it, the audience started to hum together, creating a symphony of beautiful, slow notes to celebrate their union of love, all apanied with the melodic thrum of the harp.

    Tristan did not have a chance to see many weddings in his life, but he was sure of one thing. No matter how other weddings look, this must be the most beautiful as it could be.

    Now, the ceremony was over, but it was still not finished for them two.

    The two still had to deal with the wedding night. In elf culture, the wedding night was almost as important as the ceremony itself, and some even imed that a bad wedding night was an omen of misfortune.

    Serene and Tristan, hand in hand, walked inside a room that was provided for them. The door was brown, making the gold and silver flowers decorating it stand out.

    They stepped in and found out that the inside was even more generously decorated, A bed for two stood in the middle of the room, with petals of various colors scattered all over it. Luxurious furniture with gemstones and beautiful carvingspleting the look.

    Seeing the beautiful wife in front of him, a voice came into his mind "Go For it Tristan! be a Man!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    The ceremony quote from valinors angel site. thank you

 Chapter 145 - Wedding Night

    The elves were known to always regard their marriage as a sacred tradition.

    This fact was further proven with there rarely ever being any separation happening after a marriage.

    Most elves take their time in finding the one they wanted to spend their remaining life with. This was further solidified by the longevity of the elves.

    However, the same thing couldn''t be said for Serene.

    As the kingdom''s princess, she had her own duty that had to be fulfilled. For the kingdom, the queen, and the people.

    After a few days of deep contemtion, Serene had finally epted the absurd, bordering on outrageous, request of her mother, the queen. But the problem was, the partner chosen for her by thetter was far from the word normal.

    He''s a liar, shameless man, and worst of all, had no respect for the traditions. Heck, he wasn''t even an elf!

    But despite all of those shorings, she had decided to ept the duty that had fallen upon her shoulders.

    On the wedding day, she had fully epted her fate and spoke her vow with all her heart, and with the two silver rings that slid onto their fingers, the marriage was sealed.

    ''Now, you are my husband." Serene thought as she looked at the face of her -now-panion for life.

    ***

    Finally, the wedding ceremony was over, and now it was time for the consummation of the marriage, with the union of two bodies.

    At the moment, there were only two of them, with not a single soul seen around.

    Avishly decorated bedroom had been prepared for the two, however, the presence of the shameless white-haired figure still irked her, deep within her heart.

    Even though the man seemed stoic at the moment, she swore she could see his gaze wandering all over herscivious body. She could even swear that the normal expression on his face was merely a disguise to hide his lecherous expression buried beneath.

    Even so, she couldn''t lie and say that he didn''t affect her at all. In fact, she tried to calm herself again at the moment, by telling words to herself.

    ''Serene, You are his partner now''

    Then, before her attempts took effect, the next thing the man did caused her gradually calming heart to begin racing wildly once more.

    ¡­

    Tristan started removing his clothes in a nonchnt manner, as if there was only him in the room, or so Serene thought. In reality, he was doing it while talking to thetter, "I''m d it''s all finally over."

    Gulp.

    Serene had imagined, and even promised herself to be fullymitted to this marriage previously. However, it was obvious that imagining and seeing it, in reality, were twopletely different matters.

    Directly looking at that shameless elf''s half-naked body as he changed his clothes somehow made the cold night air warmer than usual.

    Serene walked towards a table that was ced in the corner, which was filled with dozens of beverages. She grabbed one and swiftly gobbled it down in her efforts to make sure this night became more bearable for her.

    Tristan, who noticed her actions, smiled mischievously and said, "What a good idea! Give me some!"

    His half-naked body which freely showcased the perfect ab muscles did cause her to steal a nce or two.

    The two ended up drinking a ss of elven liquor, called Miruvor. It''s a strange fluorescent green drink with a strong kick.

    Serene thought she should start the mood with a casual yet deep conversation. She thought it was a good idea as they hadn''t really known each other.

    Thinking about what topics she should choose, Serene remembered the young woman he introduced yesterday, who was apparently his sister.

    "So.. your sister.. You two seem very close with each other," asked Serene as she recalled the two''s situation at that time.

    Tristan was surprised for a moment by the topic of choice, but he quickly picked himself and let out a fond smile at the thought of his sister.

    "Yeah. We are indeed close. We are both orphans so we always have each other''s back as we grow up."

    "Both orphans?" Serene was quite surprised by the revtion. "I see.. So you two aren''t really brother and sister then. Am I right?"

    Hearing that, Tristan roughly put the ss in his hand back on the table, causing a thud, before ncing at her.

    "We''re as real as it gets."

    Even though startled by the unexpected reaction, Serene discovered this side of Tristan, being caring and protective of his family, somehow attractive.

    At that moment, she decided that she would try her best to be a good partner for this man in front of her.

    However, Serene, despite her grand title of princess, didn''t even know how to start. She wasn''t sure. Being a princess and a Valkyrie at the time made it difficult for her to have rtionships with men in the first ce, which resulted in her apparent awkwardness.

    ''Maybe I should try to be more straightforward?'' Serene inwardly thought, questioning herself in the process.

    While Serene was busy thinking about how to approach this seemingly unsolvable problem, Tristan suddenly asked something.

    "So, Serene.. What''s the deal with us now?"

    The question brought Serene out of her train of thoughts.

    "What''s the deal?" She could be seen in trance, contemting about it. "I believe now that we are married, I will follow you wherever you go and support you with whatever I can. I am sure the queen will not hold you here anymore, so you can freely choose to stay in Vanyar or return to Arcadia."

    When Serene finished her words and looked back at Tristan, she was baffled by his confused look.

    Tristan realized that the girl had misunderstood his words. Therefore, he decided to ''simplify" it.

    "No, no, no. That''s not what I mean, Serene. What I mean is, are we going to have sex tonight?"

    Serene was stunned when she heard Tristan''s unfiltered words. She didn''t know which part of it irritated her - whether it was because it seemed so easy for him to say those words, or how rxed he was when he spoke of such a sacred thing.

    "You PIG! That''s all you''re thinking about, aren''t you?"

    Facing the wrathful explosion, Tristan casually sipped another drink and said, "At our wedding night? Of course it is.. Well, aren''t you the same?"

    Even though it was true, there was no way she would admit to something like that.

    "NO! I did not!"

    At the moment, Tristan was seen with a confused look on his face.

    "Serene... Why are you so upset?" He paused for a moment as if trying to think of the reason. "have you... never done this before?"

    It, somehow, irritated her that the person in front of her was just spouting those sacred things without much care of anyone.

    Realizing that he seemed to be crossing the line, Tristan hastily added, "Wait, wait. I''m sorry, okay? You didn''t really finish your exnation of ''The way of the Elf'' about this topic before. So, I don''t really know."

    Serene, once again, tried to calm herself down. She was reminded of how important this ceremony was. Therefore, she just chose to bear this unbearable elf.

    She steeled her resolve and looked Tristan directly in the eye.

    "We, elves, are different from humans. For us, it''s more than just physical consummation... Unless we both can create our bond, we could neverplete the union."

    "And how exactly do we create that bond?" Tristan asked curiously.

    Serene was stumped by that question as she herself didn''t know.

    "I¡­ I only heard about it, but never¡­"

    Tristan''s trademark mischievous smile appeared with her words. He slowly inched closer to Serene, causing thetter to subconsciously move backward.

    "Then, there''s only one way to find out!"

 Chapter 146 - Consent **

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    It was obvious that Serene was willing to try it. Otherwise she would not have bothered with an exnation. She was having a difficult time rifying what she had meant, but from what Tristan could glean from it, aside from a few long-winded sentences about ''souls'' and ''bonding'', it should be simr to the difference between having sex and making love.

    Tristan had some experience with sex before, a few nights spent with tavern maids here and there, but he couldn''t say that he understood the difference. He simply knew the gist of it. But then again, there was no better teacher than experience. why not put the theories Serene had exined to the test, and see for themselves?

    If he managed to get it right then he would finally achieve the release he had been seeking, had been craving since arriving in this world. Once again he recalled his experience with the fire magician and grimaced; he really hated to have to repeat such an incident. This time, he was determined to do everything right. No matter what it took.

    Watching the princess shift slightly in front of him, his mind reeled and his vision tunneled, the desire emitting throughout his body made painfully clear as each thought he had focused on how to ravish and devour the beautiful princess in front of him. Knowing that Serene had no prior experience, he decided to be the one to initiate and take the lead.

    Tristan gave a reassuring smile, letting his fingers intertwine with hers. He ced a hand on the side of her head, as if trying to ensure that she saw and thought of no one else but him.

    "I will start gently. If you want to stop, just say so¡­ and I will."

    Serene was startled, it''s as though he wasn''t the same man who was mocking her before. This time, his words felt sincere, his gaze genuine.

    She closed her eyes and let him take the lead.

    Tristan moved his right hand to caress slow, soft patterns on her cheek before stopping at the edge of her lips. He let his thumb trace her soft lips once, before leaning close and kissing her. He let his breath ghost on the side of her face, lingering there for a bit before travelling to the pulse point on her neck and sucking it.

    Through his newfound powers, Tristan could feel a slight trembling of pleasure reverberate from the woman in front of him.

    "Ahhh¡­" Serene unexpectedly let out a soft moan.

    Tristan gave her a soft smile and whispered into her ear. "Shall I continue, my princess?"

    Serene said nothing in reply, and Tristan took that silence as consent to continue. It was time to take things up a notch. Looking into her eyes, he gently cradled the back of her head, stroking her soft, golden hair before iming her lips with his own. He was by no means experienced himself, but he understood, at the very least, the weight women ced on their first kiss.

    Tristan let her tongue slip between her parted lips and took the time to taste her, letting their tongues coil around one another in a heated dance. His movements were nimble, yet gentle, and he took Serene''s tongue before twisting it with eager and deliberate movements. He nibbled and sucked on her lower lip, making the goddess in his arm let out a choked moan.

    Of course, he couldn''t just stop at a kiss. His hands shifted under her clothes as he began to caress her figure.

    After a while, she seemed to finally get her courage and tried to explore his mouth as well. They exchanged each other''s taste before finally separating, a trail of saliva connecting the tip of their tongues.

    Gently, Tristan smiled and looked at her, the lust evident underneath his heavy lids. A faint glimmer of hope bloomed that he would finally be able to chase his own pleasure this time.

    "Now, listen to me, and follow my lead."

    Serena nodded slowly in response, but internally, she was conflicted. What was it that made her ce such trust in the man she hated until mere moments ago? Had he managed to utilize his blood magic without her noticing? If so, when?

    While still pondering over the sudden rush of questions that entered her mind, Tristan''s hand was once again tracing slow,zy circles throughout her body. He removed the beautiful, ornate dress she was wearing - the luxurious fabric pooled around her hips before he dragged the tips of his fingers through the valley of her breasts. Serena''s face reddened, unable to hide the wonderful sensations jolting through her body from Tristan''s handiwork on her skin.

    As if startled awake from some dreamlike haze, she suddenly realized that she was fully undressed, her clothes thrown carelessly into some random corner of the room. Looking upwards at Tristan, she was expecting his gaze to be filled with the same lust so many men before him had looked at her with, but unexpectedly, he met her eyes with a smile of sincere awe.

    "You truly are a work of art, princess."

    Tristan was not lying to indulge her; the woman in front of him was a real goddess.

    Her long golden hair was syed behind her like a pair of beautiful wings, and despite how often she was called to battle, not a single scar was etched onto her wless skin. Up to this point, when Tristan touched her it was fleeting, simple, borne out of necessity. But now that he had the chance, he took the time to relish the smooth skin beneath his fingers. Tristan had dreamt of taking her for quite some time, and now that it became a reality, he had all the more reason not to screw everything up. Now that the beautiful creature in front of him was well prepared, he grabbed her arm and led her to bed.

    Tristan only needed to gaze into her eyes for Serene to understand what he wanted - she slowly climbed onto the bed,ying herselffortably on the silk sheets. Suddenly feeling vulnerable at the sight of him witnessing her under such defenseless conditions, she instinctively covered the most sinful parts of her body with her arms.

    "There''s no need to hide. You''re beautiful. Be confident about it."

    Slowly taking off his clothes, he revealed a toned, chiseled body that was rare among male elves. His arms and abdominal muscles grew firm and pronounced with years of battle, and Serene couldn''t keep herself from feeling the chiseled, beautifully sculpted body. The view in front of her made her blush once again, even more so after Tristan finished removing his clothes and started to heave himself onto the bed.

    Finally, their bodies were able to touch one another without the slightest hint of clothing separating them. Her smooth, unblemished figure and his hard, muscr body joined as one. Tristan once again allowed his tongue and teeth to ce wet kisses down the length of her body, travelling from her neck, to her stomach, and right near her navel, leaving gentle yet visible marks throughout her perfect skin.

    He sucked on her nipple, his tongue wetting the erect, sensitive nubs. With each lick, Serene felt a pleasant shiver trembling down her spine.

    "Tristan¡­ Ah¡­ what did you do to me¡­? Ahhh..." Serene subconsciously called his name in a lustful frenzy.

    His fingers continued to work like soft feathers, yfully teasing her inner thigh, making the mound between her legs begin to glisten with clear fluid.

    "Ahh¡­"

    She could hardly believe what she was feeling. Despite herself, she wanted him to continue what he was doing, using his fingers and tongue to stroke her sensitive flesh, making her body shudder. Her coy voice muttering in between moans turned Tristan on so much that the desire seemed to explode from his body.

    Tristan decided not to touch her folds with his fingers, and instead, he ced his knee between her legs. She responded by grinding herself desperately onto him, and Tristan smiled in triumph. While continuing to move his body up and down, his penis rubbed against her wet honeypot and the sensation sent a sudden jolt of strange, satisfactory pleasure careening through their bodies. He enjoys it. He enjoys it so much!

    Serene could hardly contain her exhration as she bit her lip and grabbed Tristan''s white hair. Everything felt amazing, from her twin peaks being pampered alternately by his lips and hands, to her core feeling the friction from his throbbing manhood as he thrust his body into hers. After trying her hardest to muffle her screams, she could no longer take it. She let out a long moan as her back arched upwards and her fist closed around his hair.

    "You are mine, my princess. Surrender yourself to me, and I will give you pleasure beyondpare."

 Chapter 147 - Desire **

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    "Desire is in men a hunger, in women, only an appetite."

    ~~~

    What was it that made this so different from the sex with Herrera? Before it took him a while to raise his lower elven parts. But this time, he was erect within a few minutes of getting started.

    This contrast was nothing short of shocking. The previously shy princess and powerful warrior had softened into putty underneath his touch. Each time his fingers caressed her body, she elicited a sinful moan, sometimes even gasping his name. The wantonness apparent in her voice made him start to pant, his breathing up in heated wisps, sweat glistening down his forehead and back. His lower body stirred with warmth and desire, hard and hot.

    The stage was set, and their eyes met in the dark. Tristan could clearly see that Serene had now fully submitted to his will, and she was waiting for him to devour her.

    "Now, surrender to me."

    As if to emphasize his words, his hands traveled downwards to cup her buttocks. It was a simple yet forceful sentence, but it was enough to stir something inside her; before realizing, she instinctively gave him a wordless nod of approval. Tristan moved his knee away and inserted his elven parts into her folds. When he began to thrust roughly into her body, however, the pleasure she had felt melted into an intense, throbbing pain in her honeypot. Though she was soaked, the motion was simply too much for her. So it was true ¡ª this really was her first time.

    A subconscious part of him was rmed at the thought of her first time being enveloped with pain; to ount for her, he began to prod more gently into her body, adjusting to a slow rhythm. But right as he started, he could feel her dainty fingers wing his back.

    "Don''t. Stop!" She choked out before biting down on his shoulder, as if to emphasize her feelings.

    No matter how innocent or inexperienced she was when it came to rtionships, Serene was still a fierce warrior, a princess; it was inevitable that her demanding nature and aggression would make an appearance during their intimate night. This sudden distraction from his thoughts made Tristan hasten his thrusts, but again, her grip strengthened. It was a wordless warning.

    Tristan knew the only way to eliminate the pain and rece it with pleasure was to continue pumping, keeping the momentum, but he still wondered about the woman beneath him. Would she be able to handle it? Heeding her silentmands, he tentatively started to move faster and faster.

    Fortunately, she soon grew ustomed to the speed, and the expression of pain on her face dissolved. Her core was slick and wet, and his shaft now feltfortable thrusting in and out. She felt delectably warm and tight. The unrestrained moans that slipped between her lips acted as cue for him to pump a little bit harder. With each shove he gave his body, Tristan''s pace increased, going faster and faster. In and out.

    Now that they were joined together, the difference between having sex with Serene and the fire magician was palpable. Unlike Herrera, who was unable to adhere to his rhythm, Serene possessed the capability to do so eagerly, along with the grip and strength to follow each one of his thrusts. He had an inkling that it was due to her heightened battle power, which was far superior to that of the magician''s.

    After pumping in and out of her core a few times, his movements became smoother, and the sensations flooding his mind became far more pronounced. The steady, measured tempo he kept up exhrated Serene as she screamed once again, unbidden moans of ecstasy slipping out without so much as a thought. Serene, who had spent her days drown with responsibility, either conquering the battlefield as Valkyrie or busying herself with royalty duty, had no time to chase her own need, now had a whole new world of pleasure opening up before her.

    The two possessed enough stamina to continue without rest; but even after hours of rough sex, it still felt as though they were teetering on the edge of a precipice. Blue-tinted morning light had begun to peek through the curtains, but although Tristan realized that he had experienced a profound sense of pleasure, the release he was looking for still managed to slip from his grasp.

    Deciding to stop, his thrusts started to diminish. His chest heaved as he took a moment to catch his breath, shoulders slouching in discouragement. Barely a moment passed after he slowed down before Serene squeezed his shoulder into a tight hold, as if desperately asking him not to. In response, Tristan clutched both her hands.

    "Serene¡­ We are still not doing it right¡­"

    He released her hands as the desire that had previously clouded the princess'' eyes dissipated. As her gaze cleared, she stared at him silently. A tangible, mutual feeling of slight disappointment hung in the air. She pondered a bit before muttering, "I heard¡­ This would help¡­"

    With bated breath, Serene raised one of her hands. She pressed the tips of her fingers onto his face, letting them linger there for a bit. She traced them softly down the length of his arm, then to his hand, interlocking her fingers with his before asking him to mimic the action.

    "Like this?"

    With a soft, patient touch, Tristan reciprocated, allowing his fingers to lock into hers, gently squeezing her palm while looking into her eyes. Serene''s face had started to flush, apparent even in the dim bedroom.

    "Try to feel me¡­ My mind¡­ My soul¡­"

    Yet again, his thoughts turned to Katra. He was initially skeptical, and when he first heard about it, the concept sounded rather stupid to him. But he saw how serious Serene was being and decided to yield to the idea. They had tried everything else, he might as well follow suit.

    In an instant, his Katra began to emerge, and immediately Tristan could feel the scent of her wonderful hair bing sharper. Even the softness could be felt without him touching it. Each drop of sweat on her naked, trembling body, each tingle in his spine as she moved underneath, everything felt heightened to an intoxicating level. Tristan drank in the multitude of sensations with closed eyes when he suddenly felt something stir between their bound hands.

    Concentrating on her beating pulse, he followed it in his mind''s eye until he saw a bright light shimmering with a beautiful golden color. The light touched his Katra, initially emerging with a jolt that felt simr to a little lightning spark, before saturating into a steady andfortable warmth that permeated through their intertwined fingers. Tristan could hardly believe his own senses. It felt like they were fully one. He could feel their pleasure merging and intensifying.

    Is this what the elf means as bonding?

    One thing was for certain; this euphoric sensation had only increased his desire for her.

 Chapter 148 - Pleasure **

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Two women and an elf elder walked alongside one another through the lush trees of Evergreen Forest. Among the group was an older woman who donned a neatly pressed, immacte white uniform. Trotting merrily beside her was a young girl dressed in an all-ck, formal ensemble talking incessantly as the party made their way through the greenery.

    "Elder Anmar, this ce is amazing! If we were on Earth right now, this ce would be an amazing honeymoon destination worth hundreds of dors!"

    Unable toprehend the human girl''s words, the elder simply nodded as she continued to escort her. Ever since they began their journey from the pce, La had been chattering relentlessly, but her words were full of references and remarks that neither of them had the ability to understand. The elder''s continued silence eventually gave La the impression that she was no fun to talk to, opting to pester the Kingsde captain instead.

    The three finally arrived at the separate royal residence; a private, secluded ce hidden deep in the woods. The building was simple, but luxurious.

    "We have arrived." The elder announced. La stared at the structure that rose in front of her, brows furrowed in clear worry.

    "Sister Raika, are you sure it''s okay for us to intrude on the newlyweds right now? We should probably give them another day or two."

    "Unfortunately, King Can had been waiting for the groom, and we came here in ordance with his wishes. We shouldn''t worry too much. After all, it''s already noon, and they should be ready to ept guests by now," the elder said.

    As the three approached the front door, they saw a woman already standing there, as if expecting their presence. She looked up to address them, and the group paused to stare in shock. The woman had pretty, flowing golden hair that cascaded down her back. At first nce, La thought she was her new sister inw, but upon closer inspection, La could see that her figure was more mature, a few lines of age beginning to crease onto her skin. With this in mind, there was only one person it could possibly be ¡ª the Vanyar queen.

    They met in the middle of the pathway leading up to the building, the elder quickly bowing before announcing their intentions foring.

    "Your Majesty, we are here to -"

    "Shhh, be quiet!" The queen interrupted before she could finish speaking.

    The group stared at the queen in dismayed silence, unsure as to why the usually refined queen was behaving strangely all of a sudden. But now, as they listened intently, the low voices that had previously sounded like stifled murmurs in the background became clearer. Within moments, they realized the source of the voices was behind the door.

    "Aahhh¡­ dont stop!! Ahhh!"

    "Call my name princess... say it!"

    "Tristan! Tristan! Don''t stop! Ahh!"

    A few moments of silence hung awkwardly in the air between the four of them.

    "That fucking animal! I swear -" La unconsciously swore, before hurriedly mping her mouth shut as she felt the queen''s burning re pierce right through her.

    "Whatever it is you want, it can wait! Leave immediately, and I''ll send someone to inform you when they are finished!" The queen eximed in a half-whisper, but the implied threat in her words was as clear as day.

    The three were forced to turn back to the path they came from as the queen stayed in ce, waiting with a slight grimace in her expression, while leaning against the wall next to the door.

    Still speechless after what had happened, La could only stare in shock while the other two dragged her away.

    "What kind of family my brother is getting into¡­ they are all crazy!" La thought to herself as she blinked and came back to her senses, right as she reached the gate.

    --------

    The two newlyweds had been going all out for quite some time now ¡ª it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were fucking like rabbits.

    More than 12 hours had passed since the wedding ceremony ended, but not once did they stop. Now that Tristan understood the meaning of ''bonding'' between elves, it was as if his reservoir of stamina grew endless. The pleasure from it was far too addicting.

    From the connection, the sensation was enhanced twofold. This time the pleasure was not only a surface level feeling that settled on his skin, but also something that reverberated deep within him.

    He could sense the bright golden sparks he sometimes saw inside Serene connect with the crimson colored energy emanating from inside him. If he had to drawparisons, the feeling was simr to when he used his [Blood Seal] technique and a thin red string of energy had appeared, but this time apanied with extreme pleasure. And the pleasure was exhrating. He couldn''t stop, nor did he have the desire to. He just continually plowed in and out of the goddess syed underneath him.

    He flipped Serene over and entered her core from behind. Making sure she wasfortable, Tristan adjusted his position and kept thrusting from the new angle. Before, she was only moaning asionally, only when she could no longer contain herself. But now, her moanspletely filled the room, as if she was trying to etch her pleasure onto the walls. The sensations he had felt earlier multiplied, bing more potent as her shouts grew louder and more frequent.

    A sudden thought crossed his mind about being heard from outside, but it was quickly dismissed. Instead he shifted his focus again onto the beautiful goddess in his grasp, her once stern and pretty face twisted blissfully in pure carnal pleasure.

    "Aahhh! Ahhh!"

    It was at this time when Tristan could finally feel it ¡ª a burning sensation at the base of his stomach. In an instant, he knew that the euphoric release he had been chasing for so long had finallye. He closed his eyes and braced himself as his body quivered. The release was a total andplete explosion of the pleasure that had been building up for so, so long. The dam had finally broken.

    "Aaargh!"

    Trembling, Tristan shot his warm load deep inside her and stained the bed. Finally, he had fully regained control over this foreign body with the release. It was a total, all-epassing satisfaction. Especially after years of imprisonment, he felt he had finally regained the youth that was stolen away from his life.

    He was initially unsure as to whether the goddess below him felt the same amount of pleasure as he did. But seeing her expression now, still contorted with desire, Tristan decided it was not yet the time to stop. Tristan suddenly thought of a way to enhance the experience even more, especially for her.

    "Trust me now, princess."

    Serena mouthed a ''yes'' with a low whisper in response, her heated breath on his face causing Tristan''s libido to burn even brighter.

    He tore off a piece of the bed silk, using it as a makeshift blindfold to cover her eyes, before tightly mping both her wrists together with one hand. He tore another piece off to bind her wrists together. The silk was secured tightly, but not ufortably so, the soft material rubbing together as she struggled against it.

    The idea came from his Katra training and the gauntlet tournament. During his training, he learned that when one sense was limited or restrained, the others would be sharper in order topensate for the loss. In this case, the loss of sight would enhance the sense of touch.

    Yet again, he began to passionately plow into her with determination, seeking to please the goddess in front of him. She trembled each time Tristan''s penis touched her sweet spot. Her breathing was ragged, and her hips started to shudder with every movement as she came closer to the edge. Tristan returned the favor, chest heaving as he licked and sucked her neck each time she went down. They kept going for hours. From their shared connection, Tristan could feel here closer and closer to her climax.

    After a few more hours of total pleasure, Serene finally catching her breath and slowing down, Serene gasped as she copsed into the mattress inplete exhaustion. By the end, Tristan had managed to reach his release three times.

 Chapter 149 - Complicated

    After an entire twenty four hours of ardent passion and a few hours of sleep, Tristan woke up with such a distinct glee etched on his face.

    Tristan darted his eyes over to the balcony and smiled faintly as he bathed in the morning atmosphere of Vanyar.

    The gentle yet enthusiastic chirping of the birds that could be heard from outside, the view of falling snow in the azure sky, and the softfortable bed with a beautiful figure seen on it.

    Thescivious yet innocent curves of her coupled with her wless white skin was the dream of any man without exception, and such a dream was currentlyying beside him. This could be defined as heavenly as it could get. Hence, it was natural he was gleeful.

    Thest six weeks have certainly been a very bizzare weeks in Tristan''s life. From being captured by a crazy green creature, being operated on and somehow receiving a new body, being chased upon, and ended up participating in a bloodbath battle - something he never thought he would participate in.

    At the end of it all, Tristan found himself being introduced to this new culture that he discovered to be quite amazing. It was apletely different feeling as he interacted with these people called elves.

    ustomed to the distasteful nature of humans, Tristan was caught off guard when he got to know them. The elves were proud but sincere. Rather dull but determined. They appreciated little things and enjoyed them; something that Tristan, as a human, couldn''t understand at first.

    And then, he was suddenly fated to marry the princess of these elves.

    Marriage, a constitution that he couldn''tprehend and probably never will.

    For him, it was never about the title nor the tradition. It was the person.

    The woman that currentlyy asleep beside him was a person he would be responsible to. He vowed that he would take care of her as long as she stayed true to him.

    Once again, Tristan took a nce at the sleeping beauty; her curly eyshes, her delicate lips, her rosy cheeks. He could feel something inside him resurface, the long-forgotten piece that he had thrown away during the harsh and brutal life in prison; the boy, or rather, the innocence in him.

    Slowly getting out of bed so as not to wake Serene, Tristan was thinking about what he wanted to do now. He didn''t know what the elves would do in the morning after gettingid, but for a decent American man such as him, he probably should try to make breakfast for the woman.

    After making sure Serene was still asleep, he proceeded to explore the residence given for them in his endeavor to find the kitchen. Momentster, he arrived at what should have been the kitchen.

    There was also a food storage room situated beside the kitchen, which Tristan had wisely ransacked by grabbing any piece of food he could recognize. After feeling that what he took was enough, he started his effort to make a nice breakfast for his new wife.

    s, reality struck him hard like a truck as Tristan discovered that cooking wasn''t easier than cksmithing. Heck, he even felt the former was many times harder.

    The kitchen of their residence became the silent witness of Tristan''s continuous streak of failures. He taste multiple kinds of ingredients in his venture just to understand what they are andthen hope to produce a satisfying meal. Unfortunately, all he received was failure as the food waspletely unptable.

    After an hour of disaster and chaos in the kitchen, Tristan came out with a simple bread with some sort of cheese and vegetables and a blue fruit juice that tastes like oranges.

    Tristan had set up the food he had prepared nicely on the table. Looking at the orderly setup of cutlery, he was amazed with himself for a moment as he never thought he would be capable of doing such a thing.

    Tristan saw Serene had risen from the soft bed, but it seemed she was still half awake.

    He let out his trademark grin as he swooped up Serene''s body, causing her to let out a surprise yelp, and carried her to the table before setting her down on the chair.

    Receiving the confused gaze from Serene, Tristan kept his smile and said, "I made breakfast. Please do try."

    Tristan then walked over to the chair opposite of her and sat down. He quickly put the food he made into his mouth and started filling his empty stomach. On the other hand, Serene stared at the man in front of her in silence.

    A minuteter, Tristan finally realized that Serene didn''t touch her food yet. Thus, he asked.

    "You Still sleepy?"

    Serene kept quiet as she shifted her gaze to the food on the table. Tristan thought that the girl must be so moved by the breakfast he prepared that she was lost for words. But then, he was surprised when he saw she was frowning.

    Serene closed her eyes for a moment before staring at him with her usual gaze.

    "I need to set something straight.. Yesterday¡­"

    "Yesterday was great!" Tristan interrupted as he looked at her eyes.

    Their eyes met each other as Serene said, "Yesterday... I was not myself... I¡­ did what I have to do... Consummating marriage is a must... It was our culture¡­ our way... That was all, nothing more"

    Serene''s words confused Tristan greatly. He wondered what she was trying to say.

    "I really don''t get what you mean here. So.. you don''t like it?! It can''t possibly be!. Last night, you were definitely¡­ wild!"

    It was apparent that Tristan''s choice of words was incorrect as Serene lost her absentminded look and became annoyed.

    "You... You uncultured swine!"

    Her irritation, however, swiftly subsided as this time Serene had no wish to duke it out with Tristan. She once again looked at Tristan with a serious expression on her face.

    "Yesterday was a once in a lifetime thing for us... It was all my duty to my people. Just like you said before, this marriage is a necessity for both of us."

    She then abruptly stood from her seat, startling Tristan and causing the bread in his mouth to fall.

    "I am now your partner. I will follow you and help you... But you¡­ are not my Venti!."

    After saying that, Serene immediately left the room, leaving Tristan, who was dumbfounded, alone.

    Several momentster, Tristan shook his head and muttered to himself, "Crazy confusing bitch!"

    It was honestly a lie if Tristan was not bothered by what he just heard.

    Serene''s words made him lose his appetite as he threw the bread into the wall without care, making a mess.

    "FUCK! What the hell is Venti anyway?! It sounds like one of those vitamin candies!" Tristan shouted.

    Being neglected since birth had made Tristan used to being unwanted. It also caused him to never really care about what people think or feel towards him.

    Well, every oncea time there was an exception.

    The girl Serene, somehow had managed to sneak up on him, just like one of those lotteries that were so hard toe by. Her words had somehow affected him.

    Even so, this would not make Tristan beg for her affection. Never.

    True, Tristan had promised to take care of her. However, if the other part didn''t want him to do that, then it was her loss.

    In the end, Tristan let out a long sigh, which containedplex emotions.

    It seemed his marriage had be like all marriages in the world. Complicated.

    Tristan was about to go to the bathroom to clean himself up when a thought suddenly popped into his mind, which made his face contort once more.

    "Does this mean that no more sex between us? Dammit!"

    "..."

    "Last night was great, though... What a shame.."

    Another sigh reverberated through the bedroom when a sound of door knocking was heard.

    Still annoyed by what had transpired, Tristan opened the door grumpily and saw the person he didn''t expect. It was Raika, the Kingsde Captain.

    Tristan learned that the Arcadian King had been waiting for him for two days. Therefore, she was ordered to immediately summon him.

    "The king wants to see me? Of course, Yes I will meet him... But please wait for me.. Don''t worry, I will be fast." Tristan said with a smile as he closed the door.

    Tristan said he would get ready quickly, when in fact he was taking his sweet ass time to finish his breakfast, take a shower, and groom himself.

    From outside Tristan could clearly hear Raika''s annoyed shouted.

    "Hurry up! Quickly!"

    Even so, he didn''t care.

    Well, he''s now a royalty as well, isn''t he? Just let that annoying king wait.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion, please Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 150 - Audience

    Tristan took his time, and when he was finished, he walked right behind Raika, the Kingsde captain.

    If he was being honest, he was still somehow annoyed with what his new wife said to him, but he tries not to think or make a big deal out of it.

    Tristan then realized Instead of going to the hall assembly as usual, Raika led him into the Vanyar pce courtyard.

    By noon, he had arrived in the courtyard, and he was treated to the beautiful sight of a meticulously tended garden in front of him. Trees of various kinds grew along the edges of the yard, coupled with beautiful, colorful flowers emitting a fragrant aroma. In the middle of the courtyard, a wide stone arena surrounded by pure white pirs could be seen.

    To his surprise, when he walked closer, he heard the sounds of metal colliding with each other and vigorous shouts, implying that there was fighting going on.

    Four masters of the elven disciplines stood surrounding a man in the middle. Tristan could recognize them as Master Ortiz of the unarmed discipline, Master Te of the bow, and Master Myrtin and Haldir of the des.

    All of them took a fighting stance against the man standing in the middle.

    The man was shirtless, his golden hair perfectlyplementing his muscr body. Tristan nced at him in surprise. It was Can, king of the Arcadian Empire.

    "Aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhh!"

    The king let out a loud battle cry before parrying the trickshot arrowsing towards him with one swing of hisrge de. He used the momentum to dodge and counter the attacks of the other three masters.

    During his time in the castle, Tristan had seen the power of each master first hand, and now he was more aware than ever of the power gap between him and the king.

    Right now, Tristan believed that even if he managed to increase his body strength to stage 4 Blood Monarch or even stage 5, he might still be unable to defeat the king.

    nk! nk!

    The sword skills the king used had a lot of simrities to the de singer style of the elven sword disciplines, but the steps and movements added to it made Tristan believe that it was more likely a derivative.

    He had to admit that the skill was wless, and if he could have the chance to learn how, he would take it in a heartbeat. But he remembered that the style belonged to the annoying King, and he immediately dismissed the idea.

    The fight went on as he watched¡­ from their movements, Tristan could tell that even though they were using all their strength, this was just a practice match. It made him even more annoyed that the king was able to match the strength of the four masters and lock them in a standstill.

    A few momentster, Tristan saw shadows of people from behind him and turned back to see the queen, apanied by Elder Anmar and the princess.

    Tristan unconsciously nced at Serene, but the princess didn''t seem to react, and she nced back without a hint of expression, like nothing wrong happened between them. Somehow, that just maked Tristan even more irritated.

    He decided to not bother himself with his crazy wife and greet the queen instead.

    "Your Majesty." Tristan bowed a little as a sign of respect.

    The queen stared at him in quiet surprise before saying.

    "Don''t you think you should call me Queen Mother from now on?"

    The simple request instantly made Tristan feel awkward. In his life, he never called anyone mother or father, and doing so now after a lifetime of being deprived of family certainly felt strange.

    The queen seemed to notice the glint of hesitation in his eyes, and she quickly added. "Or now that we are family, you can just call me Leena."

    "Alright, Your Majesty Leena."

    "Good." The queen nodded. This will be sufficient for now.

    The queen looked at Tristan before looking at her daughter. Right then, she realized that both didn''t even say one word to each other. Tristan did everything he could to avert his gaze from the princess.

    Realizing what happened, the queen sighed.

    "Here I thought both of you were doing well, considering all those noises you two made yesterday¡­"

    From the corner of his eyes, Tristan saw Serene bite the corner of her lips. He decided to say.

    "Of course We''re fine, Leena, never been happier!. We merely need to work some things out between us."

    "Alright, then." The queen nodded.

    Right after they finished talking, Tristan felt the release of massive energy, and right as he turned back, he saw all the four masters thrown back a few steps.

    Their duel seems to be concluded, and the queen stepped forward.

    "Enough!" The king said, and stabbed therge sword onto the floor, creating cracks on the stone before giving his respects to the four masters.

    With sweat still running all over his half naked body, the king approached Tristan. He gave a simple nod to the Queen and the Princess, before finally looking at him from head to toe.

    One of the Kingsde who was standing nearby gave him a huge towel. While cleaning himself up, he said.

    "Took you two long enough! Fortunately, the four masters were kind enough to apany me for some practice" The king roared.

    Knowing that it wouldn''t be a good idea to oppose him, Tristan merely gave him a slight nod and answered his anger with a straight face.

    "Anything I can help you with, Your Majesty?" Tristan said, but from his tone, the hostility was clear.

    If the king heard it, he certainly gave no indication. He tossed the towel back to the guard and said.

    "Yes! Pack your stuff, we are going to leave Vanyar as soon as possible!"

    Tristan was stunned into silence right then and there.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 151 - Disobey

    Tristan could see that the elf king was much stronger than him, but even so, Tristan refused to let anyone, much less him, dictate his life. Never!

    Right now, he is in a good enough position to argue against him. He has the backing of the Vanyar elf, and being married to the princess should have its advantages, does it?

    In fact, now that he could be considered the ''son'' of the Vanyar ruler, while the half elf was only a nephew, there was grounds to argue that he outranked the annoying king now.

    With a newfound confidence, Tristan gave the most sincere smile he could, and said.

    "Thank you for the invitation, but as of now, Your Majesty, I much prefer staying here."

    Tristan''s answer made the king''s t expression change into a surprise for a brief moment. Noticing the expression, Tristan merely smiled in his mind and continued.

    "You see, Your Majesty, I am currently in a very delicate situation," Tristan walked closer to Serene, looked at her intently, and continued. "My new bride here has needs to attend, and it would be remiss for me to go with you now."

    Deliberately, he spoke to grab the attention of both the king and the princess. Serena''s once neutral expression shifted back to a frown.

    Tristan turned back to look at the king, as if challenging him without words, and said.

    "But yes, of course, I wille to see you, perhaps in a month or two¡­"

    The king looked at him with a serious re and replied.

    "You seem to mistake my words as a request." To emphasize his point, the king gripped the handle of the massive sword stabbed on the floor.

    Tristan bowed in ordance to the elven tradition he just studied to emphasize that he is now a Vanyar elf "My apologies, Your Majesty, as now I am part of the Vanyar kingdom, I would follow only if my queen agreed to it."

    The queen looked at Tristan with a smile

    This was Tristan''s n from the beginning. The main reason he followed through with the marriage was to hide behind the elven queen''s authority. Now that he was officially married, he needed to test how much power does the queen really have over the Arcadian king.

    He had worked hard to earn his ce here, especially thest few days.

    But, to his surprise, the queen said.

    "Tristan, me, and Can had discussed about this. For now, it will be best for all of us for you to follow the King''s wishes."

    "Dammit!" Tristan started to curse in his mind

    He really was counting on the queen to be able to shield him from this.

    The king gave him a wicked smile and said. "There, you have your answer, now hurry up and prepare."

    The more Tristan saw the half elf king''s behavior, the more annoyed he felt. He has no intention to follow him, but for now, defying that man was not a wise thing, as his strength far outranked his. In addition, outright defiance against a king with elven heritage mighte back to bite him in the backter on.

    Now that the queen refused to help, he could only depend on his other talent.

    Tristan looked at the queen and said. "My queen, I was not nning to disobey you, I just need more time to learn ''the ways of the elf''. Give me a few more weeks, and afterwards, I will follow him."

    Even though the queen seemed to dismiss him before, Tristan could see her hesitation, indicating that him being taken away by the half-elf king was against her wishes.

    He took the time to bask in this small victory. He just needed more time to increase his own strength, and if he managed to buy a few weeks here, be it from gathering more blood, finding an elven secret that could help him, or finding more of those sacred divine stage animals that could increase his power, he might just be able to increase his chances at beating the Arcadian kingter.

    Just a few more weeks, and he''s sure that even if he can''t get as strong as that king, he could better resist against bing his ything.

    "What do you think of, Can?"

    The queen spoke, and Tristan grinned discreetly.

    "No!, I can''t ept it, Leena. You have had your time to do your test, now it is my turn."

    With just that one sentence, the queen''s heart was changed yet again. Even if she hasn''t said anything, that was clear from her expression.

    Those two people really are¡­ Tristan hated not knowing anything. What do they want with him? What kind of test?

    "Tests¡­? No more of it! I''m fed up with whatever it is you think I am¡­!" Tristan finally snapped.

    The king merely grinned at his outburst and said. "Alright then, I will give you an easier test. This will be fast and easy¡­"

    The king pulled out his sword from the ground, leaving no doubt as to what the true nature of the test is.

    "Fight me, here and now. Defeat me, and I will leave you alone." The king dered.

    Tristan chuckled upon hearing the king''s challenge. It was tant that the king merely wanted to give him the illusion of a chance.

    "Your Majesty, you know as well as I do that I am no match for you." Tristan said.

    "Then, let me make it simple for you, Tristan." The king pointed his massive sword at him and said. If you can make me bleed even one drop of blood, I will leave you alone. Surely, the monarch of the prophecy could afford to do this much!"

    Tristan took out his new sword, and took a fighting stance.

    "One drop of blood from you," Tristan gritted his teeth. "and in exchange, you will leave me and my sister alone!"

    "Deal!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 152 - Duel With The King

    Tristan drew the new Mithril sword he acquired as he walked to the center of the courtyard under the gaze of everyone. Faint huff of breath could be seening out of his mouth as the cold winter made them visible to see.

    Even though the performance the Arcadian King showcased against the four masters told him that the fight would be far from the word easy, Tristan still had to ept no matter what he thought nor felt about the former''s machinations.

    Firstly, although there was only a sliver, or rather, nearly nonexistent chance of him winning this fight, it was still a good opportunity for Tristan to free himself and his sister at once, in the off-chance that he managed to win the fight.

    Secondly, Tristan believed this person, the Arcadian King, would always be his obstacle now and in the future. He just had a hunch about it.

    Therefore, he really had to know the length of the gap and subsequently the amount of effort he had to put in, to get past this so-called obstacle. Tristan was sure this fight would be his springboard as it only made him stronger for the future.

    Lastly, the third and main reason was his growing urge. Tristan wasn''t sure it was because of his prison life or this strange new body. He somehow felt the need to vent his irritation by moving his muscles actively especially in a fight.

    Tristan gripped his new sword with his two hands and swiftly took his newly learned elven de Song stance. It was a high stance where the practitioner would hold their sword with two hands and raise it above the head.

    King Can, who nonchntly watched Tristan, brandished his own sword and said, "Let me see how good your sword skill is."

    Tristan ignored the other party''s remark as he was busy preparing his first strike. The stance allowed him to build up energy through his two arms, and thatpressed power was released in a burst through a downward swinging motion.

    Swish!!

    The swing caused a deafening sound to echo across the courtyard as it sliced through the air. Right after, Tristan took advantage of the motion he was in to transition into another swing which swiftly followed by a dash forward.

    With the existence of his 200 battle power, Tristan was sure that his speed wasn''t slower than the four elven masters.

    His figure shot across the courtyard, heading to King Can who still had the nonchnt attitude.

    nk!!

    Unfortunately, the strike was easily parried by the king''srge sword. At that moment, Tristan felt as if he had hit an immovable mountain.

    "Not fast enough!" King Can dered as he pushed Tristan back with a turn from his sword. "Again!!"

    Even though the former''s action looked extremely casual, the same couldn''t be said to the result. Thanks to the push which contained a power he didn''t expect, Tristan was thrown a few meters back.

    "Dammit!" Tristan cursed as he tried to stabilize his body.

    As he thought, Tristan couldn''t just depend on his physical prowess alone. That kind of raw exhibition of strength had always allowed him to bulldoze through his enemies. s, it simply wasn''t enough for an opponent of King Can''s caliber.

    Silently vowing to hone his expertiseter, Tristan once again prepared his sword stance while also moving around, step by step, closing onto the king''s sword.

    He discovered that he had much interest in the sword used by the Arcadian King. It was a 1.5 meter long sword at the very least, with a silver de and golden guard. Its de was wider on the base which led to a much heavier swing.

    A sword made for a powerful swing.

    With this type of sword, the wielder would ce themself in a more advantageous situation if they attacked directly from the front rather than from the sides.

    Tristan bravely chose to confront his opponent''s advantage by attacking directly!

    Swish!! Swish!!

    nk!! nkk!!

    This time, Tristan attacked King Can continuously in a flowing motion that seemed unstoppable.

    nkk!! nkk!

    Each strike he sent was fast and powerful, but each of them was also parried perfectly by the Arcadian King.

    Even though Tristan could clearly see his attacks were fruitless, he didn''t stop. Instead,

    He just had tond one strike.

    One sessful strike was all he needed to win this fight, and solved all his worries.

    With that determination in mind, Tristan sped up his actions as a torrent of strikes was brought into existence.

    nkk!! nkk!! nkk!!

    Only several seconds had passed, but there were already more than two dozen attacks that Tristan did. Even so, King Can still managed to parry each of them with perfection, not allowing even the tip of his clothes to be touched.

    Not giving up until he was defeated, Tristan channeled even more strength in his strikes, even more determination and willpower, as his motions became faster and fiercer.

    Amid the downpour of strikes he was in, King Canmented while his hand continued moving to parry everything, "Stillcking! Your efforts aren''t good enough to hurt me!"

    Realizing that he would be spent if this kept going on, this time Tristan used Katra. He concentrated and let his senses flowing towards his movement and the sword. Katra let him more focus and increase his concentration.

    Thanks to it, he also feels that the Arcadian King''s flow of motions became a little bit easier to read.

    Moreover, he realized that his rough application of de Singer style was far from enough. Hence Tristan started going out from it and began improvising his attacks.

    nkk!! nkk!!

    But the moment he did so, he saw the Arcadian King only shake his head and decided to stop defending and began retaliating.

    SWISSHH!! St!

    Blood sttered to the air as Tristan was cut by King Can''s one strike.

    It was just a mere one swing. A wide swing that looked full of openings, but it managed to cut his chest.

    Tristan staggered a few steps back while clutching his bloodied chest.

    King Can looked at him in a condescending look. "Amateur! Preposterous! You think a random attack is better than thousands year old Elven arts?!" He brandished his sword at Tristan and spoke in a cold voice, "I think we are done here."

    Upon hearing the insult and seeing the look he was given, Tristan fell into rage as he once again dashed forward.

    "No! Dont you Quit now!

    nkk!!

    The rage-filled strike, once again, sessfully parried by King Can who kept his condescending look.

    "Don''t me me for hurting you then!"

 Chapter 153 - Bleed

    King Can decided to go on offensive, fully shedding the defensive manner he adopted earlier. It was obvious that he had enough of Tristan!

    St! St! St!

    Wounds, light and heavy, rapidly appeared on Tristan''s body as he was powerless to stop the relentless assault of the Arcadian King.

    Every time he tried to parry thetter''s strike, he would be left blown back stumbling in his feet as the power within them was too much for them to handle. Nevertheless, he still did not decide to give up.

    Seeing that Tristan''s will was a tough nut to crack, King Canmented, "You have guts! I have to give you that. But you are still not good enough!"

    Tristan didn''t care about thetter''s evaluation of him. He kept swinging his sword despite the cuts he kept on receiving.

    At first, King Can didn''t think Tristan''s efforts were anything, just an ant trying to shake an elephant. But gradually, he began to find thetter''s attacks were bing more difficult to deal with.

    Now that Tristan was feeling more confident to follow the king''s sword rhythm, he secretly used his skill

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Hidden among the blood that was sttered from his own body, a mist gradually started to form and coalesced into two knife-shaped constructs.

    "Now! Eat this!!"

    The amount of Blood Essence he spent for this skill was a painful one hundred. However, Tristanpletely understood that now wasn''t the time to act like a sore beggar. He was desperate to get that one drop of blood, which would easily decide his future.

    Swiiisshhh!!

    The moment Tristan''s two blood knives shot forth toward King Can, the man was caught off guard by the abrupt development, which the former responded with a smirk.

    There was no rule about not using skill!

    The two des swiftly flew toward the Arcadian King and with the situation where his sword was currently upied by Tristan''s sword, he rushed to dodge by retreating a few steps back

    "Uurrggg!! That slimy bastard!!" Tristan cursed as he saw the two knives shot past their target with an inch of distance.

    It was such a close call, one that probably would never happen again as King Can would surely be warrier with that sort of tricks. Even so, Tristan was not going to give up now. Not when he could see the finish line waving at him.

    Soon, the fight turned into a three against one situation where Tristan continued his assault apanied by two knives that flew around trying to get a hit from all angles.

    A smile slowly surfaced on Tristan''s face as the Arcadian King was gradually overwhelmed by his frenzied attacks and the flying knives.

    nk!! nk!!

    "Where are your nonsense words now, huh?!!" Tristan mocked as he sent his sword down which was then followed by the two knivesing from the side.

    King Can no longer could afford to just stand still and parry Tristan''s attacks. Now, he also had to dodge the two flying knives that woulde from any corner of his blind spot. As a result, Tristan was given some breath on the amount of cuts he received.

    It had been a while since Tristan casted this skill, thus he was surprised when he discovered that he could control these constructs much better than before.

    He believed all was because of his newfound insight into Katra. It Appears his Katra would increase the control he had on his [Blood Synthesis].

    ted by the unexpected gain, Tristan once again notched his assault up as he submerged in his urge for blood and roared,

    "I will make you BLEED!!"

    Swish! Swish! Swish!

    After a few exchanges of strikes, Tristan strangely could see the Arcadian King smile.

    "Much better!! Good!!"

    Even though he was overwhelmed, the man still had the energy toment.

    CLANKK!!!

    A loud metallic sound resounded as Tristan put his maximum strength onto that one strike. Just like before, King Can had to dodge back but this time he staggered slightly in his steps.

    Even though the stagger was a faint one, his eyes shone as the strike had managed to create an opening.

    Tristan immediately took action as there was no way in hell he would let this opportunity go.

    Stomping his right foot on the floor, Tristan''s body shot forward without much care while the sword in his hand aimed at the Arcadian King''s chest.

    "DIE!!"

    Tristan felt the world slowed down as he could see his sword inched closer with every millisecond passed. But then, in that split second, he was shocked when he saw King Can moving at twice his initial speed. He could clearly see the entire sequence of the Arcadian King swinging his sword so hard that it managed to force the sword out of his grip.

    Thud!

    A loud sound rang out as Tristan''s sword was flying through the air and with it badly hurt his two arms.

    King Can had finally shown his true prowess. No wonder he had unparalleled confidence about this fight.

    There was only a one step distance between the two of them, and Tristan only had to take that one step to reach King Can. But he had no weapon at hand.

    NO!!

    Tristan knew that if he stepped back now, he would never have such a chance again. Therefore, he instantly chose to take that onest gamble.

    With a loud roar, Tristan continued his dash; he used his head to headbutt and tackled King Can''s body.

    The two ended up falling to the ground with Tristan on top of the Arcadian King.

    "What!!!" King Can was shocked by how crazy Tristan was.

    Not yet!

    Tristan was so desperate for that one hit that..

    ..he decided to open his teeth and lunge for the neck!!

    "You lunatic!!" King Can shouted as he saw the iing bite.

    Tristan managed to bite his target, and now he just had to tear it apart. However, as if fate wasughing at him, at thest second, he could feel the part he was biting into turning hard as rock.

    As the bright light shone upon his face, Tristan realized King Can just used a spell to save himself.

    "Aaaqargggghh!!" Tristan crazily mad, trying to chunk off that bite.

    But King Can was able toy his fist on him first,

    BAAAM!!!

    It was a strong punch that threw him rolling to the side.

    With it, Tristan lost his chance to wound King Can, and the next thing he knew was thetter''s sword was already on his neck.

    "You lost!"

 Chapter 154 - Defeat

    Tristan''s defeat was much swifter and harder than he ever imagined.

    He tried his best, giving his absolute all, but was still defeated. He never liked to lose before, but these days, he felt losing irritated him even more.

    Surprisingly, after his defeat, the king did not say anything more about their fight.

    The king merely lowered his sword and approached the Vanyar queen to whisper a few words before leaving. Tristan tried to discern what they were saying, but this time, the queen''s expression gave nothing away. Afterward, they all left the courtyard.

    Master Ortiz approached him and offered a hand, which Tristan dly took. After all, his body was currently severely wounded.

    "You did really well, Tristan." The master nodded in approval.

    "Seriously? I was defeated¡­ I can''t even do that simple damn thing!"

    "I understand your anger, but let''s just get your wounds treated first, alright?"

    Master Ortiz helped carry Tristan to find a healer. On their way, the old master talked about how King Can, even before bing a king, had shown his talent from an early age. He was a protege and a genius in battle. Despite only being half-elf, the king managed to stand out amongst all the other elven warriors.

    In addition, the king had participated in countless battles, therefore he had a lot of fighting experience. Master Ortiz firmly believed that the king was probably the strongest person in all of Arcadian.

    In other words, he was not merely a ruler of the empire as he was also its strongest guardian.

    listening to Master Ortiz'' story didn''t even make Tristan feel a shred of awe. Instead, he felt more irritated that this kind of troublesome person decided to intrude into his life. With each word from the master, it felt like his chances towards freedom were slipping away, waving their hands at him.

    After limping for a few minutes, they finally seated at a corner of the courtyard. At this moment, Tristan heard hurried footstepsing closer. He nced at the source, only to see La, his sister running towards him with a shocked expression.

    "Get away from him!" La shouted at the old master.

    Seeing her brother''s bleeding body, Lalya ignored the breathless state she was in as she quickly casted her healing magic.

    "Calm down, La." Tristan said, while basking in the warm green light. "This is Master Ortiz, and he was just helping."

    "Ah, is that so?" La scratched the back of her head. She turned to the old master and awkwardly said, "I apologize, Master."

    The old master merely nodded, not at all offended by her outburst. He couldpletely understand her worry.

    While his sister was busy healing his wounds, Tristan told her the reason for it, "This is all thanks to that damned king!"

    "Can did this?!" La looked at the wounds that were literally littering Tristan''s body from top to bottom in disbelief.

    He stared at his sister with a shocked expression. He was silent for a period of time before narrowing his eyes at thetter.

    "¡­ Sis, are you on a first-name basis with that bastard now?"

    Realizing her brother''s not-so-good reaction, La immediately became panicked.

    "Errmm¡­ no¡­ well¡­ I mean¡­ I think if you have time to know him better, he''s not that bad..."

    "..."

    Eerie silence ensued between the two siblings, causing the younger to subconsciously hold her breath.

    "La, what the fuck!" Tristan looked up at her sister. "The bastard has turned you into a freakin fan girl!"

    "The hell.. No!... he''s like¡­ Old!... I am just saying he is probably not the worsepare to all that tried to kill us"

    "Seriously sis¡­ what did he do to you?!"

    Tristan''s gaze quickly changed her reaction "No¡­ Nothing he did nothing! yes! That bastard king! How dare he hurt my brother!"

    His sister''s reply only made Tristan even more worried. On one hand, he was actually d that from her reaction it was apparent that they had been treating her well. However, he was a firm believer of the idiom ''there ain''t no such thing as a free lunch''. There was no way the king would be kind to her without any ulterior motives.

    Therefore, Tristan really had to find a way to let both of them free from the King''s clutch as soon as possible.

    While at it, he finally noticed that La''s healing skill felt much more potent than before.

    Out of curiosity, he decided to scan her.

    [Human]

    [Battle Power: 19]

    [Spirit Force: 55]

    Tristan was bbergasted by the number he saw. He was really shocked with his sister''s improvement in such a short period of time. Thest time he scanned her after the orc camp battle, she only had 12 battle power and 32 spirit force. Within the span of less than one month, she had increased her stats almost twofold.

    "Yeah, Tristan, did you notice too?" La smiled proudly. "They said that soon, I can reach magician rank 4, and I will be able to cast higher rank magic spells. Isn''t that great?"

    "Congrattions, sis." Tristan nodded. Of course, he would be happy for his sister''s achievements, but one thing was bugging him. Was his sister really special, or was this a normal thing for the humans living in this world?

    His train of thought was halted as a figure came approaching. It was Serene, and she came together with who appeared to be an elven healer. It seemed that his ''caring'' wife had gone and looked for a healer. But by the time they arrived, his wounds were almost fully healed by La.

    "Done, you''re all fixed, Tris!" La patted her brother''s shoulders.

    "Thanks La, you really are my number one!" Tristan said, while looking at his wife out of the corner of his eyes.

    He was trying to tease Serene, but to his surprise, the normally ill-tempered elven princess seemed to be in a mood to joke as she calmly reacted to it.

    Tristan merely let out a long sigh¡­ There was no way to know what was going on in her head, and he can''t stand more drama in his life. Unless she decided to share it, he definitely won''t pry her about it.

    "Serene, can you at least tell me what your damn cousin wants from me, and why the queen allowed it?"

    Serene shook her head and said. "I am sorry, I really dont know. But, they''re asking to see you now."

    The princess nced at La and said. "They asked for you as well."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 155 - Verdict

    The previous fight proved that Tristan would not be able to oppose the Arcadian king''smands; not with his current level of strength, at least. After healing both his wounds and his pride, he was ready to meet the king.

    In his current condition, the smart thing to do was toply and wait for the right moment to strike back. He must act patiently, he just hoped he didn''t need to kiss the king''s ass while he was at it.

    Approaching the hall, he was still a bit annoyed that the queen didn''t end up doing much to aid him. He somehow believed that the queen had his best interests at heart, but he couldn''t figure out why she didn''t back him up. There had to be something else, aside from his strength.

    After all, why would the Vanyar queen let another kingdom do as they pleased in her own territory? As he sauntered along, he began to ponder about her motivations. He still believed that the key to his freedomy in the hands of the queen.

    Unfortunately, upon entering the hall, Tristan''s hopes were immediately crushed. On the great Vanyar throne looming before him sat the Arcadian king while the Vanyar queen stood by his side.

    "What the hell! How could it be?!" He thought, a cloud of confusion descending on his mind.

    There were definitely some facts about the king that he missed. When he walked in, the atmosphere was charged, voices echoing in the great expanse of the room. He could hear the queen and King Can exchanging words as though in the middle of a heated debate.

    Seeing that Tristan had arrived, the two quickly halted their argument. The air in the room had suddenly turned stale. He was almostpletely certain that they were talking about him; it appears that the king had made his decision.

    From their expressions, he knew right away that the odds were not in his favor. Before the king could announce his verdict, Tristan had an answer at the ready.

    "I have no need to pack, I am ready to go."

    No one said anything in reply. There was a moment ofplete silence, and everyone stared intently at the king, waiting for him to speak.

    "There is no need! I have decided that I won''t be needing you anymore."

    Tristan''s first response was tion. He thought he had won; could it be that the king would finally leave him alone? But the king''s expression was not right. There was a coldness behind the king''s gaze, and Tristan''s face fell as his relief dissolved into rm.

    The king gestured with his hand, and immediately dozens of kingsde surrounded him. As he had expected.

    "Capture him!"

    Tristan flinched as all of them ran to charge towards him. He rapidly unsheathed his sword, clutching the hilt tightly with both hands as he braced himself for impact.

    "Don''t me me if I hurt you!" He yelled. The swing of his sword was enough to make a few of the speeding kingsde jump back, dodging his movements.

    As he was trying to determine the appropriate strategy to fend off his attackers, Tristan felt a sudden presence beside him. He realized toote that Nix had appeared next to him using shadow magic, and stabbed his sword arm with a knife.

    "Aaarghhh, get off me Nix!"

    Tristan was about to m Nix to the ground when suddenly, he heard a crashing noise a few meters away from him. A kingsde had struck the floor heavily with his fists, casting an ice spell which instantly covered both of his feet. Tristan was stuck in ce, wrestling violently against his binds.

    At the same time, another kingsde had cast a nt spell, and immediately a towering mass of twisted roots and ivy erupted from the ground, warping into something like a thrashing limb. It promptly entangled La in a torrent of vines, lifting her off the ground. In one swift motion, she was whisked away to the sidelines.

    "Triiss!!"

    "La!!!"

    Tristan used the sheer power of his physical strength to break through the ice, attempting to twist around and retaliate against Nix''s attack.

    Brakkk!!

    His hand reached out, grabbing at nothing as Nix had already retreated into the shadows.

    "Damn magician!"

    Tristan was so furious, he smashed into the closest kingsde in his proximity, sending him flying across the room. The kingsde''s armor ttered loudly onto the floor. He glowered at the queen standing next to the raised throne, and began to shout.

    "Leenna! Is this your wish?!!"

    The queen stayed silent and didn''t answer.

    A sudden series of footsteps pounded behind him. Turning back, Tristan saw Captain Raika running towards him in full force. He cursed under his breath. She was one of the strongest of the kingsde and probably the fastest. Tristan could see sparks of lightning flickering beneath the soles of her feet as she dashed forward.

    The woman dodged his de gracefully, with quick, calcted steps. She passed effortlessly under his sword, and before he could register what was happening, she was standing behind him. She grabbed him with both her arms, casting a spell.

    [Thundershock Tier 5 Lightning Element]

    Tristan howled in agony as an intense burning sensation rippled down his back. He tried to break free from Raika''s grip, but she was so strong that he could not manage to push her off. The pain on his back only escted the more he tried to squirm out of her grasp.

    "Arggghh!!!"

    Tristan was pissed. These people were ying with his life like it was nothing.

    The lightning spell''s aftereffects made his body go limp. After a few more moments of struggling, he felt like his bones had turned to jelly as his knees finally gave out. He fell weakly onto his knees. His breathing was ragged and heavy, with Raika still clutching his torso tightly.

    Only now had he begun to acknowledge the thrumming pain on his arm from where Nix had stabbed him, and instinctively he covered the wound with his palm.

    Shit. Now what would he do?

    Out of nowhere, a sharp object split through the air and hit Captain Raika from behind, forcing her to release her hold on Tristan''s back. The object was an arrow, shot by none other than his wife, Serene.

    She quickly grabbed three arrows, and instantly they all began to cast an ethereal light, glowing with magic.

    "Stop!!" She shouted, as everyone in the room turned towards her in dismay.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 156 - Final Judgement

    Serene swiftly nocked her bow and released three of her arrows. All of them swiftly zoomed through the air at the same time toward three different directions, stopping the Kingsde in their tracks as they had to deflect the arrows. Otherwise, they would be injured by it.

    "Stoppp!!"

    Serene drew another arrow on her bow as she slowly approached the kneeling Tristan.

    At this exact moment, the Arcadian King raised his hand and all the Kingsde stopped their assault. However, they didn''t retreat as they stood there watching Serene.

    "Queen Leena, can you order the princess to move away..? I would rather not hurt her because of this."

    Hearing King Can''s words, the Elf Queen let out a faint smile, "Aaa.. That''s a bitplicated, I''m afraid. After all, she''s no longer mine now.."

    The moment the Arcadian King heard her nonchnt reply, a frown began forming on his face. Knowing that he would not be able to move the queen, he turned to Serene, his gaze stern.

    "What do you want, Serene?"

    An uncertain voice was heard, but it gradually turned confident."I¡­ demand an exnation! This is not how we do things!"

    At this moment, the numbing effect of the lightning spell had finally dissipated as Tristan stood up once more.

    Despite the awful state he was in, it was apparent that the white-haired elf didn''t lose his mischievous act as he smirked at the beauty and said, "I see that you really care about me, my wife.."

    Serene didn''t even react to his teasing as she instantly scolded him the moment she heard his words. "This is all because of your big mouth! So shut up and let me do the talks!"

    Proceeding to ignore her detestable husband, Serene returned her attention to the Arcadian King. "Your Majesty, Please.. I.. We demand an exnation for such treatment. This shouldn''t be much to ask, right? After all, we are now¡­ family."

    Thest sentence was, somehow,ing out from Serene''s mouth slowly.

    King Can was silent, clearly thinking about what he should say. Meanwhile, Serene was waiting nervously.

    Momentster, he finally opened his mouth. "It''s clear the elf was barbaric, crude, andstly, uncontroble, myst fight with him convince me. He''s an animal!"

    Upon hearing the Arcadian King''s evaluation of him, Tristan exploded in a series of fury.

    "Fuck!! Who do you call animal!?"

    "Dammit!! Stop talking!"

    Serene swiftly rebuked Tristan, shutting him down before responding to King Can''s words.

    "Yes, Your Majesty. You are right about him, and I agree. He''s all those things you just said, and you even can addpulsive liar and shameless to the list"

    This time, upon hearing Serene''s evaluation of him, Tristan became lost. He wondered if the girl was really trying to help him. It looked like she was trying to get him killed faster instead!

    While Tristan was still confused by her, Serene continued her words, "However, through thest two weeks, I also found the good points in him."

    "You should have clearly seen his cunning and bravery when he won the Gauntlet when all the odds stacked against him."

    "You could ask Master Laril about the endless perseverance he showed in crafting."

    "And you could believe me when I said that he''s a caring person to those he held dear."

    Tristan was stunned. His mouth was wide open as he gaped at the words Serene said. However, it seemed she wasn''t finished yet as she once again spoke, with a higher tone this time.

    "Your Majesty Now I ask you! Why are you so quick to judge him?! This is unlike you! The king that I know will always try to find the best in people!"

    At this moment, Tristan discovered a newfound respect for his wife. Not only was she attentive to all the things he did throughout thest two weeks, she was also a fluent speaker. For Tristan, who was more of a doer than a talker, this wife of his could definitely help him in his shorings.

    Serene''s speech seemed able to affect the Arcadian King as Tristan could see thetter deliberating something. The man even consulted with the queen before he unexpectedly turned to him.

    "Tristan." the Arcadian King called his name in a somber tone. "Tell me, what is your goal in life?"

    What a difficult question..

    Honestly, Tristan felt he had no real goal.

    Of course, everyone probably would answer wealth or power when they were asked such a question.

    However, Tristan knew that was not what he desired.

    He thought hard about the question, and it then suddenly clicked to him.

    "My goal is to be the master of my own life - that is the truth."

    For Tristan, who jumped from the orphanage to the foster care and then prison, he felt like he had been imprisoned for his entire life. Therefore, the main goal he wanted to achieve was to be able to do whatever he wanted, freedom of his own choice.

    Upon hearing Tristan''s firm answer, King Can became silent for a few seconds before saying, "Don''t you want to return to your home?"

    Instead of answering the Arcadian King immediately, Tristan took a nce at La.

    "I would like to have the option to.. But honestly, I''m not that desperate to go home"

    King Can''s eyes flickered as he said, "Tristan, I always think of myself as a good judge of character, so I know what kind of character you are... However, it seems as Serene said, I might be a little too quick to judge. Therefore I am willing to be proven wrong. I will give you a chance - a chance to do exactly that."

    "I have one quest for you to do and I will see how you do it in three months. Afterwards, I will deliver my final judgement about you. If you really are what the princess said you are, then you will have what you wanted."

    "What kind of quest?" Tristan asked, wariness apparent in his voice.

    "There is a conflict going on in a border town called Carleon. I need you to settle the conflict with the timeframe I just specified and your performance will be judged ordingly."

    Tristan was confused as he had no idea what he had gotten himself into.

    "What kind of conflict exactly? What do you want me to do there?"

    "You will be assigned as the new mayor there. As for your task, it''s easy. Just do your best as the mayor and hope the town will still be there on the map after 3 months." King Can said with an almost imperceptible smile on his face.

    Thinking about the word conflict and border town actually interested Tristan. The two words sounded exactly like the embodiment he needed - he was thinking of a bloody fight which was actually good news as it was helpful for his advancement.

    However, it was unlucky that he had no prior experience in running a town. Thus, this quest might be more difficult than he thought.

    While Tristan was thinking about the pros and cons as well as what he should say to gain some conveniences, the queen suddenly spoke to him.

    "Tristan, the conflict there is not as easy as you think. But don''t worry as I will send dozens of my Vanyar elf to help you. You will need them to seed in his quest."

    Tristan let out a smile when he heard that. He knew he could always depend on this lovely queen!

    "Thank you, Your-"

    Before he could finish his words of gratitude, King Can interrupted him.

    "No! Help is not allowed! You must not help him Leena" the Arcadian King said adamantly, ignoring the Elf Queen who smiled wryly at him.

    Once again, this damnable king managed to find a way to irritate him.

    Tristan swiftly drove his mind, trying to find a loophole he could exploit. Then, it struck him.

    "Well, at least I can have my sister and my wife toe with me right? They are my family, after all."

    The king saw what Tristan actually aim for and shake his head.

    "Serene naturally can help you, but your sister still has her study. So, no for thetter."

    ''Dammit!'' Tristan inwardly cursed as the man decide to take his sister once again.

    Those excuses about studying were definitely to ckmail him!

    Tristan hated it¡­ truly, really hated it. He looked towards La and silently vowed that he would find a way to get strong and have his payback after 3 months.

    ''Just you wait, you fucker!'' he said to himself. Took a deep breath to calm himself once more. He wrecks his brain trying to find best solution to his current dilemma.

    "Then what about your Kingsde? Will you send some to help me?"

    King Can gave Tristan''s request a thought before once more shaking his head slightly.

    "No! none of the Vanyar or Arcadians will help you this time. I want to see how you deal with the quest on your own"

 Chapter 157 - The King

    In the massive courtyard of the Vanyar Kingdom which was situated just right outside the pce, dozens of fighters wearing identical white uniforms were seen preparing the horses. They were busy going back and forth as they were about to set off to where they were dispatched.

    A figure of a man in his 50s wearing a golden armor that exuded regality walked out of the pce. He was apanied by a beautiful woman who also exuded the same atmosphere as him, the Vanyar Kingdom''s Elf Queen.

    "Has he left already?" asked the man to hispanion.

    The queen nced at him and replied, "Yes, he did, Can. Just an hour ago."

    "You didn''t give him any help, right?" the Arcadian King asked again with a stern tone.

    "No, I didn''t. Everything is going the way you want it to."

    "Good.." After saying so, King Can took a long, deep breath before continuing, "I apologize, Leena. I was very impolite earlier. This is your pce.. I have no right."

    Upon hearing that, Queen Leena chuckled. "You are the rightful heir of Vanyar."

    "No, of course not. You are the ruler, Leena. I should have restrained myself." King Can said while exhaling another sigh.

    "Hahaha.." lightughter escaped from the queen''s mouth. "You are more simr to your father than you think and admit, Can."

    When he heard the topic of his father, King Can unexpectedly scoffed. "Huh! If they weren''t too stubborn and went inside the mist, we wouldn''t be in this position in the first ce."

    "What are you saying, Can? My brother left the empire to a very capable hand, which is you. Arcadian has improved a lot in thest 50 years, and it''s thanks to you."

    Before King Can could say anything more, he saw three elves approaching them, causing him to swallow the words back. The elves gave bow to the two of them.

    "Can, these are Vanyar Kingdom''s most talented youngsters, as requested. From the left, they are Elyon, nis, and Sindur."

    Hearing that their names were spoken, the trio immediately bowed again.

    King Can threw his gaze at each of them, nodded his head slightly, and said, "I see.. Alright. You three will follow Captain Raika. She will tell you what to do."

    "Yes, Your Majesty!" the trio replied as they bowed once again. Immediately after, they headed toward the Kingsde captain.

    After they were gone, Queen Leena turned to the Arcadian King. "What really happened, Can? Why are you suddenly acting odd? You never asked for elven warriors from me before."

    Hearing the question, King Can showed a concerned look on his face for a while before answering, "The storm is gathering, Leena.."

    "The storm..? What do you me-? Wait, is it?" the Elf Queen asked with clear astonishment.

    The Arcadian King let out another sigh, "Yeah.. I believe we will have another big war soon."

    Leena''s face changed. A brooding expression shown on her face.

    "Is the Dark Elf making trouble again? Or, those humans across the sea?"

    King Can didn''t answer the question. He was deep in thought for quite a while before he turned to the queen and asked, "How sure are you of the prophecy?"

    Even though Leena was confused as to why the man suddenly asked this question, she still answered it confidently. "The prophecy is absolute."

    "I know the prophecy is absolute, but it can also be falsely interpreted."

    The Elf Queen''s expression changed again. "What exactly do you want to tell me, Can?"

    "What I''m trying to say is, it may or may not be him."

    "Can! How many Blood Elf do you see hanging around the kingdom? None!"

    At that, King Can argued, "It might not even be about Blood Elf.."

    He noticed that Leena was about to argue more, thus he diverted his words. "Well, anyway, I don''t want to argue again. I am still very much healthy, and I would rather give it to those arrogant High Elves than give it to that animal."

    "I know, Can. I believe that you know what''s best. But that quest you give.. Don''t think that I don''t know what your n is!"

    King Can''s face became cold at the thought of a certain figure. "That is the least he needed to do, and trust me, I wouldn''t hesitate to kill him if he failed the quest."

    "Yeah, yeah. I believe you. You are Can, the Great King of Arcadian, after all."

    "You''re mocking me now, Leena."

    Her signature teasing smile appeared on the queen''s face when she heard his words. But then, she quickly returned to normal.

    "But Can, what if he really is the monarch in the prophecy? I know that you are preparing him in your own ways, but taking his sister is a bit too much as I can see he really cares for the girl. He might never let you goter."

    Unexpectedly, the Arcadian King nodded his head. "That''s the risk I am willing to take, Leena. But actually, there''s something strange about his sister.."

    "Something strange? What is it?"

    "That''s.. I don''t know yet. I''m still investigating it at the moment." Noticing the look on her face, King Can smiled and said, "Don''t worry. I will update you about thister."

    Not long after, the Kingsde members were seen pulling a group of people in chains. All of them were humans. Amidst the group there was a female, but she needed to be carried as her legs were missing.

    Looking at them, Queen Leena said, "These are the captured humans that I mentioned before."

    He approached them at a casual pace and realized there was some kind of metals that seemed to attach on their bodies. "Space knights? These are good finds!"

    One of them, a man with a scar that streaked across his face, seemed to be unafraid as he received and faced the Arcadian King''s gaze head-on. "You elves will regret this!"

    King Can stopped right in front of the said man, looking down at him, and said, "I''m sure that you have many ns prepared. But I''m telling you right now, don''t waste your breath. It all won''t matter." Seeing the disbelief expression on thetter''s face, the former chuckled. "Don''t worry. You will soon know"

    A momentter, the captured humans were swiftly brought into a massive steel cage as they would be carried to the capital with the Arcadian King.

    "1...2...3...4? I thought you said there were five. We are missing one here, Leena." King Can asked as he turned around. The moment he did so, he noticed that the Elf Queen was acting a little suspicious.

    "What is it, Leena? What did you do to the other one?"

    "Erhm.. how should I say it.." Under the piercing gaze of the Arcadian King, Queen Leena finally relented. "Actually, he''s gone.. Hmm.. an hour ago."

    King Can immediately understood what had happened.

    "You let him take one, Leena? Why?"

    "Well, it''s his idea. Moreover, you only specified no Vanyar or Arcadian, and these people aren''t either."

    King Can was both surprised and annoyed by this. He was about to call his Kingsde to give chase when he suddenly decided to changed his mind.

    "Well, this could be interesting."

 Chapter 158 - New Quest

    A set of three riders were seen galloping through the Evergreen Forest heading east. Dust and dirt flew and scattered around as the trio sped across the terrain.

    After an entire day worth of travelling, the three eventually ran across a small river. As the sun slowly drowned on the horizon and the sky gradually covered in dark veil, they decided to stop there to take a rest and feed their rides.

    A beautiful, golden-haired elf climbed down from a white, ferocious-looking tiger. She softly stroked thetter''s head with love and said, "Mina, go and find some food."

    As soon as she said those words, the white tiger instantly disappeared as it dashed into the woods, searching for prey.

    She faintly smiled at the sight of her belovedpanion when an annoying voice suddenly heard from beside her.

    "That is very convenient, indeed." Coupled with a sigh, the annoying voice added. "I wish my horse could do that."

    The beautiful girl ignored the source of the voice as she stared at the other man. A man with short messy ck hair and yellowish skin.

    "You don''t see many Asian in Arcadian, don''t you?" the source of the annoying voice, Tristan, spoke once again as he noticed the girl''s interest in the man.

    "Asian?" A word filled with confusion came out from the girl''s mouth before she shook her head as a confirmation.

    Tristan ced his gaze onto the man who oddly had tinted eyes and asked, "So, what do we call you?"

    The man was silent, his eyes were moving around as he tried to assess the situation. Momentster, he answered the question. I am Sandi.. Sandi Chieng."

    As if he already expected it, Tristan nodded his head. "Alright. I''m gonna call you Chieng, then."

    "Yes. Thank you for releasing me.. Master."

    "Master?!" A little taken back by the man''s address of him, Tristan blinked his eyes for a second before nodding his head again. "Good. You''re right. You can call me Master from now on."

    Immediately after, Tristan used his scanner to check Chieng''s stats.

    [Human]

    [Battle power 87]

    [Spirit force 62]

    The man had an above average battle power, stronger than most humans that he knew - with the exception of the Kingsde. They were a different entity altogether, after all.

    However, there was something odd with the man. He said he was unable to cast any magic, but Tristan could see he had above average spirit force.

    "What weapons do you use and what skills do you have?"

    Tristan asked this question because he had to know the advantages and shorings Chieng had in order to utilize him better. After all, a fine weapon would be trash if used incorrectly.

    "My specialty is unarmed, and I was trained in 30 different weapons."

    "Unarmed, like kung fu?"

    Such an Asian stereotype he thought

    "I have no knowledge about kung fu. But I excel in the art of fist"

    Tristan actually thought that unarmed has no ce in war. But he did say he knew 30 other weapons so it couldn''t be that bad.

    Not long after, the white tiger returned to the trio bringing a wild game on his mouth. Its tail wagged around as it dropped the prey on the ground in front of Serene. Afterward, it once again dashed into the woods, looking for one for itself.

    Seeing the spectacle, Tristan couldn''t help but say, "Definitely a much more useful petpared to my red stallion."

    He didn''t realize that he had silently rubbed his chin in contemtion, while the way he stared at the tiger gave away his intention. Coupled with the words he just said, those actions earned Tristan another re from his wife.

    "Don''t you dare to think about it!"

    Tristan let out his trademark smile under Serene''s re. "No, of course not. I already have a better one"

    Tristan smiled wickedly and said "If yours can find food for us, mine can cooks them"

    With a simple order from Tristan, Chieng quickly started to clean up the game, bisecting and separating its body into several parts. He then prepared the fire to cook it. Looking at the nimble movement the man showed, Tristan sent Serene another wicked smile.

    Tristan of course didn''t choose this particr space knight to just be his helper. He actually put a great deal of hope into him. All for a n to enact revenge to that bastard king.

    He was actually d the king didn''t send any of his puppets for him. After all, he didn''t know if those people really came to help him or keep watch of him. Or worse, sabotaging him throughout the three months.

    This blood sealed space knight that he took from the Vanyar dungeon, definitely much better than those self-righteous kingsde.

    The painful part was, this space knight cost him much higher than a normal human with the same stats. It cost 1300 Blood Essence to cast [Blood Seal] on him.

    Moreover, it had a 20% sess chance, which extremely annoyed him as it made him have to ept a 10% loss every time he failed. In the end, it cost Tristan a whooping 1820 Blood Essence in order to finally take control of him.

    Seeing the amount of Blood Essence he had, Tristan was in pain.

    [6880 blood essence]

    ''This guy really better be worth the amount I spend on him,'' Tristan silently thought in his mind.

    The stats might not be impressive for the amount of blood essence spent but his main reason to choose this space knight was because of the information and knowledge in his brain.

    Tristan believed this space knight had the unique information that can be leverage to pioneer his sess in this world. Especially with the fact that this particr space knight was said to be the ''mechanic'' among them.

    Tristan can only hope this ''mechanic'' title would really do wonders with what he ns to do next.

    "Are you sure we are going the right way, wife?" asked Tristan as he munched on the roasted leg in his hand.

    "Yes. We are going the right way."

    The quest given by King Can took ce in a border town called Carleon. It was located south of the Erantell, still situated in the area close to the Chaotic ins.

    From Vanyar to Erantell, Tristan decided to make a little detour. He hoped that with the help of his newfound Asian mechanic, he would find something useful there.

    A few hourster, the sun slowly rose on the far horizon signaling the arrival of dawn. Tristan and the others were prepared as they once again galloped through the Evernight Woods.

 Chapter 159 - Ruins

    After another day of continuous journey with small breaks in between, they finally arrived at their destination.

    It was the ruins where he was teleported to this world. The ce where they were summoned by that damnable goblin, Cursaac

    Tristan finally went back to the ce where he first arrived.

    "Here we are, the Ruins of Aesir."

    "Ruins of Aesir?"

    Tristan asked Serene once again to make sure as its name was exactly the same as the title the barbarians gave to their god-like warrior. Recalling the seemingly unbeatable figure at that time, Tristan''s eyes turned sharp as he scanned the entire area with his gaze.

    Oblivious to Tristan''s reaction to the ruins'' name, Serene proceeded to exin about the matter. "There are three known ruins in the Arcadian continent and all of them were called the same as the ruins of Aesir. The ancient record that I saw said that it''s been here even before the elves arrive to this ce."

    "Oh, right. I also heard there are a few more of this kind of ruins on the continent across the sea." Serene added at the end.

    Without further ado, the three rode into the ruins - the dome-like facility.

    The moment they entered, the sight that greeted them was exactly like what Tristan had expected. The half ser stadium dome waspletely filled with bones, rotten corpses, and patches of dark surfaces.

    The air smelled so bad that Tristan had to cover his nose. Otherwise, he would throw his entire worth of meal out.

    "Why didn''t you guys clean up the corpses?" Tristan asked, only to find Serene looking at him with a gaze that said ''are you serious?''.

    Apparently, she was kind of surprised by his question as the elves had no custom to bury other corpses besides their own kind. Therefore she found his question to be weird and thus, the reason for her current expression.

    Seeing the weird look that she gave him, Tristan shook his head and walked toward the center of the facility. There, he once again saw the 10 meter tall ck stone, where a bird-like symbol was engraved onto it.

    If what Serene said earlier was true, then this ck stone must havee from the time before the elves set foot here, which was an extraordinary fact itself.

    Once again, Tristan wondered what connection that goblin, Cursaac, had with this ce.

    With Serene who knew about the ce''s history and Chieng''s knowledge, Tristan began to pull the pieces together as he could slowly see the whole picture of what had happened.

    From Chieng, he found out that the goblin was apparently a notorious gctic criminal, and known to cause trouble across thes. This also meant that the goblin came to this ce not too long ago.

    This deduction could be further strengthened by the current situation of the facility itself. Half of its entire structure consisted of ancient-looking material, while on the other side was actually part of the goblin''srge flying ship thatnded on the ce - ording to Chieng''s words.

    As for the ck stone that stood tall in the center, Chieng assumed it to be either a transportation device or a beacon.

    Before they ventured further to the remaining goblin ship, Tristan realized that there was no trace of orc corpses, which was weird as he remembered there should be some around. He was sure there were at least a hundred orc corpses that should have existed as they died thanks to the huge battle between him and the space knights.

    While Tristan was wondering where those bodies went, it was actually Chieng who cleared his suspicion. He told him that the orcs'' bodies had higher metabolism growth, which in return resulted in a much faster dposition rate.

    As Tristan''s suspicion was cleared, the trio swiftly went toward one of the doors which were already part of therge spaceship. Soon, they started exploring the ce inch by inch.

    "Go find anything useful, Chieng."

    Tristan sent the space knights'' mechanic to venture the ship, searching for anything valuable. Meanwhile, he himself went toward one ce that he liked to check.

    Theboratorium. The ce where his own bodyy thest time he saw it.

    After walking through several doors, Tristan eventually found it. A pile of bones that had slightly decayed with rotten mass scattered all around. He could no longer differentiate which one was his and which one were Desmond and the other captive.

    Tristan was crouching there for a moment, looking at the pile of bones withplex emotions in his heart.

    "What is it?" A soft voice was heard from the side, where Serene was standing.

    Tristan didn''t even turn his head to her and said, "A piece of the past."

    The female elf seemed to understand what Tristan meant as she decided to also crouch next to him in silence.

    Momentster, Tristan finally stood up and casted [Heat Touch]. In an instant, the remains were eaten by the zing fire and reduced into ashes. The fire was so fierce that it was enough to make the room full of smoke, causing Tristan and Serene to walk out.

    A whileter, the two met with Chieng again, who returned empty handed. It seemed that there weren''t really any useful things to loot as most of the structure that was left were the ancient ones.

    Tristan wondered if the elves who came with Serene at that time were the one who looted the entire ce. For a moment, he wasn''t sure if he should ask him this, but ended up asking it anyway.

    Unfortunately, Serene said she wasn''t sure herself as the group was split up at that time and she was part of the group who went out to chaser the goblin and him.

    However, she told him that if there were indeed something that was worth noting, normally all the items would be delivered to the Arcadian Kingdom''s capital. To be sent to the Arcadian King.

    Hearing that bastard''s name again and having nothing to loot irritated Tristan to the core. But then, Chieng suddenly told Tristan something that managed to light his eyes.

    It was indeed true that the goblin ship was gone as it was used for fleeing, but there was still the space knights'' ship which crashed when they entered the, and Chieng could lead them to the crash location.

    "That''s a freakin good news Chieng! Let''s go! Lead the way!"

    --------------

    Author''s Monthly Note

    (no coin cost will eraseter)

    Dear Blood Elf Monarch Reader, thank you for your support.

    Within less than four months, The Novel has reached 12000 collections, 1.5 million views, and is part of the top 5 trending new novels. Its really really amazing how much love and support you gave to me and the Novel

    My July Chapters are:

    Blood Elf Monarch 63 chapters

    Earth Greatest Magus 52 chapters

    This July I managed to write a total of 115 chapters, 5 chapters short of my monthly target, but I hope to finally reach it in August.

    PLEASE NOTE: These Privilege chapters are not mandatory. Only purchase the privilege if you want to support me and the book further. But I really hope you understand that these privileged readers are the people who keep the story going, henceter will be enjoyed by the fast pass reader as well.

    If you really wish to support me more, please do so by:

    Reading my other two novels Earth Greatest Magus and Doomsday Pirs. Which all three are under the same universe, just different times and ces and will eventually intertwer.

    The Earth Greatest Magus particrly will exin a lot of the questions you might find in this novel.

    It is my wish to have the new novel Blood Elf Monarch win thepetition. I hope with the promise of adaptation, it will make my dream/ our dream of having the whole universe; Emery, Tristan, and Alex from the Three novels be graphics or animation wille true.

    Today I can finally and confidently say that my wife has fully supported me in being a writer. With this, I hope I can give even better content for you and all my supporters.

    Thank You for Your support and Check out Tier 2 Privilege - 5 chapters with 60% discount which Each chapter will cost only 2-3 coins

 Chapter 160 - Crash Site

    The three pulled the reins on their horses and galloped away from the ruins of Aesir, venturing into the sandy desert. Not long after, they saw broken stone structures jutting out of the sand.

    They followed the trail, and finally, the group found it. The space knight''s ship was almost fully buried under the sand.

    Witnessing the tip of the ship in front of him was enough to make Tristan smile in excitement. He quickly stepped forward, ready to dig the ship out, but looking at the buried mass he didn''t know where to start.

    "Chieng! Let''s see if you have any ideas."

    The man tried to figure out what part of the ship was sticking out and designated a particr spot to dig.

    With minimal tools they had, Tristan decided to start digging with his bare hands, together with his newfound assistant.

    Knowing it would take hours, Tristan turned to look at Serene withplicated looks.

    "Would the princess mind doing such dirty jobs?"

    As if Serene realized what Tristan was asking, she frowned.

    "I will help! both of you step aside."

    Serene sped both her hands, and energy began to gather all around her body. Her eyes were closed in concentration, and from her expression alone, Tristan could tell that she was casting a strong spell.

    Sweat started to drip from her forehead, and right after, Tristan could feel the ground shake. The sunken ship slowly rose up from the sea of sand.

    After a few minutes of intense casting, half of the ship had fully emerged.

    From the looks of it, the ship was about as big as a baseball court, leaving Tristan to imagine how big its actual size is. Now, he understood how hard Serene worked to pull it up.

    He looked at Serene''s damp face, and gently said. "It''s enough. Good work, Serene."

    Now that he more or less could see the ship in half of its glory, Tristan couldn''t help but feel nervous.

    "Go for it, Chieng. Check it out."

    In his heart, he whispered a prayer, hoping that any god would happen to hear it and answer his plea.

    "Dear god, would it be too much to ask that the ship would still be in one piece?"

    Right after Chieng words somehow answer his prayer

    "Master, it appears that the sand helped stop the fire from causing further damage to the ship."

    "Thank you Lord, I praise you -"

    Before Tristan could finish his sentence, Chieng said again.

    "Unfortunately the frame was broken beyond repair. This ship will never fly again, Master."

    "Damn it!"

    Now that Chieng has managed to break open the door, Tristan couldn''t wait anymore. He jumped in to check the ship''s interior.

    The inside was obviously messy, but some of the lights were still flickering. The distinct humming of machines in the background told him that the ship was still slightly functional.

    After walking through the corridor, Tristan found the room he was looking for. The room they ce their armament.

    There were dozens of rifles, pistols, and short swords. Tristan was delighted to find out that his scanner was able to identify the items.

    [Storm Rifle]

    [1.2 meter length, 4.2 kilogram weight]

    [shooting condensed sma energy as bullets.]

    [Bolt Gun]

    [0.6 meter length, 2.6 kilogram weight]

    [Shoots explosive bullets catridges]

    [Short Sword ¨C Reunite ¨C Tier 3]

    [0.7 meter length, 2.1 kilogram weight]

    Tristan''s eyes start to glint with excitement upon spotting the more limited items, a methrower, and a huge machine gun-like weapon.

    "What about the bullets, Chieng?"

    The space knight started to open up a few ammo boxes, and he exined that within them there were also grenades and explosives.

    Tristan can''t help but smile upon seeing all these items. With this, he would no longer be afraid to be surrounded by thousands of barbarians like before.

    He quickly started to fill his storage rings with his new stock of weapons.

    "Take your time, Chieng. Check through everything, and take anything that might still be useful."

    The two went deeper until they found the room where they stored the power armor. This was the heavy armor used by the space knights.

    "This is our spare armor Master; it''s in very bad condition, but I could probably scrap all of it together into a working one."

    It took them the whole day to salvage items from the ship and start collecting some useful items.

    There are some strange medication supplies that Chieng insists are valuable to take, a little box with green liquids which appear to be energy supplies, some tools andputers plus a box of drone written Gremlin

    Finally, thest item shown by Chieng was a brokenmunication device that looks a bit like those old satellite dish

    Thisst item was the one suggested by the space knights'' Captain Siegfried. If it could be restored to working order, they would be able to request aid from other space knights.

    For Tristan, it could be of help, but it could also be a disaster depending on their interests. Either way, Tristan decided the best course of action would be to let Chieng fix it first. He could decide on what to doter.

    All the items finally piled up. Fortunately, these space knights did have a few spare storage rings. These amazing rings were apparently quite amon item for these space ounders.

    Chieng added that the ones the space knights had in their possession were just themon 2 meter cubic ones just like the one he gets from Uriel the fat elf. He exins that there were actually rings avable on the space knights headquarter that has the capacity to store the whole ship, with the right price.

    Hearing Chieng''s description and seeing all these items that he could usually only see in sci-fi movies somehow gave Tristan a new rush of excitement. The possibility of roaming across the universe seemed like a great future to aim.

    After collecting all these items, Tristan once more pushed Chieng to think of any other items that could be salvage.

    He exined that the ship''s energy reactor was damaged but could be fixed in some way, and it could also lead to disassembling the ship''s cannon. But such work needed tools, manpower, and time. Things that Tristan currently did not have. Tristan sighed. Right now, he was in a hurry, so would have to returnter to recover all the things he found today.

    Finally, he asked his lovely wife to use the spell once more to bury the ship. This time, he buried it almost all the way down, only leaving a small part of the hull as a marker. He needed to make sure the ship would still be there when he returned.

    Everything was set. Next destination, Erantell.

 Chapter 161 - Space Knights

    After salvaging the ship, the three galloped non-stop. The fresh forest air felt cool on their skin as they moved faster. A simple, wide grassy path cut through the familiar woods, and they took a simr path as the one La tookst time. With Serene''s guidance, their journey was much faster.

    As an elf, Tristan and Serene have much less need to sleep, and apparently, the Space Knight Chieng has a simr advantage due to what he said to be the imnts that were engineered into his body.

    During their break, Tristan decided to take some time to know more about the space knights. He felt that in the future, he will definitely encounter more of them.

    Having the blood seal reign over the space knight, he spilled all the information to him.

    ording to him, it appears that most space knights were the same as him. Most came from a simr to this one they were currently standing on. In his case, he was among the thousand from his chosen by the empire to join the space knights program.

    It seems that the selection process was rigorous, involving a test of endurance, strength, and loyalty.

    Apparently, strength was not the most lethal part. Even though the trials were hard enough, it was actually the enhancement process that killed most of them.

    After passing the test, the recruits needed to survive 10 major surgical imnts, both biologically and mentally.

    The first imnt was a secondary heart located around their torso. The heart serves to increase blood supply and heart pumping capacity, and also gives them higher stamina. In addition, when their primary heart fails, the secondary heart will serve a simr function to increase their survivability.

    The second imnt alters their bones, allowing them to absorb specific chemicals made to increase the size and strength of their skeleton. The process will eventually fuse their ribcage into a solid bone te, and it was also why they were allrger than a normal human.

    The third imnt improves their bone marrow, making it so that their blood could be more efficient in carrying blood and nutrients. It also causes the blood to clot faster and form scar tissue, allowing them to heal faster from minor wounds.

    The fourth imnt takes the form of a machine attached to their brain. The technology used for it is simr to a modernputer, allowing for additional storage to improve their memory, and bypassing their need for sleep.

    The fifth imnt was a filtering device on their stomach, ced close to where their esophagus meets their internal digestive system. The device would iste inedible substances as well as neutralize poisons and toxins.

    The sixth imnt took advantage of their reinforced ribcage and added a third lung in the middle of the original ones, allowing the space knights to breathe in low oxygen environments, toxic gas, or even underwater by separating oxygen away from hydrogen directly.

    The seventh imnt was a rtively simple, but painful procedure that mutating their skin, increasing their resistance to radiation and heat.

    The eighth modified their eyesight, making it far superior than a normal human''s and allowed them to see under low light.

    The ninth imnt was shaped like a small box around the size of their auditory canal. It filters certain sounds, protecting them from sonic-based attacks, and stabilized their body making them immune to dizziness and motion sickness. Not only was it useful to neutralize some threats from the enemy, it also made them adapt better during the constant spaceflights they have to do.

    The tenth and final imnt''s base were ced right at the spot where their nose and mouth met just before the esophagus, up all the way to a small nub on their nose. The imnt would improve their sense of taste and smell, give them knowledge about chemicalpositions of the food they ate while on duty, and allow them to track a target via smell.

    Chieng mentioned that it was an honor to join the space knights, and his Grey Wolf unit is one of the best.

    Upon hearing that, at first, Tristan felt some pity for him, as he was sure all these space knights were being brainwashed by this empire they were serving. But then realizing Tristan do just the same with his blood sealed, he can''t reallyment about that.

    He had to admit that even with all those imnts weirdly poking out of their skin, the things those imnts could do were really awesome He starts to believe that this space knight was worth every drop of blood essence he spent.

    Among all the ten imnts, what interested him the most were the ones ced in their brain and bone marrow. He thought those two were the reason these space knights have such higher needs of blood essence and such a low sess rate.

    Tristan grinned and asked about the idea of this ''mechanic'' and how to use it to disable the other space knights'' imnt function and allowed him to grab more of those super soldiers for himself with a higher rate of sess. Surprisingly, Chieng said that it''s not out of the question.

    After hearing all those information about the space knights, the next important question for Chieng was the possibility of reinforcements toe for them.

    "We managed to send a distress signal already, but knowing how fare we are, it will take time for them to reach this ce."

    Chieng added that with both the Cursaac mission and the information of the Blood Elf, they should''ve sent a responder team and they could arrive anytime soon.

    Personally, Tristan detested the idea of relying on these space knights, as he has no idea whether they would be more troublesome than the kingter. But, a man always needs a backup n.

    Of course, his main n was to be strong enough independently to resist all these threats. This journey was his first step towards that n.

    Finally, after two days of non-stop galloping through the woods, they reached Erantell City.

 Chapter 162 - Help

    Birds were chirping and the wind was blowing gently through the leaves. On this particr day, a figure was reclining contentedly in the sun, anguid smile on his face.

    He was lying half baked under the midday light, a beautiful girl giving him a light massage treatment while another was feeding him fruits by hand.

    Above him, the branches rattled in the breeze, and the scent of blooming flowers lingered in the air. What a beautiful day it was for this chubby half elf.

    "Nothing better than enjoying the fruits of yourbor," he said while opening his mouth and biting into a fat, ripe peach from the girl''s hand. The juice spilled down his chin.

    In the distance, he heard a slight ruckus. For a moment, his shoulders tensed, but he immediately rxed right after. He wouldn''t let such things bother his leisure time. After all, he was well protected; an abundance of well-paid guards surrounded him.

    He called on one of his men, urging them to inspect the noise before once again returning to his slumber.

    After a short while, though, he was jolted awake to the realization that themotion he had heard was getting nearer and nearer. He quickly rose from his outdoor bed to see what was going on.

    A few scuffled steps could be heard from outside, and with a sudden burst, the door broke open.

    The half elf jumped when he saw who had entered; a white-haired elf with a huge grin split on his face. He lumbered into the garden, inspecting his surroundings.

    "Hi there, Uriel! Wow, what a nice garden indeed! Your home is definitely beautiful."

    He was sent into a panic as the figure kicked one of his men to the ground and knocked over another with graceful ease. The other guards that circled them shifted nervously, hands clenched tightly on their weapons. They drew closer to one another, expecting another attack.

    Knowing who he was, the chubby elf instantly told the rest of his advancing guards to stop.

    "Sir... Tr... Tristan¡­ Wee to my humble abode¡­"

    Behind him stood two other individuals, a ck haired man and a woman with flowing golden hair who everyone there was well-acquainted with.

    "Ah, my honorable Valkyrie. Wee."

    "Put on your clothes, Uriel." said the blond hair beauty

    With a quick gesture, one of his attendants rushed to hand over his clothes.

    "Anything I can help you with...?" He hesitantly said, slipping an arm into the sleeve of his robe.

    Tristan smiled. "Uriel! I need help with a new quest given to me by the King!"

    At this response, the chubby half elf winced and escorted his guests out of the garden and back inside. He decided it would be wise to take a detour through the vast grounds; thest thing he needed was one of the estate''s staff eavesdropping on royal affairs.

    While walking around thevishly furnished house, Uriel looked upwards at the man towering above him. Exasperatedly, he sighed.

    "Did you really have to give me a heart attack like that?"

    Tristan rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I was told that you were busy¡­ I didn''t realize you were... "

    "Alright, alright! I get it."

    Uriel ushered the group to his study where they could discuss matters in a more private setting.

    "So, are you helping?" Tristan asked again.

    Uriel quickly nced at Serene, who had been trailing after them in silence. He began to speak rather hurriedly. "I know what the King asked you to do¡­ I don''t think I am allowed to help you. Even if I was, I simply can''t¡­ I am too busy... Anyway congrattion on your wedding cousin Serene"

    "Busy," Tristan thought, as though he hadn''t just barged in on him being massaged and fed fresh fruit by two beautiful handmaids. The lifestyles and attitudes of the politically influential never ceased to baffle him.

    Aside from that, hearing the word cousining from the fat elf was quite suprising. Apparently Uriel, who was the mayor of Enratell, was also family to the Vanyar. Tristan wondered if all the leadership in Arcadian was controlled by these wood elves.

    Tristan had zero knowledge on what it would take to be a mayor, therefore with Uriel being the only mayor he knew, he thought it would be a good idea to pay him a visit. Perhaps he could provide him with the appropriate connections, or at the very least, some sound advice. Unfortunately, Uriel was not the type to provide services without anything in exchange.

    "Uriel, help me and I will make sure you will gain profit from this!"

    Tristan knew that these were words that the greedy elf standing before him understood the best. He then introduced him to his new assistant, Chieng, who until now had been standing readily by Serene''s side.

    Seeing Chieng''s figure with various metal parts attached to his body, Uriel realized that the man was an ounder.

    "So, what about it? This is the one I was telling you about before. He has a working flying ship full of precious goods. We could share everything we found inside evenly. What do you think?"

    It was a total lie.

    As expected, Uriel''s eyes shone upon hearing those words, and his posture straightened. The lie seemed to get him to reconsider his decision, even for a moment. He absentmindedly scratched the side of his face.

    "I''m guessing you have not gone to see Carleon, have you?"

    "No!" Tristan replied. "I went to see you first, my dear friend."

    Uriel shook his head, dropping his gaze. "I might have been interested if you asked me about this a few days earlier¡­ But not now. Things in Carleon had gotten far moreplicated."

    Tristan stiffened in ce as his brows furrowed. "Complicated? Why?"

    A grave expression suddenly descended on the half elf''s face.

    "I just recently got a report that the current mayor you were supposed to rece is dead. Murdered."

    Serene gasped. She was clearly startled from the announcement. Apparently, all Arcadian mayors were rted in some way to elven royalty. As a result, under normal circumstances, no one dared to make trouble with them.

    Uriel took note of Serene''s reaction and nodded solemnly.

    "So yes, Sir Tristan. Carleon is undergoing extreme troubles right now¡­ It would be best if you stopped bothering me and headed there soon."

 Chapter 163 - Shopping

    Tristan has not yet fully grasped the situation, but he knows things have be moreplicated.

    With the previous mayor dead, that means he needed Uriel''s aid more than ever. Unfortunately, thezy bum decided to hide behind his many imaginary duties.

    This development only annoyed him even more. He was still angry about how the mayor came sote to thest battle.

    Tristan raised his voice and decided to demand instead of politely ask, but it appears the fat elf only got more defensive about it. To add salt to the wound, even his wife had started to defend him.

    Urgh¡­ Tristan realized that he was too easily angered these days.

    He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. Anger would only make it harder to use his brain.

    After he cooled down, an idea formed in his mind. He gave Uriel his best smile and continued to his next agenda to visit this mayor. He asked politely about his orc friends who were supposed to be under the mayor''s care.

    Luckily, he was able to help solve this issue. Tristan asked the mayor to show him where they were, and both decided to meet up in the Erantell southern gate in two hours.

    Within that time, he had some things to do.

    First, he took a leisurely walk towards the adventure guild.

    Just like their first visit, the ce was filled with adventurers chatting andughing with each other. Some were busy discussing their next mission, while some queued in front of the receptionist to ept a mission.

    He came here for one purpose, that is, to get his reward for thest orc camp quest.

    With a grin, he walked over to the reception table and saw the same cat-eared womaning to help him.

    Tristan told her about the job and showed her his silver badge as confirmation. She gave him a smile and a nod, before focusing on the stack of papers in front of her. She shuffled through the data

    After a few minutes, she gave him another smile, but this time Tristan could see that it was slightly forced. "I am sorry sir, the rewards have already been collected."

    "¡­"

    "Calm down, Tristan". He thought to himself and once more had to restrain the urge to punch the nearest object.

    Was it Borin? It seems that he was the only one who dared toe and collect it, but there could be-

    in the middle of thinking, the cat-eared woman said.

    "ording to our data here, it was collected by a silver-ranked adventurer called Seth."

    "¡­"

    He calmed himself down a few seconds ago, but he felt as if he was about to burst right this moment.

    The reward was three gold coins, a paltry sumpared to what he received from the orc''s warchief Ghral. But, money is still money, and he won''t just stand by after knowing someone stole from him. He thanked the cat-eared girl before walking out.

    "Seth! If I see you again, I''ll make sure you''ll be my blood ve until your death!"

    Once outside, he shouted in anger, to the shock and confusion of people passing around him. Even Serene who stood by his side stared at him in confusion.

    Seeing her confused gaze, Tristan once more tried to calm himself down.

    Dammit, why do people keep trying to mess with me!

    Regardless, there was no use staying and fuming here. He had two hours, and there were other things he should do.

    The next ce he decided to head to was the mage guild.

    He didn''t know whether Carleon city has any mages'' guild, but he has been itching to get some new fire spells ever since he discovered his elemental affinity.

    Hence, he jumped at the mage guild''s assistance without hesitation and asked for their collection of fire element spells. Hopefully, acquiring them would somehow quell his temper.

    Just like before, he was brought to the back room. Now that he knows that most of the scrolls were made by the elves, he understood why there were plenty of choices for water, earth, and nt spells, while the others arecking and a little bit more pricey.

    Tristan looked at the assistant and was about to ask for the source of other elements'' scrolls, only for her to answer that the fire element spells were created by Master Tobias, the royal magician.

    He remembered that name. It''s that old magician who held him down before.

    Either way, there was nothing to be gained from caring too much about who made it. As long as the spell could be useful to him, there''s no need to spend energy thinking about such things.

    [Heat Touch: Rank 1]

    [Concentrate heat on the palm and the fingers.]

    [Heat Detection: Rank 1]

    [Sense living creatures by tracking their body heat.]

    [Fire Resistance: Rank 1]

    [Increase body resistance to fire]

    [Fire Aura: Rank 3]

    [Coat the body with fiery aura, enhancing the user''s body]

    [Fireball: Rank 3]

    [Create a ball of fire that explodes upon contact, damaging everything in proximity]

    [Price of Spells]

    [Rank 1 fire spell: 10 silver coins]

    [Rank 2 fire spell: 30 silver coin]

    [Rank 3 fire spell: 1 gold coin]

    Tristan took care to count all the spells he took before he nodded to the assistant. "Yes, I will take all of them."

    Serene stayed silent. She watched him buy all these spells while she questioned whether Tristan could use all of them.

    Right as he was about to leave, the assistant stopped him and told him there was a rank 4 spell that arrived recently, but she was not sure whether Tristan would want it and if he could cast a tier 4 spell.

    [Fire Wall: Rank 4]

    [Forms a wall around a designated perimeter. Could be used for protection or imprisonment.]

    A rank 4 spell cost a whopping 10 gold coins.

    Tristan thought he would be a mayor soon, and when that happens, he would have more ess to coins. Well, on Earth the government did hold all the wealth, so he decided to take the risk and spend all his coins for the tier 4 spell.

    With a calm expression, Tristan walked out from the store. They said that shopping could take all your worries away, and from what he felt, that seems to be true.

    Tristan squeezed all of his scrolls into his full storage rings before heading towards the southern gate to meet with Uriel.

    It was time to see his orc warriors.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 164 - The Camp

    Alongside a group of about a dozen guards, mayor Uriel brought them to a farm plot on the west of Erantell, near the Evergreen Forest.

    They had covered quite a bit of distance during their journey, about a two hour long ride on horseback. The plot was probably located at one of the further ends of Erantell territory, Tristan thought as they rushed through the countryside.

    Afternoon was beginning to fall and the party seemed to be closing in on their destination as a few torchlights could be seen in the distance. Drawing nearer, the view Tristan was met with was utterly different from what he had imagined.

    From afar, the only things he could see were a handful of poorly made huts and simple palisades, hastily put together with sticks, straw, and mud, as well as a cluster of orcs surrounding the area. He grimaced, thoroughly unimpressed by the conditions of the ce.

    "Uriel, is this really the best you can do for them...?"

    "Sir Tristan, it has only been a month, everything is still under development¡­ Just give it some time."

    This bit ofnd and all the resources reaped from it was the supposed reward promised by Uriel and support by the King as a token of gratitude for their help in stopping the barbarians. But from the looks of it, not much was actually given.

    The Arcadian authorities had promised a prosperous farnd with vast resources, and instead what they received was a wide expanse of nothing.

    The group made quite themotion when they arrived, especially with a white tiger traveling together with them.

    When they climbed down from their horses and walked towards the gate, a guard captain approached with open arms to wee them. Upon seeing the man, the expression on Tristan''s face soured. They had just arrived, and already he was annoyed.

    "You''re here, Barry?" Uriel said.

    The guard captain bowed slightly and gave his warmest, most courteous greetings.

    "Wee Sir Tristan, wee mayor."

    Watching Barry address Tristan before the mayor somehow amused Serene.

    "Barry, Sir Tristan here would like to look around the ce."

    "Of course, sir, of course. Come in!"

    "I will deal with youter," Tristan passively muttered under his breath as he brushed past Barry to inspect the area. The words made Barry''s insides freeze, a cold sweat running down his back.

    As he examined the plot ofnd more intently, Tristan could clearly see that the ce was not fully guarded; there were, at most, only ten Erantell guards surrounding the premises filled with more than a hundred orcs. On his part, this was a positive thing, as it appeared that the Erantells were giving much freedom to the orcs do as they pleased.

    At this moment, the orcs finally acknowledged his presence and started to crowd around them, grunting excitedly. Unfortunately, though, he didn''t see Karra around, and these orcs did not really speak hisnguage.

    In the corner of his eye, he saw a man exiting out of one of the huts, slouching forward. When their eyes met, a pang of recognition struck Tristan''s body. He knew exactly who the man was, and his brow twitched with anger. The man began to panic as a murderous glint descended on him from Tristan''s eyes.

    "Seth!!! So, you are here!!"

    It was the silver adventurer who had imed the gold reward from his quest. Seth attempted to scurry away like a timid fieldmouse, and Tristan quickly chased after him through the grounds. Quite easily, he grabbed him by the scruff of his cor in one swift motion. It was as though he was picking up a helpless kitten. Just like a debt collector, he raised his arm high, ready to punch.

    "Give me my money back, Seth!"

    Under the shadow of Tristan''s fist, the silver-rankedncer started to shake with terror. He was trembling so hard, it was difficult for him to even form coherent sentences. It took him all his willpower to squeak out,

    "I... I didn''t... Take it¡­ Sir¡­ Really¡­ I don''t dare..."

    Off to the side, a woman''s voice unexpectedly intervened.

    "It was me, Sir Elf, I was the one who took it."

    Turning towards the direction of the voice, Tristan was met with a beautiful, short haired woman standing with a hand deftly ced on her hip. She looked at him, gaze unflinching, with no fear at all; instead, she was smiling gleefully as she began to run towards him.

    Stopping right beside him, she grabbed his arm in a gesture of constion. The touch caught him off guard and he loosened his grip on Seth''s shirt.

    She began to apologize, voice lilting slightly.

    "I am really sorry Sir Tristan, but I took the reward to help these orcs. They really needed it¡­ We used it to buy farm tools and other stuff."

    As she spoke, she reached towards his hand and held it tightly, letting it touch her soft chest.

    Tristan was suddenly speechless. This woman was the crazy fire magician, Hererra; he could hardly believe that she was actually still here, even after an entire month.

    She leaned her head gently against his chest, causing him to jump slightly. "I am really sorry I didn''t tell you first... Please don''t be angry. I feel really bad... I owe you¡­ Trust me, I will pay you back."

    She then looked him straight in the eye, her voice dropping to a low whisper. She smiled slyly.

    "I''ll pay you with anything you want¡­ anything"

    It was at this time that Tristan could feel an intense aura emanating from behind him. He could even feel it without the need of Katra¡­ It wasing from Serene, and the force was strong.

    Tristan instantly squirmed out of the crazy woman''s grasp, sweating profusely.

    "It''s okay, that''s your coin too, actually, and you did it for the orcs... It''s fine, you can forget about it!"

    "No, no... I owe you Sir Tristan, I will follow you until I can pay it back!" Herrera insisted.

    "..."

    Tristan looked over his shoulder to see his wife glowering down at the two of them. Her exact emotions were unreadable, but she was clearly displeased. Fortunately, he was saved by a sudden disruptioning from the gate.

    Karra the female high orc had finally arrived. Alongside her trailed a group of orcs, and among them were the orc younglings, the rugrats.

    She walked over to him and ced her arm across her chest as a sign of respect.

    "Chief, wee back."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 165 - Good To Be Back

    Karra had arrived alongside a party of a dozen other orcs. It appeared that they had just returned from hunting animals in the surrounding forest. A few of them were hauling freshly killed boars and rabbits on their broad shoulders, others were carrying weapons, while dried blood stained all of their clothing.

    He hadn''t realized that there had been so many of them residing here. Tristan counted under his breath, and was pleasantly surprised to find that all eight rugrats apanied the party. He wasn''t sure if he was just misremembering, but it seemed like they were already at least a head taller than when he saw themst. It was astonishing to see them grow so rapidly within the span of one month.

    These eight orc younglings possessed the physicality of average 13 year old kids, but were able to carry on their backs, heavy hunting trophies.

    "Wee back, Chief!" They all greeted in unison, smiles stered all over their faces.

    As high orcs, even as younglings these rugrats possessed a higher level of intellect inparison to the other adult orcs. It was far easier tomunicate with them; they were able to follow basic conversations, utilizemon words, and understand simple ethics.

    This particr group of younglings appeared very excited to see him. Seeing them in good health and yfully joking around with one another somehow warmed Tristan''s heart.

    Tristan also saw that Astrid, the barbarian''s captain, was standing silently among them. She was still under full control of the blood seal and was listlessly trailing behind Karra as instructed.

    "Please, Chief, let''s talk inside," Karra said.

    All together, they walked into a hut at the center of the grounds as a group. Him, Astrid, Barry, the Mayor, Serene, Chieng, even Herrera and Seth, they all followed Karra''s lead. When inside, she appointed Tristan to the role of warchief, urging him to sit in the center and lead the conversation.

    Tristan received the honor confidently. Crossing his legs on the dried mud floor, the others circled around him, huddling together in the slightly cramped space. He then asked, "So, how is the ce provided by the Arcadians? Sufficient?"

    The high orc was intelligent enough to stare at the mayor first, trying to determine whether or not she was allowed to speak honestly in front of a man of such high political standing. Noticing this, Tristan said, "Just say it openly. The truth!"

    Karra nodded curtly. "There were some difficulties with the humans, but it''s nothing worth mentioning. The main issue was that we were bored. Us orcs, we are warriors. The gretchins might be able to stand farming, but not us."

    Herrera cut in. "Actually, these orcs are very bad at farming! They won''tst if they stay here."

    This was something not surprising for Tristan actually

    "Okay, what else?"

    It appeared that Hererra had a long list of grievances she had to air out. Sheined about the insufficient amount of supplies and essentials, from the small number of huts to the limited tools. She droned on and on about the long wait for seeds,ck of farming equipment, and worst of all, the fact that the orcs were not allowed inside the bounds of Erantell city.

    These matters were enough to make Tristan frown. What a multitude of problems had umted here, he thought. He shifted his gaze to Uriel, and suddenly shed a threatening, wicked smile.

    "What do you have to say about this, Lord Uriel?"

    The mayor jumped, andughed in an awkward manner in response. Racking his brain for excuses, he then said, "Well, it''s only been one month, and really, the budget from the capital has not yete."

    He continued sheepishly. "As for prohibiting them from the city¡­ Well, even if they could suppress their normal behaviour, having orcs walking around the city would be...plicated."

    Tristan understood the point Uriel was really trying to make; once more, he urged himself to calm down, restraining his emotions.

    Why was everyone around him so determined to piss him off? What god was testing the limits of his patience? He decided to focus, instead, on the orc sitting right across him.

    "Karra, I have been assigned by the King to be the mayor of Carleon city at the border. Would you and your orcs be willing to follow me there?"

    The female orc quickly ced her fist over her chest. "Yes, we will. All the tribe will follow you."

    "Good."

    On the other hand, a strange expression had umted on Uriel''s pudgy face.

    Tristan sighed, growing more exasperated at him by the second. "What is it?"

    "Sir Tristan, I advise against it. The Carleon residence has been known to pick more fights with orcs than the Erantell. Youing to town with them in tow will only bring panic and cause the people to revolt."

    "Good advice," Tristan said. If these were the facts, then it was probably true that bringing the orcs along with him would only endanger both sides. But only if it were true.

    "Karra, you should stille, just you first for now. We will decide on the others afterwards; do you have someone else to take care of the tribe while you''re gone?"

    Karra nodded. She excuses herself by going outside for a moment and returned bringing four orcs with her. All of them were orc champions. This surprised him greatly.

    From what he could remember, from the three orc champions from before, one was killed in battle and there were only two champions left. Where did these other twoe from?

    Understanding the confusion that was apparent in Tristan''s expression, Karra introduced him to the two new champions who would lead the tribe in her absence.

    "These two are the new evolved orcs."

    One was heavy set, towering above them with a straight face, gripping an axe tightly. Tristan noticed that one of his ears was missing. The other was far smaller in stature, indicating his young age.

    His mind wandered once more, pondering on who these two new champions were.

 Chapter 166 - Back Together

    All orcs looked somehow simr, but Tristan''s eyes were glued to the two new champions. He recognized them as two of the bravest warriors who fought next to him in thest battle against barbarians.

    Now, they seem to have grownrger, with impressive muscles all over their body, and longer, more curved teeth.

    Sensing Tristan''s stare, Karra exined that this was the reason why all orcs love battle. The more bloody and dangerous the battle they are facing, the higher chance they would reach the peak of their body and evolve.

    From gretchin, to grunts, champion and warchief these are their growth. The more Tristan learned about these green creatures, the more fascinated he became.

    Tristan then decided to choose the one ear orc as Karra''s recement. The reason was simply being the most fearsome looking and having a recognizable figure.

    "I now call you One-ear"

    With One ear to take over the camp, Karra could then follow him to the new town.

    Before Tristan was able to continue his exnation, he saw someone raise their hand.

    "Me! Me! I wille too!" Said none other than the purple-haired fire magician.

    When he saw Herrera''s enthusiasm, he couldn''t help but have some mixed feelings about bringing her. Anyone could see that she''s a little wrong in the head, and she might potentially cause some problems for him down the road. But then, on the other hand, she possessed a deep loyalty for him, something very hard toe by in this world.

    Serene gave Tristan a look about the situation. In response, Tristan merely smiled and said.

    "Okay, Herrera. You maye." Tristan nodded, and the purple-haired magician replied with a genuine, gleeful smile. It was clear that she was ted to be epted.

    "What about you, Seth?"

    Seth was not strong, and to be honest, he''s a little bit cowardly. But, they had gone through a difficult time together, and Tristan had seen how he can be dependable in a moment of need.

    With the responsibility of managing a town in front of him, Tristan needed all the help he could get.

    "Think about it, Seth. I will be assigned as a town mayor. This time It should be an easy and rxing task" Tristan said, trying to convince him.

    To his surprise, Seth epted the offer faster than he thought.

    "Very good, Seth. Wee aboard."

    Seth was excited, it appears he thought that the months of betting his life on adventures was over. He thought he really could reap the benefits from Tristan''s new position. Maybe a position as the head of the guard or maybe a minister. But unfortunately, Tristan was only thinking of the many ways to squeeze every drop of sweat from this poor guy.

    Tristan then nced at Astrid, quite satisfied that his skill was still potent enough to affect the woman for more than a month, even as they spent quite some time apart. Tristan knows Astrid was a Barbarian captain and definitely has a role in his future fight.

    When all was settled, The mayor finally said.

    "Alright, I wish you all a good and sessful journey."

    Surprisingly Tristan give him a confused look

    "Oh, why did you say that?" said Tristan with a wicked smile.

    The fat elf suddenly could feel a shiver went down his spine. He quickly has a bad feeling about this.

    "Uriel, you will definitely being with me," said Tristan

    Seeing the wicked smile and how serious Tristan was, a drop of sweat went down his forehead.

    "I see... Haha¡­ you must be joking right?"

    Tristan ignores him and this time he talked to Barry, the Errantel young captain.

    "I am sorry, Barry. Please just do this for me for three months, and I will forgive everything you ever did"

    Barry was shocked as he somehow understood what Tristan was about to do to him. Left with no choice, he nodded, epting his fate.

    Within a few seconds, wisps of red mist appeared from all over his body and entered Barry''s mouth, nose, and ears.

    [Blood Seal]

    Everyone just stared at it quietly. They knew what Tristan was doing, including Uriel. The fat elf gritted his teeth, with trembling legs and wide eyes. He braves himself to say.

    "Tristan¡­!! The king said-, no, you are not allowed! To use that skill"

    Tristan calmly respond with a smile

    "Lord Uriel, the king, gave me such a short deadline. If I would be judged afterward, I need to make sure I gave him my best performance, don''t I?"

    After the red mists were fully inside Barry, Tristan nced at the mayor with a wicked smile.

    The fat elf became even more panicked. He didn''t realize that this ounder elf was going to be this crazy. Without wasting time, he put his hands in his pockets and fished out a small ck stone about the size of his palm. The stone shone under the light and reflected a purplish glow.

    "I have a god stone here! Don''t waste your energy; your skills won''t affect me!"

    Tristan chuckled, not scared at all by the fat elf''s attempt at threats. Even without the god stone, he has no n to blood seal the elf.

    The mayor kept his eyes trained at Tristan as he stepped bit by bit towards the entrance, but right as he was close to freedom, he bumped onto the 4 orc champions standing guard on his path.

    He once again looked at Tristan begging

    "Please, please¡­ I know you are a cultured person¡­"

    "Don''t worry, it will only be for just a month," Tristan answered calmly, repeating all Uriel''s words before.

    That was thest thing Uriel heard before someone hit the back of his head. He slumped to the hard floor, unconscious.

    Serene stared at Tristan with a concerned expression. But, yet again, Tristan gave a cryptic smile and said.

    "Don''t worry, I''m not going to hurt him¡­just think of it as I am helping him."

    Serene raised her eyebrows in surprise. "In which way are you helping him?"

    Tristan chuckled when he arrived at the perfect answer.

    "I''m going to make him thinner¡­ Hehehe."

    Tristan actually had kept this idea in the back of his mind since Uriel rejected his offer. Now that Uriel was inside ''his'' camp, kidnapping him will be as easy as taking candy from a kid.

    As for Barry, he made sure that the mayor''s most trusted guard captain would inform all Erantell ministers about the mayor''s sudden vacation.

    Now that his team was set, it is time to go to Carleon City

 Chapter 167 - Thugs

    It wasn''t hard to smuggle the mayor out of the camp with only 10 Erantell guards surrounding the area and with Barry the captain exining the situation.

    Even when several guards saw the mayor''s unconscious body in tow, with Tristan and Serene being there, they didn''t dare to intervene despite their suspicions.

    The group of seven, plus one when counting the copsed figure they were hauling behind them, pulled a cart out of the camp and began to head southwest.

    A few hours into the journey, Tristan suddenly heard a scream.

    Uriel, the Erantell mayor, just awoke from his slumber with a jolt. He sat up ramrod straight and looked around, his eyes erged in fear.

    "Took you long enough to wake up, Uriel."

    The fat elf scanned his surroundings, his eyes darting around. He had found himself in some kind of small, wooden cart pulled by horses. He realized what Tristan had done to him and quickly panicked.

    "You¡­! The king will know about this!"

    Tristan pulled the reins on his horse tighter, letting it move closer to the cart. With a smile, he turned around to look at the mayor.

    "Uriel, I did ask you nicely, but you didn''t listen."

    "Of course I won''t listen, you are no better than a thug! What are you nning to do to me?!"

    "Shhh¡­" Tristan shushed him in a falsely soothing manner. Though there seemed to be no venom in his voice, there was still something condescending about it, as though Tristan was chastising a child.

    "Uriel, I only want you to help for the first month. I am sure the king will appreciate it. I need you to tutor and advise me things about being a mayor. Just for a month."

    Tristan spoke in a friendly manner and his tone was pleasant, but each time he even moved a finger, the fat elf looked like he was going to jump out of his skin from pure fear right then and there. His clothes had begun to dampen from sweat.

    "Please, Uriel." Tristan twitched his finger once more, a clear warning not to test his patience. "I am so desperate here¡­ You will help me, right?"

    Uriel was not convinced. In response, he merely grumbled under his breath.

    Tristan sighed passively. "I don''t think I can do it without your help¡­ Do you want to see another elf mayor dying here, Uriel?"

    Tristan said it in such a way that others might think he was speaking about himself, but the mayor knew all too well that he was being implicitly threatened.

    The fat elf turned towards Serene and gave her a pleading gaze, but Serene simply pulled harder at the reins of her horse, making it gallop faster and move further away from the cart.

    "I know you are a smart guy, Uriel. Give me a number for one month of your time."

    Uriel went silent for a moment. "100 gold coins."

    "Done! For a hundred gold coins, you will stay with me for three months!"

    Uriel''s eyes widened to the size of saucers. He had expected Tristan to try and deceive him, but not to the extent of outright lying to his face.

    "No, no! I can''t leave my town for three months! That''s not possible. 1 month is the most I could do."

    "Alright then, it will be thirty gold coins. Thank you, Uriel."

    The mayor''s mouth gaped open, prepared to retaliate, but Tristan cut him off.

    "Let this be the beginning of a good rtionship between us and between the two neighboring town"

    Tristan certainly did not have 30 gold coins, nor did he have any idea as to how he would acquire them, but he couldn''t care less. If he wasn''t able to get that amount, he could just change the terms again. But right now he will make sure the fat elf will help him for a month.

    Tristan smiled to himself wickedly on the fact that he now had an experienced mayor to help him.

    When dusk began to fall and the sky had darkened, they decided to take a break.

    Herrera viewed this as an opportunity to get closer to Tristan, who she was itching to talk to ever since they left the campsite. She immediately gravitated towards him the moment their cart stopped.

    Tristan saw it as an opportunity of a different kind. With a fire magician travelling among them? He took it as a chance to discuss with her the fire spells he had just purchased. He would even be able to try them out tonight, since he now had a critical eye to assess his abilities.

    It took him a few minutes to be able to cast the tier [Heat Detection] spells. The spells worked simrly to Katra where he could sense specific energies around him; in this case, it was heat. Tristan tried it out with [10 Blood Essence], and as a result, he was able to detect living beings as far as 500 meters away from him.

    Most of them wererge, warm-blooded mammals that generally emitted more heat. Smaller animals such as birds or rabbits were much harder to sense.

    One interesting thing he learned was that he just realized he could somewhat control the strength of his spells. With half of the number blood essence, he could still perceive to use the spell with a shorter range. This definitely opened up a way to cast his spells more efficiently. It wasn''t easy, but he was sure he could master it.

    The Tier 3 spells were a different story. He had examined the scroll several times, even asking for Herrera''s help now and again, but it was still going to take him a few more tries to be able to cast them.

    Each time he called on her for assistance, the female magician acted overly intimate with him. She was always standing too close, her touches always lingering just a bit longer than they were supposed to.

    Tristan realized that Serene had been paying special attention to Herrera''s behavior, and he could feel her eyes burning through his back whenever it happened. But honestly, Tristan was still unsure what the elf wanted from him. Maybe this would finally urge her to be more open towards him.

    When dawn arrived, the group continued their journey.

    Carleon was located exactly on the border between the Evergreen Forest and the Chaotic ins.

    Tristan can see the changing of the terrains, a lush forest on his right and dry yellownds on his left.

    The sun had just begun to set, and the cool evening air started to nip on their skin. They were closing in on the town.

    Carleon Town was much rougher in appearance. The houses possessed a much simpler structure, but were more sturdy with walls that spanned across a distance.

    As they drew nearer, they could hear the noises of people doing their final chores for the day before presumably heading home.

    After passing through a few farms, the group of eight finally arrived at the gate.

    The sound of their horses'' hooves trotting across the pavement caught the attention of the guards, and they were halted right in front of the gate.

    The man leading the guards was burly, dark skinned, and fully armored. Uriel had mentioned that his name was Gazef. A sword was strapped onto his waist, and mped over its hilt was a hand riddled with scars, a small testament to the battles he endured in the past. He introduced himself as the head of Carleon Town''s guards.

    Uriel responded by greeting him and bringing Tristan forward.

    "Captain Gazef, this is Carleon''s new mayor, Lord Tristan of the Vanyar elves."

    Tristan and Gazef''s eyes met, and the man nodded in respectful greeting. Or at least, that was what he pretended to do.

    Tristan tried to scan him quickly so he could understand who exactly he would be dealing with there.

    [Human ¨C Male]

    [Battle power ¨C 110]

    [Spirit force ¨C 30]

    So, it seemed the man was not bluffing. Tristan had to admit that he was very strong, at least as strong as thebat experts of the Kingsde. He checked the blood seal sess rate with his scanner.

    [Blood seal : 1400 blood essence needed]

    [Sess rate: 29%]

    A part of him was interested in trying to obtain another powerful warrior as one of his underlings, but another part of him knew that his blood essence was limited, and currently there was no way to replenish it. He would have to wait.

    "Tristan, with the death of the mayor, he will be your go-to guy." Uriel exined.

    "Lord Tristan, what is it you wish to do first?" The burly man said, bowing slightly.

    Tristan thought about it for a moment. "Just gather up as many of the residents as possible, as I want to see them for myself¡­"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 168 - Caerleon

    Caerleon Town

    Number of residents: 5213

    Guards: 193

    Adventurers: 82

    Average daily visitors: 39

    Main upation: Miner

    This was the data that Uriel yapped endlessly into his ear as they walked through the town. The half elf quickly exined to him the meaning of these numbers.

    In regards to the poption, it could be said that the town had the least amount of residents inparison to the 30 other Arcadian towns. For instance, Erantell, which was also a border town, had three times the poption of Caerleon.

    In analyzing these statistics, Uriel admitted that he was quite shocked. This was because just a few weeks ago, the town had almost 10,000 residents and over 500 guards.

    It was evident that the numbers had depleted considerably. It appeared that the recent attack by the Barbarians heavily affected them. Aside from those who lost their lives, many of the citizens decided to migrate to the north.

    On this particr day, as requested, Commander Gafez herded all the residents together, instructing them to gather at the town center.

    The situation was more troublesome than they thought. Approaching the town center, muchmotion had already begun to erupt in the streets.

    Densely packed all around them, Tristan could see the faces of the townspeople seething with hatred. Curses and insults of all kinds were spewed like poison at their group. Tristan flinched as he dodged a piece of rotten fruit that was aimed at his face.

    "What the hell is happening?!" Seth eximed. He was obviously very agitated; he wasn''t exactly expecting a warm wee, but this was definitely not what he expected to happen.

    The shouting was only amplified when they realized a female orc was walking among them. Their words became more vulgar, their tones more aggressive. Even groups of children had begun to join in, flinging spoiled produce while taunting them cruelly.

    While Uriel stayedpletely silent, his eyes did the talking for him. He nced at Tristan with a pompous look that seemed to say, "I told you so."

    Tristan didn''t bother to react against the anger and the jeering; after all, he was used to these things. But deep inside, he still cursed the King for giving him such a task.

    After pushing past the throng of angry citizens, the group was finally able to reach the town center. Including the guards, around 3000 of the town''s citizens gathered for the sudden assembly.

    The other half who did note were still hard at work, backs bent towards the beating sun as they farmed and mined in other sites. At the very least, though, they had their rtives to represent them and their households. Immediately, the yelling began. Most of the townspeople took this as an opportunity to voice their grievances to the new ''person in charge''. Various shouted demands andints ovepped one another.

    As Tristan towered over them on the raised stage, seeing their impoverished faces and run-down appearances huddled together in one ce felt somewhat jarring to him. He was rather taken aback at how much worse they looked in contrast to the Erantell citizens. Their clothes were evidently more worn, and their shriveled bodies seemed to be malnourished and weak.

    "Lord Tristan, they''ve all arrived. Are you prepared to address them now?" Asked Gafez, breaking his train of thought.

    "Yes. But, Uriel, you will need to introduce me first."

    This was Uriel''s first critical task. The reason why Tristan needed to kidnap him in the first ce.

    As the current mayor of Erantell, Uriel''s introduction would contribute greatly to his credibility, something he greatly needed since he was technically a nobody.

    Tristan even asked Uriel to say some extra words and tell a few anecdotes to boost his image, such as that he singlehandedly stopped ten thousand barbarians, or how he was favored by the King himself.

    The murmurs of displeasure and suspicion that had rippled through the crowd before now dissolved into hums of approval. It seemed that they were impressed; these words went a long way to improve the residents'' perception of their new mayor. Speaking of which, it was Tristan''s turn next. He walked towards the podium and cleared his throat. His voice boomed over the hordes of townspeople below him, who were now listening intently.

    "Citizens of Caerleon, I am Tristan, your new Mayor. I have heard your pleas! Rest assured, now that I am here all your problems will be my problems, and I will see to it that they are solved within theing month! You have my promise!"

    That was it. Just one sentence and Tristan descended from the podium. Uriel was at a loss for words. He had just spent half an hour reciting his speech, emphasizing the various triumphs the new mayor had aplished, while Tristan himself only spoke for about a minute.

    But what had surprised him even more was the fact that the crowd had broken out in a thunderous apuse, smiles emerging on their weather-beaten faces. Smiles of hope.

    Uriel had been a mayor for 12 years; he had seen men in positions of powere and go. But for the first time in quite a while, he was impressed. It was a rare gift to gain poprity so easily among the people. Despite his callous nature, this elf really did have a talent with the masses.

    When Tristan walked back to the group, Gafez seemed indifferent and provided noment. His arms were crossed and his expression remained stoic. Serene, however, was frowning.

    "How could you make such a promise!" She eximed, hands on her hips.

    "Because... I can." Tristan answer with a wicked smile.

    Truthfully Tristan had no confidence that he was able to keep this promise; in fact, he didn''t even know what their problems were. He just knew that under such deste conditions, what these people needed first was hope.

    The first impression was what really mattered. He needed to first convince them that he was the man for the job. Whether or not he would actually be able to do it was a problem forter.

    This was basically the ybook of all the politicians in America and most part of the world.

    Thanks to Uriel''s generous retellings of all his good qualities and achievements, he had already seeded in this first step. What he needed to aplish next was an implementation of order and control.

    When he returned to the pce-like Townhall, a group of people approached him

    "Lord Tristan!" Eximed a group of voices in unison.

    A group of citizens wearing clean and luxurious clothes rushed forward to greet him.

 Chapter 169 - Problems

    Now that he had spoken with the masses, as expected this group of people showed up.

    A dozen men came and expressed their wish to see him. Galfez exined that those people are prominent figures of the town. The store owner,ndowner, and gold-ranked adventurers stood among them.

    Uriel took a brief nce at them and whispered to him that they are the heart that pumps the blood to this town. If he wants any chance to seed in his mission, it is vital to be able to work with them.

    However, despite Uriel''s sincere attempt, Tristan merely smiled. "Really interesting terms you used there, Uriel. I think I like you even more now."

    The fat elf frowned at Tristan''s reaction. It was clear that he didn''t take his warning seriously.

    "Wee, wee all." Tristan gave the best smile he could muster. It appears that he decided to start acting as a mayor, and now one of his responsibilities is hosting the town meeting.

    Among the group, Tristan could see three elders, each wearing extravagant clothes lined with beautiful, glittering ornaments. Their attire made them stand out amongst the rowdy crowd and their voice was loud for their age.

    It appears that the root of this town''s problem has shown itself.

    They arend owners of this city, and all of them spoke about one main problem.

    "Orcs!" One elder spoke, while ncing at the female orc standing next to him.

    "These orcs have been attacking us every so often and killing our citizens!" Another man added.

    Tristan rubbed his forehead. All these people said the same things, their rants all a variation of how orcs messed up theirnds and stole their resources. It seems that all these people believed the orcs to be the source of their problems, and with them gone, all the people who fled would return, and their city would flourish again.

    Tristan took some time to cast a brief nce to Karra who stood not far from him. To his relief, she didn''t show a single care at all.

    "My lord, please, we hope to believe the words you just said before. Please help us get rid of all of these orcs. Over there you can see Connor, the town hero and he knows all of the orcs'' camp." One viger said and pointed somewhere behind him.

    "Hero?" Tristan said in his mind and nced at the direction the viger pointed at. He saw a blond haired brawny man he remembered as the golden badge adventurer from Carleon

    "Yes, My Lord." Another viger added. "Connor managed to y an orc chief a few months ago. He is a proud Carleon hero, and we all have nothing but gratitude for him.

    Tristan quickly used his system to check the strength of this ''hero''.

    [Human]

    [Battle Power: 112]

    [Spirit Force: 163]

    Well, he had to give credit where credit is due. This unted ''hero'' apparently has the strength to back it up. He has better stats than Galfez, the veteran head guard. Even better, his stats are simr to Serene and some other top disciples of the Vanyar. For a human to be able reach such strength, his confidence was not baseless.

    As for Tristan, he had disliked the man since the first time their eyes met. Admittedly, his reason was petty. It was simply because the golden rank adventurer has a figure and charisma that reminds him of the bastard King of Arcadia.

    All of these reports show how the citizens seemed to have so many reasons for hating the orcs, considering how they quickly demanded the new mayor to eradicate the orc camps in the vicinity.

    To test the waters, Tristan decided to ask about the possibility of having an agreement with the orcs, but the group responded with outrage.

    Other than the orcs, they also talked about the rampant thieving and brawling on the streets. These expressed the dire condition of city public order and security.

    Finally, the crowd expressed their concern for the barbarians'' base. Being the southernmost town, they have to live in constant fear of barbarian attacks.

    Thest attack was, fortunately, able to be repelled only by the help of the soldiers from Erantell and the capital city now that they were already gone, the people once more in constant worry.

    The few dozen people gave Tristan a piece of their mind before they left.

    After making sure no one was left there, Tristan started asking questions to the head guard.

    Galfez exined how the continuous battle with the orcs and barbarians killed more town guards than they could train. There were also many who left their post and ran up north with their family. As a result, they did not have enough manpower to cover all the sites.

    The situation forces them to hire adventurers for help. It was the adventurers who were allocated to protect the surrounding Carleon city so the remaining guards could focus on the public safety of the town.

    Uriel also added that the public order was in critical condition due to the loss of so many guards. The fat elf suggested for Tristan to forget about his n to bring his orc warrior to the town as it will further increase the citizen outrage.

    As for the barbarians, after theirtest invasion, they have taken one of the port towns just half a day away from Carleon town.

    Previously They thought the barbarians would return home after their failed attempt, but it has been a month, and spies still mentioned activity within the ruined town. It seems they have set up a base in the ce.

    On top of all these problems, there was also the murderous case of the mayor. Not surprisingly, it was reported that the previous mayor died during his visit to one of the mines. They believed it was the orcs who killed him.

    All these problems had be his, and Tristan once again cursed the Arcadian king.

    Noticing this, Serene nced at him and smirked.

    "So, do you regret promising to the citizens, now?"

 Chapter 170 - Delegate

    Afterwards, Gafez introduced him to half a dozen people who were the mayor''s previous assistants. They were the ones who helped the mayor with all the administrative work.

    One of them moved forward and pushed a polished wooden chest into Tristan''s arms.

    "Lord Tristan, now that you are the new mayor, here we are handing to you now the town coffers."

    Tristan went ahead and opened the chest with a key given by the assistant.

    When he lifted its trunk, there were at least 100 gold coins and dozens of silver ones.

    "I''m rich!" He eximed silently to himself.

    With these coins, Tristan was finally able to find the silver linings in his current situation. The exasperation he previously felt towards this unwanted position had finally begun to fade.

    It was then, Uriel suddenly decided to cut in.

    "Sir¡­ Ermm... actually That number normally wouldn''t be enough to cover even one month of the town''s expenditures"

    The fat elf''s sentence quickly crushed Tristan few seconds of happiness.

    The assistants also handed over boxes full of parchments, within which resided the town ledgers.

    Tristan nced at Uriel and he started to open one of the ledgers which showed him pages upon pages of numbers, which supposedly represented all the ie and expenditures of the town.

    Looking at the ledgers, Tristan knew that at the end of the day, managing the town would all depend on money.

    Fortunately, Tristan came prepared. This was exactly the main reason why Uriel was here. Although he did learn ounting andmerce in school back on earth, he had no knowledge on half of the items written in the ledgers.

    Once again, Tristan was overwhelmed, and he started to feel another headache brewing.

    "Uriel, this will be your task. Please check if the numbers are right first and we can talk about itter."

    Tristan concluded that the main thing he needed to aplish was the improvement of the town''s condition; their security, the citizens'' wellbeing, and finally, their pockets.

    For the situation to start exhibiting positive growth, Tristan needed to fix all the previously mentioned issues. He wanted to get this over with as soon as he could toplete the King''s test for him.

    But at the end of the next three months, personally, his main goal was still to increase his strength.

    That bastard king could always change the terms of the test for all he knew. Tristan believed that the only way for him to bepletely free from that king was by strengthening himself.

    He had the items he found in the ship to inspect, as well as new spells to learn. Ultimately, to really increase his strength Tristan needed more blood, a huge amount of it.

    As far as his goals as mayor and the town''s problems went, he knew that it was best to tackle them one at a time. He didn''t want to make any hasty decisions that would jeopardize his freedom.

    To make these all to work within such a short time.given, Tristan needs to start bing an effective leader. Which meant the delegation of tasks.

    For the town administration, obviously, the task was being delegated to Uriel. His job was to audit the ledgers and to make sure all the information written is true. All the six assistants will be answering to the fat elf for this.

    The town''s thieving problem and general security, he had Seth apany the head guard Gafez. His task will be to be his eyes and ears on the situation with the people and checking on the condition of the town guard.

    To handle the orc issue, his first choice would definitely be Karra. She would go andmunicate with the orcs and figure out the reason behind their attacks.

    As for the barbarians, Astrid was the best candidate to gather intel. Determining their exact numbers and figuring out their intentions will be her task.

    Chieng and Hererra would stay with him to explore those new space knights weapons and the fire spells trianing, Finally, Tristan was left with his lovely wife to check on the Mines.

    "I am sure you will do an amazing job, Serene."

    The female elf nodded silently, and with that, all the tasks were ounted for.

    Once more, he announced to his group, "Please return with whatever you have aplished in three days."

    With the delegation of tasks in order, his shoulders rxed. His load seemed much lighter now.

    The day has been long and the night hase, it''s time for them to get rest.

    There was currently no residence prepared for the New mayor, so Tristan and the others were only able to stay in the rooms avable in the town hall.

    A handful of assistants readily weed them, having prepared their rooms along with fresh, warm robes and towels. These things seemed like such luxuries, especially after what seemed like a long past few days of continuous movement.

    The group then walked towards a long corridor where all the rooms were.

    When Tristan arrived at his room, he suddenly thought about where Serene was going to be sleeping. After all It was a normal thing for a husband and wife to sleep together, wasn''t it?

    He nces towards Serene while standing in front of the first room

    Tristan hadn''t intended to make such a big deal out of it, but as soon as his eyes met hers, he seemed unable to ask. His pride would not let him.

    Serene also appeared to be thinking the same thing. For a moment, they were locked in an intense, unrelenting stare-down.

    Finally, Serene decided not to join and ask for another room, it was this time when suddenly, they heard footsteps walking in their direction.

    It was the purple haired beauty Hererra, making a beeline straight towards Tristan. She skipped past Serene as though she wasn''t even there. She shamelessly approached him, cing an overly friendly hand on his chest, before asking him the same question as before with an air of false innocence.

    "The beds here are awfully cold, Sir Tristan. I can apany you tonight if you want," she said with a flirtatious smile.

    Tristan saw that the aloof look on Serene''s face had abruptly changed. He held back a smirk; the situation had suddenly be very amusing for him.

    Tristan stepped closer to Hererra, touching her shoulder lightly. This gesture was not lost on Serene; she was watching him like a hawk, and at this moment her gaze noticeably sharpened.

    "It''s really up to my wife now, Hererra," he said with a pleasant, good-natured smile.

    Tristan then turned back towards Serene, a grin still stered on his face.

    "So, will you apany me tonight, wife?"

    This was the first time Hererra had heard anything about this matter. Her jaw dropped open in shock, and her mouth was agape.

    "Your¡­ Wife?" The fire magician sputtered inplete disbelief.

    "Yup, newlyweds. Married justst week."

    The fire magician seemed devastated for a second as her expression crumpled. Serene''s cold stare shifted slightly and she was unconsciously d at Tristan''s words. However, after a moment, Herrera straightened her posture and piped up yet again.

    "I¡­ I don''t care, Sir Elf. You can make me your second, I don''t mind."

    Tristan''s eyes bulged in surprise; this girl really was crazy. He was utterly speechless. He was beginning to wonder if he had unknowingly used his blood seal on her.

    Apparently, Serene was just as stunned; when Tristan looked in her direction, herplexion had paled considerably. She looked like she was about to throw up. Or strangle someone.

    It was an absolutely ridiculous request, and yet the purple haired magician stared at him with crossed arms and a serious expression, waiting for his answer. Her brow was furrowed expectantly. Really, what the hell was wrong with this girl?

    Serene was irritated hearing Tristan take so long to respond. Realizing Tristan nced towards her, it was tranted by the elf princess as if Tristan was asking for permission.

    "Go ahead! Do whatever you want!"

    Tristan was annoyed. What does this elf want? He did choose her over the female magician. But why did she still have to be angry? Tristan was furious. He definitely couldn''t ept such treatment from her. He also replied, anger in his voice.

    "Fine, Herrera, yes! I will be needing another hot steamy lesson tonight!" He said heatedly, still staring in the elf''s direction.

    Serene only turned silent and walked out leaving the two.

    Tristan really hated this, apparently, both girls were crazy

    When he turned, he realized Herrera was already inside his room,ying on his bed, waiting with anticipation.

    Honestly, the moment he looked at her only made Tristan lose interest. He also knew that making a move at her now would only create more drama that he definitely did not need.

    Tristan smiled at her with false pleasantness, and said,

    "I''ll see you in the morning. Then"

    Tristan closed the door behind him and walked towards a different room. Leaving the girl gasp and confused.

 Chapter 171 - Fire Magic

    The next day, Tristan finally could have some time for himself. All the others were busy doing the task given by him.

    As he nned before, he used the time to meet up with Chieng and Herrera.

    The whole way, Herrera sometimes huffed and scowled. It was clear that she was somehow still annoyed with what he didst night. But the moment Tristan realized it, he decided not to care. To be honest, her feelings are thest thing on his mind right now.

    Today, there are two things to do. Check out the space knights'' salvaged items, and learn fire magic.

    Chieng approached and gave Tristan a ring. This was Serene''s storage ring, the one that stores all of the space knight items.

    When he saw the ring, something suddenly filled his mind.

    He somehow regrets sending Serene to check the mines by herself, and even though she is a powerful Valkyrie, the mines had imed the previous mayor''s life. He had reasons to be concerned.

    "Chieng, listen to my order."

    After considering the risks, Tristan decided to postpone his ns with Chieng, and he told the space knight to go seek and apany Serene on her task. Without too much fuss, Chieng epted the new order and left the room.

    Herrera smiled when she saw it, but this time, her smile was sincere. There was neither hint of malice nor mischief in her gaze.

    "I knew it! You are a decent man. What a lucky girl, I like you even more now."

    Tristan merely ignore her, knowing that his attempt to rebuke her would just result in more teasing. The two went to the town hall yard, and he picked a spot with a smooth, wide rock that can be used as a seat. He sat there, concentrated, and started to practice.

    The process was a new experience for Tristan. The idea behind this practice was to absorb the enchanted scroll, gain the necessary knowledge, and learn the rest by practicing.

    Tier one spells were pretty easy. In a sense, it felt simr to a breathing exercise, where you merely need to be mindful of your movements and you would be fine.

    However, the same can''t be said for the tier 3 spells. It was much moreplicated.

    Herrera taught him the way she normally did the spells herself. During her time as an adventurer, she had managed to master the tier 3 [Fireball] spell herself.

    The fire magician exined that in order to use spells, one needs to channel their energy into their spirit core, a conceptual part of one''s body that helps in the conversion between energy into the desired spell. Everyone with potential for magic possesses spirit energy, and the color would be different depending on what element they have the potential to learn. In Tristan''s case, he has a good affinity to fire, so the spirit energy would be red.

    "Spirit core? Red-colored spirit energy?"

    Tristan stared at Herrera, puzzled with her exnation.

    The purple-haired woman ced her hand on the center of his chest and on his right hand. She told him to channel all his energy onto those spots, and when the energy had coalesced, the chant would be amand for the spell''s release.

    He concentrated and decided to do as Herrera said. After hours of unsessful attempts, Tristan finally felt the so-called core. But surprisingly, it was not on the center of his chest. The core was located a little to the left, right where his heart was.

    As soon as he managed to sense the core, heat pooled just above the palm of his hand, and his tion made him forget such a trivial difference.

    "Yeah, congrattions! You did it!" The fire magician cheered.

    But, the next information that came to his mind disturbed him.

    [100 blood essence used]

    He stared at the number in shock. He couldn''t believe he needed that much essence for a single tier 3 spell. Unfortunately, he still had to waste this amount for practice.

    Casually, he threw the fireballs, and it hit the huge rock ced as an ornament to decorate the yard. Unexpectedly, the huge rock exploded, raining shards of burning rocks all over the yard and creating a heated shockwave strong enough to blow Herrera a few steps back.

    The ce went from pristine to looking like it was hit by a missile. Offensive spells that can blow up things really hard give him a great feeling.

    "Oh my god! Sir Tristan, that was the strongest fireball I have ever seen."

    To prove her point, Herrera cast her own tier 3 [Fireball] spell towards another huge rock on the yard. The fireball exploded, but the rock merely cracked slightly.

    Hererra also mentioned that an Aptitude B fire magician would take weeks to master the spells when he can do it in hours was amazing indeed.

    Now that he had learned the [fireball] spell, Tristan realized that the writing on the scroll he bought disappeared. Next he could start learning the second tier 3 spell, [Fire Aura].

    Again, Tristan concentrated, and he imagined a shroud of red energy nketing his body. Sweat started to wet his body due to the concentration, and a few times, he had to stop to wipe the sweat off his brow. The sun had started to set, and the cool twilight air helped him to rx, but he refused to budge. His duty for today has not finished.

    All of a sudden, his body started to emit a warm, reddish light.

    [125 Blood Essence consumed]

    "What the fuck?!" Tristan opened his eyes, unable to resist the urge to express his anger.

    He cursed the crazy requirements for blood essence, something he couldn''t yet get vast quantities of in a short time. But, the next notification brought the smile back to his face.

    [You gained a boost in speed]

    [You gained a boost in strength]

    [Your body gained a high resistance to fire element spells]

    [Battle power increased by 20]

    [Current battle power: 220]

    Now, this is a very useful spell indeed.

 Chapter 172 - Coins

    Satisfied with the fact that he had just learned two spells, Tristan celebrated his sess with a sumptuous dinner.

    With everyone else busy with their respective tasks, the celebratory meal had suddenly turned into a romantic dinner between him and the woman who had helped him with the spells. At least that''s how Hererra felt about it. After witnessing such a significant achievement for Tristan, she was convinced that their bond had strengthened as well. She felt that the moment she shared with him was private and special, and was so ted that she didn''t stop smiling the whole night.

    The fire magician''s affection towards Tristan couldn''t be more obvious.

    The girl was very beautiful indeed, and it would be a lie if Tristan didn''t feel attracted to her. Actually, there was one question in Tristan''s mind that he wanted to find the answer to.

    Since he already knew Katra, he wondered if he was able to do it with non-elves, and whether or not that would be the key to receiving the release he needed.

    But until he knew what exactly his marriage meant in this world, he couldn''t afford to be careless. He refused to be the kind of man who only thought with his penis.

    When the dinner ended, it was Uriel, the fat elf, who came to see him. Apparently, he had just finished auditing the ledgers. Although it was already quitete into the night, Tristan thought that if the issue was about money, it should probably not be left waiting.

    Monthly Ie

    Farms: 32 coins

    Mining: 202 coins

    Traders: 15 coins

    Others: 5 coins

    Total: 254 coins

    Monthly expenditures

    Kings tribute: 52 coins

    Wages: 60 coins

    Maintenance: 29 coins

    Other expenditures: 305 coins

    Total: 446 coins

    Total coffers: 129 coins

    "What the fuck!"

    Tristan''s outrage came from the total loss of 192 gold coins at the end of the month. Aligning exactly with what Uriel said, with the 129 coins that they had today, Tristan was still supposed to figure out how they were going to get an additional 63 coins to make up for their losses.

    The fat elf added, "You must know, that figure still does not include my 30 coins." A sheepish smile was stered on his face.

    Tristan felt a nerve twitch. Once more, he forced himself to calm his rage and asked Uriel to exin how the system worked.

    As ie, the town takes 60% of the profit made by the citizens. For example, this past month, the farms produced 32 coins, meaning that they were expected to make 50 coins worth of grains and other agricultural products.

    It was the same with the mining. Carleon had arger poption of miners than farmers, and most miners worked in groups as opposed to just individuals. The 202 monthly coins made was the result of taxation collected from three different mine owners.

    60% of this ie will then contribute to the capital as big as 20% to the overall revenue, while the remaining 40% will be set aside for the town''s expenditure needs.

    Scanning the ledgers intently, Tristan thought that the current numbers were actually rather logical. That was, of course, with the exception of the "Other Expenditures", which had apparently cost them 305 coins this month alone.

    When asked what such a massive amount of money would go towards, Uriel exins, "201 gold coins will go to the 201 families whose members were the town guards who died in thest battle, acting aspensation for their losses. As for the rest, most of it was set aside to pay off mercenaries."

    Tristan could understand thepensation for the fallen soldiers, but 104 gold coins for mercenaries? Monthly? That was crazily high. He only became more annoyed when found out that the total was only for 40 adventurers.

    "Three gold adventurers cost 30 coins, the rest who were silver rank adventurers would get 2 coins monthly."

    "That''s a robbery!"

    Uriel sighed. "The town was more desperate than I thought."

    Tristan asked, "So what''s your suggestion, Uriel?"

    "The town only has 192 guards. That amount was barely enough to maintain the collective security of 5000 citizens, especially in a border town like this, where crime rates are far higher than average. My suggestion is to negotiate with the adventurers and ask them if they would allowte payments or pay in terms."

    Tristan replied "The guards cost only 20 silver coins a month while the silver ranked adventurers cost 10 times as much, Uriel! I should just sack those greedy adventurers."

    Uriel advised that the adventurers roughly had the same amount of strength. 40 of them wereparable to 400 guards, not including the gold warrior who was very useful.

    "These guards are not Kingsde, okay! None of them could fight against the orcs'' grunts, much less the champions."

    Uriel suddenly realized that a wicked smile had spread on Tristan''s face. His expression paled as he quickly eximed, "No, no! I am telling you, bringing your orcs here will only bring more trouble than solutions!"

    Tristan hummed in contemtion, feeling a slight satisfaction in agitating the fat elf. "We will see, we will see."

    In the meantime, he considered paying these adventurers a visit and trying to talk to them. He doubted that those greedy bastards would be open topromise, but he had to try.

    The next day, first thing in the morning, to his surprise, Chieng came to see him.

    "What is it, Chieng? Have you finished checking those mines?"

    Chieng answered with an uneasy expression.

    "Master, I apologize, but I have been searching for master Serene all day and unfortunately I can''t find her anywhere. I worried she''s in trouble."

    Tristan''s heart stopped in its tracks, and then began to beat rapidly. This was something he knew he couldn''t be calm about.

    "Damn it! Get the horses, we are going there right now!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 173 - The Mines

    Tristan took Chieng the space knight and Herrera with him before took the horse and rushing towards one of the mines.

    "Sir Tristan, I am sure she is fine! There is no need to rush!" Herrera said, while running behind Tristan.

    "Yes! She better be fine, or I am not sure how to exin this to the queen!"

    Surprisingly they didn''t go to one of the three mines crowded with all the workers. Instead, the space knight brought them to the abandoned one.

    Yesterday, the space knight had gone through the three mines to find out which one Serene went to, only to find out that she already left from all three.

    With the help provided by his imnt ability to tracks, the space knight finally found white tiger tracks leading towards a different mine. He followed it and reached this abandoned one.

    He found out there were too many tunnels inside, and it turned into some kind of maze. In addition, a strong acid smell permeated the ce, making the space knight''s tracking imnts unable to work properly. It took some time to check the ce, in the end, he found nothing.

    As he was unable to fully check theyout of the ce, Chieng decided to wait and see if the female elf woulde out. He had waited until midnight, but there were no signs of her, he then decided to return back and report the situation.

    Now, he had arrived back with Tristan to the said abandoned mine.

    The entrance looked like a massive cavern decorated with pointed glowing crystals. Pieces of rocks could also be seen amongst them, an indication that perhaps, without human intervention, the ce would have copsed long ago.

    Chieng nced at Tristan and politely asked for the ring that holds the space knight''s item. He rubbed the ring and took out a small box written with the name ''Gremlin''.

    Right after the wooden box''s lid was opened, Tristan and Herrera saw a folded device inside, along with a small portableputer. Chieng unfolded it, revealing a one-meter square deviceplete with motors to propel it into the air.

    It was a drone and a portableputer, presumably used to control it.

    At the press of a button, the drone flew up high, and Tristan saw theputer show the map of the area. From the looks of it, the drone works by using something simr to infrared waves to do a geographical scan, creating a rough map of the tunnel.

    Tristan looked at theputer screen and saw dots of glowing light start to appear in the tunnel map. It seems the drone was also equipped with a heat detector, and the scan revealed a spot in the mines that is dense with heat signatures. From the map, it looked like arge chamber filled with heat, certainly a good ce to start.

    "This is very useful, indeed."

    With these items, at least Tristan could conserve a bit of blood essence, as he has no need to cast [Detect Heat] as long as it was usable.

    Chieng exined that the drone could do much more, but Tristan was reminded to find his lost wife first.

    Now that they have the map of the ce and a clear destination, it was only a matter of time until they found the source of the heat. The caverns felt damp and dark, and the acidic smell made Tristan, Herrera, and Chieng scrunch their noses in disgust.

    Herrera snapped her fingers, and a small ball of fire appeared on the tip of her finger before flying towards the torch she held. They decided to go through the tunnel carefully. There was no telling what they would find.

    After walking for a while, Herrera saw a gem the size of her fist embedded on the rock wall. Though the light of the torch was dim, the gem shone brilliantly, orange from the fire reflecting on the purplish crystal.

    "Ah, this is quartz. This is quite valuable." She muttered.

    The group saw a few more quartz before finally reached the chamber as shown on the blueprint.

    Right before they entered, Tristan stopped them

    "This is the ce, and from what I saw, there is supposed to be quite a lot of heat inside. There is no telling what it''sing from, and considering this ce, it could be full of enemies." Tristan stare at Hererar and told her to stand behind him.

    They walked inside, only to see arge empty chamber. The ce was very muddy, and stickyyers of unknown substance clung to the wall. The heat was not from one or multiple people, but from the whole chamber. In other words, the ce itself radiated heat simr to the heat of a living creature.

    "What is this ce¡­?!" Tristan said while pulling his foot from the sticky mud. Afterward, he took a few steps back.

    It was Chieng who quickly responded. "It''s an orc breedingir."

    Surprised, Tristan took careful steps towards one side of the sticky walls and realized there is something like a figure the size of adult size human inside. It was buried, but with enhance, hearing Tristan can tell their pulse.

    From his venture to the orc camp before, he had heard that orcs grow on the ground like mushrooms. This must be what they meant.

    "So, is this a normal thing, then?" Tristan asked.

    Chieng rubbed his chin and answered. "Normally, it''s not this deep, but I think their required depth varies betweens."

    Tristan decided to take a walk through the huge chamber, while minding each step to ensure he wouldn''t get tripped into the deep part of the mud. As he reached the middle of the ce, Chieng used his portableputer to get a more urate scan on the map.

    "There are at least a hundred of them here." Chieng warned.

    A hundred orcs seemed normal, Tristan thought. He nodded at Chieng, and continued to walk around. A messy part in the corner caught his eyes, and he saw that some of the cocoon-like walls had been broken open.

    On the floor, he saw some kind of clear liquid that was still half-dried, but other than that, there was nothing else.

    Chieng walked closer, analyzed the liquid and the cocoons, and concluded that half a dozen cocoons were slit open from the outside, a clear indication that someone forced the orcs to mature faster. He predicted the time of the sabotage to be simr to Serene''s time of visit.

    With the aid of his imnt, he followed the smell of the liquid along with Tristan and Herrera, and they found another set of tracks they quickly followed.

    Tristan walked faster, and after 10 minutes, they managed to reach outside the mines, but from a different entrance.

    "I guess, this means she went out of this entrance, probably following new leads¡­"

    Tristan was about to sigh in relief, until he heard the galloping of horses. He followed the noise and saw a group of riders approaching him atop their horses.

    From their clothing, they seem to be the Caerleon adventurers, and there are at least a dozen of them.

    Their sudden arrival in this ce quickly made Tristan suspicious.

    The horse stopped in front of the three, and one of the riders quickly shouted.

    "Who are you? Why are you here?"

    Another one of them quickly answered.

    "Brother Jim, he is the new mayor."

    Right as he heard the answer, the adventurer''s expression suddenly changed. Although Tristan could only see it for a few moments, it was enough for him to notice. Jim jumped down from his horse, approached Tristan, and said.

    "Greetings, Lord Mayor¡­ May I ask what brought you here?"

    Tristan shrugged and answered casually. "I am just checking the mines¡­ What about you? Why are you all here?"

    The adventurer paused, unable to answer right away. Though nothing was proven yet, Tristan became more suspicious.

    "Lord Mayor¡­ I must ask... Did you find anything down there?"

    Tristan could quickly tell that the man was hoping for him to merely find the maze and not the orcir. But, why are they so worried about the location of their?

    This made Tristan decided to confront them.

    "Oh, you mean those orcs''ir? Yes, I saw them. Do you know about these things?"

    The adventurers stared at each other and said.

    "I am sorry you have to see that, Lord Mayor. Now, you will have toe with us."

    "Hahaha!" Tristanughed and smirked at Jim. "I have no reason toe with you".

    From the start, Tristan had suspected where this exchange was going, but this event did nothing except y ording to what he needed. For some time, he had been itching for a fight, but there was no reason to start any.

    Now, it appears trouble came to him right as he expected. It was the perfect excuse to let loose his muscle and spill some blood..

 Chapter 174 - Martial Art

    Tristan casually nced at all the adventurers and started counting.

    "5¡­ 6¡­ 7¡­ 11..."

    As he looked at each of the eleven men who surrounded them, he fired up his scanner and looked at their attributes. Other than the bald guy named Jim, all the others are merely silver badge adventurers.

    Those silver badge adventurers have an average of 50 battle power, while Jim has almost three digits in battle power but a clearck of spirit force. It appears the bald guy was purely abat-type fighter.

    Among the silver adventurers, two have high spirit force but extremely low battle power, showing that they were magicians. With 60 and 64 spirit forces, the two were nothing to be concerned about.

    All eleven adventurers jumped down from their horses and drew their weapons. They were prepared to capture him by any means necessary.

    "Watch out for that big guy!" The golden badge adventurer shouted. "Also, that woman! She must be a magician!"

    They red at Tristan, Chieng, and Herrera menacingly. When the space knight and the fire magician were about to retaliate, Tristan raised his hands, prompting the two to stop. He looked at Jim, smiled, and said.

    "Friends, friends¡­" Tristan spoke in the softest, yet most condescending voice he could muster. "This is not how you should treat the mayor, you know. Are you all sure you want to go down this way?"

    "Don''t listen to him!" Jim shouted, Tristan''s voice only stoking his anger even more. "He''s just a new clown sent by the king!"

    "Clown, huh¡­" Tristan started to frown.

    "Jim, calm down! I heard from Mayor Uriel that this guy could kill a thousand barbarians by himself!"

    "Hah, 1000 barbarians?! You believe a clown talking about other clowns?!" The bald guy shouted at his mates, who could only flinch and look away in response.

    Tristan rubbed the bridge of his nose. He would rather not hear another word ''clown'' for the rest of his life.

    Every inch of his body quivered with excitement, and he wished to start fighting right away. He can tell the urge was spreading all over his body.

    But as he was now a Mayor, he believe he should show a little restrain

    "I warn you, if you wish to leave now is the time!"

    Tristan can see a few of the adventurer were in doubt, if he scare them a bit they would probably ran, but he suddenly remembered something and asked,

    "Can you at least tell me if your group is part of our town''s monthly payroll?"

    After listening to the question, Jim suddenlyughed.

    "Hahaha! You heard this, friends? The mayor is trying to buy his life with coins! Such a wuss!" Jim narrowed his eyes on Tristan and said. "We take the money to protect the town, not to be your bodyguards!"

    "wuss?" This guy just insulted him once again. But he didn''t get annoyed this time because he just heard a piece of good news

    He just realized Killing them would cut about 20 coins from his monthly expenses, and surely these mercenaries need nopensation for their family after their unfortunate death.

    Hidden within the shadows of his face, Tristan gave a wicked smile.

    This time he decided. No! No mercy.

    With confidence, he nced at his team and said.

    "Chieng, let me see you spar with them first. Herrera, focus on protecting yourself but st away any who try to run away¡­ Also, guys, I need one alive."

    Tristan''s words quickly made Jim swing his weapon in anger.

    "That''s it! Everyone, kill that big guy first!"

    Two of the adventurers knocked a few arrows on their bow. From its glint, Tristan could see the arrows were made of steel, and one shot from the heavy yet fast arrow would be enough to critically injure or kill any human,

    Ssssttttt!

    But, Chieng was faster. The arrow fell and stabbed the ground, while the space knight rushed towards them.

    One adventurer was distracted by the missed arrows, and Chieng took his chance to aim his fist towards the guy''s face.

    Bammm!

    Chieng hit the guys'' face with a downward punch, and the guy quickly fell t on his butt onto the grassy ground. The distracted adventurer saw stars for a few moments, and Chieng kicked the guy''s neck.

    Crack!!

    A sickening crunching sound could be heard, and the adventurer coughed blood, right before his eyes rolled back into his head.

    The others could only stare in shock at their fallenrade.

    Two adventurers shook off their disbelief and jumped at Chieng together. Each of them held two daggers in their hands, and their movements kicked up dust on their path. They are the type who depends on their speed.

    When the dagger came from both sides, Chieng dodged each strike within centimeters of the knife hitting his body. His massive frame hid his agility, and when the two attackers started to tire out, Chieng grabbed their hand and twisted their arm hard, forcing them to stab each other''s chest.

    Two more adventurers are heavily wounded and bleed just seconds from death.

    Tristan nodded, clearly impressed. Chieng really did live up to his Asian stereotype.

    "you fools!" Jim shouted in annoyance, no doubt because three of his members had died.

    Chieng released the two lifeless corpses from his hands, and looked Jim in the eye. The space knight was taunting him.

    "It''s your turn, then! Come!" Chieng said.

    The bald golden badge adventurer stepped forward and pointed his huge sabre at Chieng. He dashed, swung his sabre around at high speeds, and shouted.

    [Battle Arts ¨C Speed Up]

    Unexpectedly, he didn''t just charge in with his enhanced speed. Instead, a magician started chanting, making his body glow with greenish light.

    [Blessing of the Wind]

    The glow focused on the bald guy''s limbs and coated them with energy. At the same time, another magician chanted and created a water whip, before throwing it towards Chieng.

    Chieng leaned to the side, dodging the attack while avoiding the rain of steel arrows whizzing towards him.

    Now that the battle hadmenced in full, Chieng was able to show his skills more. He hit some of the arrows with his arm,

    Pak! Pak!

    Chieng''s dexterous arms threw them off-course and made them fall uselessly onto the grassy ground before any of them could hit his body.

    Within the split second Chieng was focused on blocking the arrows, Jim was already in front of him. The bald adventurer swung down his massive sabre onto Chieng''s head.

    ng!

    At thest moment, Chieng was able to pull hisbat dagger from his waist and used it to block the sabre.

    Not only did he manage to block the attack, Chieng also had the strength to push the golden badge adventurers back a few steps.

    "You¡­ What are you?!" Jim shouted.

    The bald golden adventurer eyed the man with ck hair in front of him with wariness. He then nced at hispanions and shouted,

    "This big guy is very troublesome!! I will hold him down while all of you quickly take care of the girl and the elf!"

    The moment Jim''s words reverberated through the air, the 7 adventures swiftly began to surround Tristan and Herrera.

    The adventurers'' group consisted of two archers and two mages who acted as long-range attackers as well as three closebat fighters. The three were a short-haired man with a long curved sword, a tall man with a spear in his hand, and a muscr guy with a massive steel club.

    Looking at this bnced teamposition that could tackle any kind of situation, Tristan unexpectedly appeared to be extremely calm, not worried at all.

    He then scanned his gaze across the adventurers before returning back to Jim.

    "Are you guys sure about this?" said Tristan with a yful smirk on his face. As his finger pointed at Chieng, he added, "You guys will have a better chance of winning against him than me."

    The sheer confidence that Tristan''s entire being oozed, as well as the fact he was an elf caused the group to be wary and hesitant tounch their attacks.

    While they were contemting and looking at each other whether to attack or not, Tristan on the other hand began his habitual scanning again. This time, he wasn''t looking for their stat, but rather, more into searching which one among them had the lowest Blood Essence amount to be his new underling.

    Soon, he found his target; one of the archers who was a young girl with lush brown hair tied into a ponytail. She had a bountiful bosom that didn''t quite match with her lean figure.

    As he had found the target he would subordinate, Tristan calmly took out his long sword.

    "Are you ready, Herrera?" said Tristan without looking at her.

    "Yes! Anytime you are,"

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 175 - Fight!

    At the moment, Herrera had casted multiple fireballs that were hovering around her likes. The instant Tristan gave her the sign, she immediatelyunched the fireballs at the three closebat fighters.

    The spheres of me rapidly flew through the air, heading in the direction of the three fighters who were still hesitant. However, even though they were hesitant on whether to attack or not, it didn''t stop them from dodging and parrying the iing fireballs.

    BOOM!

    Smokes rose to the air as the fireballs exploded. Although they were unscathed from the fireballs, the aftermath of it were obstructing the vision of the three.

    When the smoke slowly dissipated and their visibility gradually recovered, the three fighters suddenly heard a sounding from their behind. Their faces changed greatly as they realized who the people behind them should be.

    ARGH!!! A loud groan of pain escaped from a man holding a crossbow in his hand as Tristan shed the unlucky man through his chest down to the waist. In the meantime, Tristan''s other hand who was free had positioned itself on the forehead of the other person beside the now dead man.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human, battle power 38]

    [160 Blood Essence required to take effect]

    [Proceed?]

    After confirming the option just like usual, the familiar faint mist diffused out of Tristan''s body and entered the young girl''s body. Afterwards, Tristan ordered her to stay put and watch the uing bloodbath.

    Now that he had captured one of these people, Tristan obviously did not need the rest. Hence, it was time to bring this farce to a close.

    The other five people were shocked by how quick and decisive he moved. Without them realizing, one of them had instantly died, while the other was controlled by him.

    "What the fuck! He was so damn fast!!" cursed Jim as he could see what was happening from the corner of his eyes.

    He then muttered something. "It can''t be?! Is the rumor really real?"

    On the other hand, the two mages subconsciously stepped back when they saw how one of theirpanions was easily bisected into two separate pieces. Apparent horror was visible on the two faces as they looked at Tristan in trepidation.

    Noticing the gazes he was receiving, Tristan didn''t waste any more time as he immediately dashed towards the retreating mages. Naturally, the three closebat fighters were right behind his tail.

    The wind element mage quickly cast a movement-enhancing spell on his feet. However, his action simply wasn''t fast enough as Tristan had already cut his feet off his body before he could dash away. The unfortunate mage fell to the ground with a loud thud, and couldn''t even take ast look at the sky before his head was separated from the neck.

    The water element mage watched all this happening and she was terrified by it. Fortunately, she was still perceptive and astute enough to create arge bubble of water hovering in front of her, which sessfully stopped Tristan''s sword from reaching her neck. The spell also allowed her to retreat a few steps away from Tristan.

    When Tristan was about to pursue her andpletely send her to the underworld, the three fighters had arrived from behind and were attacking him from three different directions.

    Facing the attacks, Tristan maintained his calm and utilized his Katra. He could feel the slight movement in the wind and the angle of which the attacks came from. Therefore, Tristan swiftly took action ordingly.

    He slightly leaned his body to the left to dodge the iing spear thrust before twisting his body to send a sh to his right. There, Tristan''s sword was stopped by a massive club. Still not finished, Tristan took a quick step, ignored the muscr man, and shot toward the spearman, sending a thrust at thetter.

    The sudden eleration that Tristan did caught the spearman off guard, and thus he was stabbed on the chest, right at the heart. Pulling out the sword in one swift motion, Tristan proceeded to shift his body to the right, dodging the iing sh from the sword user.

    The next moment, Tristan had arrived at the closebat quarter and used his free hand to pummel the sword user repeatedly until most of thetter''s teeth fell off. Seeing this, the muscr guy wielding the steel club decided to run away.

    Looking at the running figure, Tristanughed hard and threw the sword in his hand. It rapidly flew in the air andnded itself in a firm position on the man''s back.

    As for the water mage, she was stopped in her tracks by a fireball thatnded right on her.

    BOOM!

    A loud bang explosion as the water mage slowly fell to the ground, her body mostly charred.

    And just like that, all 7 silver-badge adventurers fell and were buried in this no-namend.

    After the battle, Tristan took his sweet time extracting Blood Essence from the corpses while also watching the ongoing fight between Chieng and the only one remaining of the group - the gold adventurer, Jim.

    The two were trading blows ever since the start, and nothing substantial happened yet.

    It was apparent that Jim was faster than the ex-space knights'' mechanic. However, while thetter wascking in the speed department, Chieng was able topensate for that shoring with his advanced martial art movements and extensivebat experience.

    nk! nk! nk!

    The ferocious swinging sabre Jim did was unable to do anything against thebat knife wielded by Chieng. The former''s irritation grew even more, doubled, when he saw his whole team was utterly obliterated by Tristan in a matter of minutes.

    It was clear that the elf was an even more terrifying monster than the human he was fighting at the moment. Therefore, Jim wasn''t sure he should be d that he didn''t fight the elf, or depressed that hispanions couldn''tnd even a scratch on thetter.

    Sweat began drenching Jim''s face as he tried to think of a way to get out of this dangerous situation. He knew his life and death could be decided by the other party on a whim if he didn''t do anything else right now.

    nk!! nk!!

    Several exchangester, Chieng finally managed tond a solid hit to Jim''s hip because thetter was distracted by his thoughts. Blood sttered to the ground as Jim subconsciously retreated back because of the pain.

    The wound wasn''t that deep, but to a fighter who depended on speed, this one hit on hip was critical.

    Knowing that he couldn''t escape the situation with this new wound of his, Jim decided to drop his sabre and raised his hands to the air.

    "I give up!! I give up! Please don''t kill me!"

    ----------------------------------

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 Chapter 176 - Mercy

    Looking at the pitiful disy Jim showed, Tristan was actually sort of disappointed. As a leader of a groupposed entirely of silver adventurers, this guy was a total coward. Truly an attitude not befitting of a leader.

    On the other hand, Jim became anxious when he saw Tristan didn''t react to his words. "Please..!! I can help you.. Anything! Tell me what you need!"

    Tristan certainly had the new girl to help, but more information from different sources would always be better.

    "Alright, tell me what happened to the mines and tell me if you have any knowledge about the mayor''s death."

    The guy quickly spilled everything that he knew. He was tasked to check on the mines whenever he received reports from the workers. Therefore, the reason for himing here.

    "What is that orcir? What are your ns with it?"

    "I¡­ I don''t know, Lord... I really don''t.."

    Tristan''s eyebrow rose when he heard Jim calling him lord. Well, he wasn''t going to correct him though.

    "Have you seen a female elf wandering around yesterday?"

    Jim showed a confused expression for a moment before he realized what Tristan meant. "It wasn''t me who was in charge of patrolling yesterday, Lord! It was the other golden adventurer called Myre but I don''t think she saw anyone as there was no report."

    Upon hearing information that essentially meant nothing, Tristan slowly became irritated. This bald guy was apparently just the muscle of the group, and definitely didn''t have ess to more important matters.

    Jim noticed the change of Tristan''s expression and panicked because of it. Therefore, he quickly told Tristan about the 40 adventurers who were also part of the operation. However, each person received different kinds of rewards from Connor, and that he was the mastermind of all.

    Tristan clicked his tongue when he heard that. "Cih. That ''hero''. So much for the title of hero."

    When Tristan asked him about information of the mayor''s death, Jim answered that he wasn''t sure about it.

    To make sure what Jim said was urate, Tristan turned to the blood sealed archer and double checked the information. As a result, the two''s information was pretty much the same, except the mayor''s death.

    Therefore, Jim had earned a death re from Tristan, and with enough ''motivation'', he finally spoke everything he knew about the matter.

    Jim was afraid talking about this matter because it involved in the death of a Mayor, which would automatically sentence to a death penalty when getting found out.

    Fortunately, the man made the right decision when ced with options of death right now orter. He then began to tell Tristan that at the night when the mayor was murdered, the mayor was apanied by their adventure group. And thest person they saw him meeting was, again, no other than Connor.

    After asking a few more questions which answered with a shake of head, it seemed there was nothing else useful he could extract from this person other than his blood.

    Now that Tristan had got what he wanted, he no longer needed two people. Between the two, it was obvious what his choice was. Tristan once again drew his sword.

    The sight instantly terrified Jim and made him kneel on the ground, begging for his life.

    "Please, have mercy!! I''m also your subject, am I?" Jim desperately pleaded, which quickly turned into rebuke when he saw Tristan wasn''t stopping. "Y-you.. What kind of mayor are you!!"

    Tristan ignored the plea and approached him, squatting in front of the kneeling gold-level adventurer and whispered.

    "I feel like rewarding you with freedom."

    Tristan''s words made Jim''s face lit up. The hope of escaping alive ted him to no end. However, Tristan wasn''t finished yet.

    He stared at the kneeling man and stered a wicked smile. "But first I want you to say this word three times.."

    "Anything I''ll say anything"

    "Say.. clown clown clown.. Ooo yes and wuss."

    Jim''s face instantly turned pale. He was lost in words, unable to say anything.

    "Hmm.. so quiet aren''t you now?"

    St!

    A head flew to the air as Jim''s body dropped to the ground. And just like that, a gold-level adventurer breathed hisst. The next moment, Tristan used [Blood Extraction].

    [A mix of 900 med quality blood were found]

    [Extracting and filtering blood]

    [270 Blood Essence gained]

    "Not bad.. Not shabby at all." Tristanmented as he saw the amount of Blood Essence he gained from one corpse. It was the first time he extracted a gold adventurer, and the harvest didn''t disappoint him.

    As for the 10 silver adventurers, they gave him 30 to 50 Blood Essence each, which made his Blood Essence reserve increase by 690.

    [Blood Essence : 6310]

    Tristan had easily concluded the matter, but there were too manyplicated matters still left in the dark and had to be handled.

    Even so, his main concern at the moment was Serene''s safety. Therefore, he told Chieng to once again track her, following the new clue they got.

    Tristan would go search her himself if he could. However, he knew that these adventurer problems had to be quickly dealt with. Otherwise, they would go out of control. . He truly couldn''t afford to leave the town with such conditions.

    He then asked the newly blood sealed archer about the location of their base. Which turned out to be an inn situated just next to the Adventurer Guild in the middle of the town.

    The idea of fighting 30 plus adventurers in the middle of the town might not be the best idea. But Tristan still decided to do so as he believed this matter must be solved swiftly and efficiently.

    Without further ado, Tristan quickly went back to the town together with Herrera, while Chieng went for the task Tristan gave him. In order to be safe, he called out Gafez, the town guard and Seth who tag along under the same package.

    An hourter, Tristan was already standing in front of the said inn. At this exact moment, Uriel was seen rushing from the street, approaching him with an anxious expression.

    "Tristan, you hired me to give you advice." Uriel quickly said even though he was out of breath. "Therefore, I advise you not to do whatever you are nning to do. These people have very tight and good rtions with the town. They might be unreasonable at times, but they were the town''s heroes in time of need. Thus, I suggest to stop, whatever it is. Please, think it through!"

    Hearing that, Tristan turned to Uriel and looked at thetter with a wicked smile as he said, "all the more reason to pull these thorns out of my town!"

    ------------------

    Author Notes

    Dear Blood Elf Monarch Reader, thank you for your support.

    Within less than four months, The Novel has reached 12000 collections, 1.5 million views, and is part of the top 5 trending new novels. Its really really amazing how much love and support you gave to me and the Novel

    My July Chapters are:

    Blood Elf Monarch 63 chapters

    Earth Greatest Magus 52 chapters

    This July I managed to write a total of 115 chapters, 5 chapters short of my monthly target, but I hope to finally reach it in August.

    In the next two days, I will publish 10Blood Elf Monarch chapters.

    But I apologize for these 10 chapters will all be on the privilege chapters.

    PLEASE NOTE: These Privilege chapters are not mandatory. Only purchase the privilege if you want to support me and the book further. But I really hope you understand that these privileged readers are the people who keep the story going, henceter will be enjoyed by the fast pass reader as well.

    If you really wish to support me more, please do so by:

    Reading my other two novels Earth Greatest Magus and Doomsday Pirs. Which all three are under the same universe, just different times and ces and will eventually intertwer.

    The Earth Greatest Magus particrly will exin a lot of the questions you might find in this novel.

    It is my wish to have the new novel Blood Elf Monarch win thepetition. I hope with the promise of adaptation, it will make my dream/ our dream of having the whole universe; Emery, Tristan, and Alex from the Three novels be graphics or animation wille true.

    Today I can finally and confidently say that my wife has fully supported me in being a writer. With this, I hope I can give even better content for you and all my supporters.

    Thank you for your support and don''t forget to join today''s event on discord. Thank you

    Check out the new website .avans.xyz for ess to the discord and my patreon sites or instagram.

 Chapter 177 - Arrested

    "Do it!"

    BAMM!!!

    A loud bang and crack, followed by flying debris and wooden splinters made everyone look in shock and curiosity. The doors of the inn were kicked open by the Caerleon guards.

    The huge, two-story building was an inn designated for adventurers, be it local or from elsewhere. The ce looked simple, but there were enough tables and chairs for each adventurer team to sitfortably, while the bar was stocked with food and drinks.

    A cacophony in such a quiet evening quickly brought the attention of everyone who was staying at the inn, along with the Caerleon civilians nearby.

    "Seth, you may have the honors." Tristan whispered. The thin-lookingncer took a deep breath and shouted.

    "Adventurers Connor and Myre! Both of you are under arrest for the murder of the former Caerleon mayor, s Dortoris!"

    No one spoke up, but even more people gathered at the area, curious about what was going on.

    Tristan nced at Seth and said.

    "One more time, Seth. Louder."

    "ADVENTURER CONNOR AND MYRE-"

    Not long after the people started gathering in front of the inn, the ''hero'' with golden hair, Connor, along with the brown haireddy, Myre, stood up from their seats. All eyes were trained on them, and whispers could be heard, some expressing disbelief, some expressing glee, and others expressing rage.

    With confidence in each step, Connor walked forward and said.

    "My Lord Mayor, there must be a mistake! I did not do such a thing!"

    Myre and the other adventurers followed Connor and shouted theirints together. The shouting attracted even more civilians, and when they realized what was happening, they joined in the chorus of enraged people as well.

    Before Tristan could say anything, the gold-haired man raised his hand and shouted. "Everyone, please calm down! I believe the Mayor was just misinformed. There is no need to bring violence onto this."

    "There was no misinformation." Tristan stepped forwards with confidence, looked up and down at the man, and said. "We have brought a witness."

    He nced at his teammates and called out for the archer woman. The girl was blood-sealed, and she will say anything he asked for but no more. The girl pointed at Connor and Myre, and told the story Tristan had prepared her to say beforehand. She even added some half-truths to make it more dramatic.

    However, the golden-haired hero still didn''t budge, and his annoyingly confident smirk still graced his face. With a calm expression, he looked at the girl and said.

    "My Lord Mayor, this girl was a liar and a thief, she was known amongst us adventurers for being slippery." As Tristan expected, all the adventurers nodded and supported his story.

    Tristan was equal parts annoyed and bewildered, angry because the man in front of him still had the audacity to talk back and bewildered at the crowd''s insistence on defending him.

    "Lord Mayor, please," Connor spoke politely. "I hope you will not fall for rumors from such a person."

    Unwilling to ept defeat, Tristan took a deep breath and said.

    "Mr. Connor, it was not just her. Your buddy Jim had also confessed his own wrongdoings, along with your involvement in this crime."

    Upon hearing that, the golden-haired adventurer was unable to hide his surprise. Tristan added something about how Jim was killed in a fight when he tried to run.

    The idea was to trick the ''hero'' into flying in rage and attack him. But, it seems that he couldn''t be easily provoked.

    In short, this guy really could act. He could show off such a sorrowful expression from the death of his friend. He fell onto his knees and wailed.

    "Jim! Please, my Lord! This is an injustice! I have been falsely used!"

    His acting was really something on a Hollywood level and were Tristan someone who could be easily swayed, his hatred towards this so-called hero would have evaporated in an instant. This guy really deserved two big thumbs up.

    Thanks to themotion, the streets were now full of Caerleon citizens. From a quick nce alone, there were at least a few hundred of them. Connor was quite charismatic, and there was no way the man was unaware of it, as every single word from his mouth riled up the crowd to vouch for his innocence.

    Uriel approached Tristan and whispered in concern. He tried to persuade Tristan to stop and find another way to deal with the cunning man, but he firmly refused.

    As a mayor, his words should have weight, and the current order of things must change. He was ready to pull out his sword, when suddenly the crowds parted, revealing three men wearing luxurious clothes. They are the three mine owners.

    "Yes! This is perfect!" Tristan whispered under his breath.

    He could see that they came to defend the so-called ''hero'', but Tristan had other ns for them. Before they could say anything, he walked towards them and said.

    "Here! The three elders havee to clear up the situation!"

    Tristan touched the three and used his overpowered skill secretly,

    [Blood Seal]

    A red mist came out from his body and entered their body. Luckily, themotion was able to hide the mist, and no one noticed what happened.

    Only Seth, Uriel, and the golden-haired adventurer realized what happened. Connor was about to say something, but Tristan cut in and said in a loud voice.

    "Please, elders. Tell them what happened."

    To his surprise, the elders really did tell everyone what really happened without Tristan using his control abilities. They talked about how Connor has given them some extra coins to give their workers in exchange for some side jobs involving orcs. They even added that some of the orc attacks were fabricated by the adventurer, as it was him who angered the orc and made them attack.

    The three spoke in almost perfect synchronization, eachpleting the other''s answer, and Tristan smiled. Spending 300 blood essence for them all was worth it.

    Now, Connor''s expression hadpletely changed. He was cornered.

    With a wicked smile, Tristan said. "If you are not involved in this¡­ step away, now!"

 Chapter 178 - Capture Him!

    The unexpected confessioning from the three elders didn''t actually make the Caerleon''s citizens directly turn against the adventurers. It only gave them some doubt, causing them unable to utter anything.

    Tristan also realized this fact, and was thus quite surprised by it. It seemed that the image these adventurers had among the popce was indeed much higher than he previously assumed. Even so, this also enhanced Tristan''s decision to get rid of them once and for all.

    He definitely had to remove them now if he ever wanted to seed in this town. Otherwise, these people would always be on his path no matter where we go, and Tristan was sure of this.

    "If you are not involved, step aside!" Tristan said loudly once again, causing several citizens in the area to flinch.

    From the few dozens of adventurers standing around the area, only several people moved away from the masses, clearly indicating their intention to not be involved.

    Looking at those who were looking at him with apparent hostility, Tristan was in fact secretly excited. After all, he always preferred a contest of whose fist was bigger as the way to solve a problem. He would wee this kind of problem-solving method any time at any day.

    But first, before all pretense was broken down and a fierce brawl ensued, Tristan had to confirm a few things.

    "Captain Gazef!" said Tristan with a stern voice. He pointed his finger at Connor and added, "I order you to capture that man!"

    Tristan still had one variable that could severely affect everything, Gazef. He wasn''t sure if the man could be trusted or not.

    Both him and the golden adventurer cost too much Blood Essence for [Blood Seal] to take effect, and it wasn''t worth the bleed his reserve had to suffer. After all, he only needed to know their true thoughts, and for that, a [Blood Seal] application wasn''t worth it.

    As he had basically crossed the sure way off the list, Tristan could only do it in the old-fashioned way.

    The Caerleon Town''s head guard had simr battle power whenpared to the ''hero''. However, the golden adventurer also had high spirit force on him. Therefore, it would not be an easy task for Gazef to subdue thetter, and the man obviously knew this fact as well.

    Tristan''s aim for ordering Gazef wasn''t for him to subdue Connor in wless and efficient manner. No, he only needed to see if the former would take the task seriously or not.

    As expected, Connor still refused to be arrested and decided to fight.

    Now, all Tristan had to do was stay back and enjoy the show.

    The crowd swiftly made an open area for the uing fight, while the two people were readying their weapons.

    Captain Gazef was using a standard military-issued sword and shield to fight, while the ''hero'' Connor wielded a massive two-handed sword that was almost as long as himself.

    Looking at the two meter long sword, Tristan was reminded of his own. At this moment, he secretly promised that he would take that sword for himself.

    The fight started with a few exchanges. One of them would attack, and the other would block. This cycle of attacking and defending were going between the two, causing a stalemate.

    Just as Tristan had thought, a fight between two people with simr battle power would result in a situation where none of them could overpower the other. Moreover, it appeared that both of them had simr sword skill and fighting experiences.

    Connor nced at Tristan, which thetter noticed, for a second before he used a spell. In the blink of an eye, his whole body suddenly turned into metal.

    [Silver Body], a Tier 4 metal element spell that not only greatly increased its user''s durability, but also enhanced its battle power.

    Seeing that Gazef was pushed back when he parried a blow from Connor, Tristan scanned the man one more time.

    [Battle power 142]

    [Spirit force 163]

    Tristan was really surprised when he looked at Connor''s current stats. There was a staggering 30 points increase in his battle power. And this outrageous matter could be aplished by an utilization of one spell. He only had one word for this spell: Impressive.

    This kind of spell was a very powerful spell for fighters, such as him. Tristan now could see how Connor managed to defeat an orc warchief.

    In the meantime, Captain Gazef also didn''t stay idly when he saw his opponent use his card. Tristan could see the man also used a battle art called [Power Up]. It allowed his battle power to increase by 10 points, which was barely enough to match the golden adventurer.

    Looking at the sight where Captain Gazef was being pushed back over and over by Connor''s strikes, Tristan shouted, "Don''t give up, captain! Keep going! You can definitely do it!"

    There was no way Tristan would let the man retreat. After all, the whole point of this fight was to see how far this head guard would be willing to go for him.

    With every strike and exchange the two did, wounds started to appear on Captain Gazef''s body. Slowly but surely, the ground was painted by the man''s blood that spilled around. Even so, the man still kept fighting the ''hero'' despite the disadvantageous situation he was in at the moment.

    After fighting a hard battle for almost 10 minutes, Captain Gazef finally received a fatal wound. He couldn''t move fast enough against a downward sh sent by Connor. As a result, his shoulder received a wound deep enough that one could faintly see the bones.

    However, even though Gazef clearly didn''t have a capability to fight anymore, Connor didn''t finish him. Hisst move was kicking the head guard away before he once again spurred the nonsense of his innocence to the masses.

    Seth quickly brought Captain Gazef away as thetter''s condition wasn''t optimistic.

    Meanwhile, seeing the head guard''s pitiful disy somehow raised Tristan''s trust of him from 0% to 20%.

    Now it looked like there was no other strong fighter standing beside the mayor, only the pitiful guards and Seth. Thencer was looking at Tristan with an expression basically asking him for mercy and not sending him in, which in all honesty, quite funny and made him smile a little.

    While Connor continued on his streak of preaching, Tristan took a few steps forward and said, "Connor, Myre, and everyone else who stood in front of me. I AM Tristan, your Lord. Stand down and kneel, or pay the consequences!"

    It seemed that most of the mayor who took post in Caerleon Town wasn''t a fighter as Tristan could see the 30-something adventurers begin murmuring andughing with each other while their gaze locked on him.

    The contempt he received, as well as the prospect of massive Blood Essenceing from the 30 imminent corpses tempted Tristan to take action. A momentter, his hand suddenly glowed brightly, and a sphere of searing me formed above the palm. Tristan then threw it to the adventurer without a slightest hesitation.

    [Fireball]

    Kaaaaboooommm!!

    The adventurers who were right in the middle of the explosion were immediately burned to ashes. On the other hand, those who stood close to the center were scorched while the rest were thrown away like a bowling pin.

 Chapter 179 - Burnt

    Kabooooommmm!!

    The humongous explosion emitted from the fireball spell seriously exceeded everyone''s expectations. Its thunderous boom reverberated loudly, shocking everyone in its vicinity.

    Such a strong, high-damage fireball spell was onlyparable to a [Greater Fireball] spell, which was among one of the rare Rank 4 fire spells.

    When the huge ball of me exploded, the civilian spectators immediately began to scream in panic while fleeing in the opposite direction.

    Meanwhile, most of the other fighters and adventurers were simply surprised at the sheer size of it, eyes bulging out of their skulls. Their jaws were dropped open inplete disbelief.

    Many were terrified to see half a dozen burnt corpses lying stiffly on the ground, with another dozen still half-alive and burning, screaming in agony as they were pulled out of the battle by theirrades.

    One simple spell had hit the right spot, at the right moment, creating the optimal amount of fear needed to have people running amok.

    This actually a little over what Tristan expect to achieve, but it was done might make the most from the situation

    Witnessing the carnage, bodies burning, and people scattered in fear, Connor on the other hand had finally resorted to rage. He shouted, roaring in indignation.

    "Myre!!"

    Turning around, Tristan could now see that the brown haired girl was suddenly surrounded by lightning. The bolts of electricity snapped and whirred,pletely enveloping her. The smell of ozone permeated the air, and the air was so charged it made the hair on the back of his neck stand straight.

    Tristan grasped the hilt of his sword tightly, preparing for an attack.

    She dashed towards him at an incredible speed, and instantly, she slid across the ground and arrived right behind him, about to touch his back with her magic.

    Unfortunately for her, the same move had been used against him before by Raika, the Kingsde captain. Reminded of that dreadful fight, Tristan''s anger boiled over, and he swung his sword around violently.

    Sttt!!!!

    His exertion of 200 battle power was far too much for the magician to handle,ing in with the wrong move at the wrong time. With just a single vehement swing of Tristan''s sword, the golden adventurer was cut cleanly in half. Leaving everyone, friend, foe, or spectator, utterly speechless.

    There was a moment of silence.

    The onlookers stared in horror at the bisected corpse that nowy bleeding on the ground. Everyone there had a single, collective realization; their new mayor was, undeniably, a monster.

    The sttered blood made more civilians screams in panic

    Seeing his dearest friend lying cold and dead, murdered with such brutality, Connor was so enraged that he could barely speak. A demonic gaze burned in his eyes as he clenched his teeth. His expression finally showed his true self.

    Once more, he casted the [Silver Body] spell to buff himself up before charging directly at the man who had killed hisrade. An essence ofplete hatred emanated from him, like the stream rising from his skin.

    Their two swords shed and Tristan started using his de singing skill with his sword.

    nk!! nkk!!

    Even with the [Silver Body] spell increasing his strength, the "hero" of Carleon was still short 50 points of battle powerpared to his opponent.

    Tristan realized that if he had not practiced sword martial arts, he would never have been able to spar with a sword, especially in a fight as exciting as this.

    After a dozen more nging exchanges between their swords, which Tristan saw merely as banter, he finally decided to start using the full extent of his power. The xen haired golden adventurer started to be overwhelmed, and it seemed that this current situation would turn out exactly like what happened to Gazeg.

    nk! nk!

    Tristan''s sword was able to cut the [Silver Body], but not enough to produce any physical damage. Although his opponent was hurt, he was still unable to make him bleed or cut the man open.

    The spell was more reliable than he had originally thought. His mind raced on how he would be able to tackle it until he came upon an idea. Twisting his body, Tristan swiftly grabbed the wrist of Connor''s sword hand.

    [Heat Touch]

    Connor yelped at the unexpected searing sensation, and his massive 2 meter long sword fell with a loud thud onto the ground. Tristan quickly snatched it up, using its t part to smash Connor''s [Silver Body] repeatedly.

    Bammm!! Bammm!! Baammm!!

    Everyone around them could only watch in stunned silence as the "hero"''s body was crushed, seemingly effortlessly, by the mayor.

    Connor had started to hack out blood, red droplets running down his chin, before his body finally gave out. He dropped to the ground, kneeling.

    Tristan stand in front of the guy

    "Now you will tell me whatever you know!"

    Connor stayedpletely silent. Feeling annoyed at theck of an answer, Tristan swung his sword one more time with all his might,

    Baaammmm!!

    Finally Connor''s silver spell was dispelled before falling unconscious.

    At this moment, now that Tristan was the victor standing tall and defiant before his fallen opponent, all eyes were watching him. Most of them looked terrified, shaking slightly at the gruesome sight before them.

    Some were angry at seeing their hero crushed.

    Tristan turned around to face the crowd. He began to speak loudly, voice booming.

    "Citizens of Carleon! The guy in here was no hero! He will be punished for his crime!"

    Tristan quickly called after the guards.

    "Capture him!" A horde of guards quickly came rushing in and grabbed Connor by the arms, dragging him along as they prepared for him to be brought to the town hall.

    The rest of the adventurers who survived the fireball took this as a chance to run away into the masses. There are a few who got captured. One thing for sure no one dared to go against him now.

    The citizens on the other hand were even more worried about what had just unfolded. With their group of heroes now vanquished, many decided that it was high time to leave the city.

    Tristan was forced to find another way to maintain order within the town.

 Chapter 180 - Interrogate

    It waste at night. Tristan tied Connor up with his chains and brought the golden-haired hero towards the dungeon hidden beneath the town hall. After ensuring Connor was tied up tightly, Tristan sshed a ss of cold water onto his face, waking him up.

    Before Connor could even fully regain his consciousness, Tristan had started asking questions.

    "Tell me, what happened to the previous Mayor? Did you kill him?! Why? What are you nning to do with the orcir?"

    Unfortunately, the golden-haired adventurer did not do so much as utter a word.

    The guard then started to hit the man continuously. The adventurer merely sat there without trying to retaliate, and the way his body swayed as the guard kept hitting him resembled a punching bag.

    Connor''s was already full of bruises, and blood stained the tip of his lips, but he was still silent.

    A few hours went by but the torture apparently ineffective against this man.

    But Tristan must keep going on with the torture. He could clearlysee that this guy was hiding something important. There was no way an adventurer alone would dare to do all the things he did.

    Another thing that bothered him to be hasty was the fact that he was concerned about Serene safety.

    With it He finally decided to take the chance and lose more of his blood essence.

    [1300 Blood Essence required]

    [28% chance]

    Blood sealing this guy would take such a huge amount of essence. He might lose 2000 or more because of the low sessful rate. Once more, he checked the blood essence amount he has.

    [7210 Blood Essence]

    For him, Blood Essence is life, and letting it fall to zero means his strength would be sapped and he would be in big trouble.

    However, with each passing moment here, Serene''s life would be in even greater peril. There was no time to waste.

    In thest fight, he managed to obtain 790 Blood Essence. If he didn''t blow up the few adventurer bodies to pieces with his fireball, he could have obtained more.

    That fight reminded him to be more careful and think twice about using that spell next time.

    [Blood seal]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes!"

    A cloud of red mist appeared from his body and slowly entered through the golden adventurer''s nose, mouth, and ears.

    Tristan hoped he could sessfully seal him on the first try. He made sure the guy was really beaten up within an inch of his life to increase his chances. Unfortunately, as expected, luck was not on his side.

    [Blood Seal failed]

    Just like that, he lost 130 blood essence.but before he was able to cast it one more time, he realized Connor had spasms and he struggled to breathe.

    His body shook, and his eyes bulged out. He screamed and screamed in pain, a contrast to how he looked so stoic as Tristan beat him up. In his eyes, Tristan could see clear, pure fear.

    "Please¡­ Help¡­ Me¡­ Please¡­ I''ll do anything¡­ he¡­ he¡­ It''s him¡­ He¡­"

    His eyes cried tears of blood, blood trickled down his ears, while his mouth started to emit a foul smell as Connor spat out chunks of red flesh. Just like that, he died with eyes open.

    "What the fuck?!"

    Tristan stared at the dead body in confusion. Did this guy die because of him? It can''t be a side effect of his blood seal, can it¡­?

    But, if that was not from the effects of his blood seal, there was only one more possibility. There was someone else strong enough to be able to make Connor die like that.

    A person who is powerful enough to know Tristan was trying to force information out of Connor, and was able to kill him from afar. The thought of such a person existing definitely bothered him.

    Tristan kept the idea in the back of his mind, but unless there are possibilities of such a person getting involved in his affairs, he should not be too concerned.

    This Connor could have died because of anything. He might have died because something happened in hisst battle, or he ate something wrong. A little too many cholesterol could kill men as such.

    There was nothing else he could do. He decided to just extract the adventurer''s blood essence.

    [1100 mixed quality blood cells found]

    [420 blood essence extracted]

    "This is a satisfactory extraction indeed."

    Tristan decided to leave the body and walked out from the underground dungeon before resting for the day.

    The next day, he woke up right as the sun started to rise, and he dressed up ordingly before walking towards his seat in the hall. While he was about to look at some papers, the anxious Uriel ran towards him. It seems something urgent just happened.

    He looked up from his work and listened to the mayor.

    "Tristan, was it true?! Did Connor diest night?"

    "Yes, he did." Tristan answered casually.

    "Did you kill him?"

    Tristan looked away for a second and sighed.

    "I am not really sure, actually¡­ I probably did, but I have my doubts. What is with the questions?"

    "Tristan, listen to me." The mayor nced at the door. "People are enraged, and they are protesting outside. They used you of killing their hero without cause."

    He was still half-asleep, and he didn''t find this such an urgent matter.

    "I am telling you now, if you don''t do something about it, Tristan. I am afraid it will lead to revolt and anarchy."

    "How bad will that be, Uriel?"

    "Very bad. It will badly affect the coin storage, and lives will be lost. In addition, the things that happened here might also catch the attention of the Arcadian King."

    The mention of that annoying king''s name instantly soured Tristan''s mood.

    "I guess we can''t let that happen, can we? Then, what is your suggestion, Uriel? What should we do?"

    Before he heard an answer, he nced at the door, where he saw Karra and Astrid had returned. With their return, he suddenly thought of a solution for this problem.

 Chapter 181 - Riots

    After their protests had been ignored for an entire day, by the time dawn had broken over the town, Carleon''s citizens had resorted to rioting. With the death of dozens of adventurers who had been, up to this point, their dependable protectors, they were now far too terrified to go out to the farms or the mines.

    Some have decided to leave the city altogether, while a few hundred others came down to the streets, taking out their anger by protesting the new mayor who ruled like a tyrant.

    "We want justice for Connor!!"

    "Take down that idiot Mayor!"

    "Go away! We don''t want you here!"

    These few hundred people have now gathered at the town square, screaming angrily as they called out Tristan''s name and demanded an exnation. Or better yet, an apology or an announcement of his resignation.

    Tristan looked out of the town hall window, peering down at the angry mob that had umted below.

    The whole scene confused him to no end. It was rather amusing to see that these individuals acted so much like the people on Earth.

    Wasn''t this Arcadia a monarchy? How did the people manage to have enough freedom to say whatever they liked here? The way the people here behaved was a direct reflection of the way King Can ruled his kingdom, and there was something about it that Tristan didn''tpletely agree with.

    Next to him, Uriel was pacing around restlessly, a panicked look stricken on his face. The incessant tapping of his feet on the hardwood floor made Tristan even more irritated than he already was.

    "There are even more of them gathering here, Tristan, I think there are 1000 of them already! What should we do?" The fear on his face was so evident, it looked like he was going to break down from sheer anxiety alone.

    At this moment, Captain Gazef walked in the room with Seth in tow. The captain leaned on a stick as he walked, still not yet fully recovered from yesterday''s fight. He hade in to give his respects. He looked Tristan in the eye and began to speak.

    "My lord. My apologies, but many of the town guards were afraid... I only managed to gather half of them. I am afraid we don''t have the ability to hold them in again. I suggest that you escape to Erantell for the time being and only return when things have cooled down a little."

    Tristan''s only reply was a passive look towards the window, expression still calm despite the chaos.

    "Don''t worry, captain. Just prepare any of the forces that are ready. Tell the men who do note that they will only receive half of their monthly wages. Afterwards, tell me how many of them decide to change their minds."

    "As you wish, my lord."

    Uriel, however, was still as shocked as he was before. His panic only increased upon knowing that only half of the guards were avable.

    "Any news from Chieng?"

    "No, he hasn''t returned," said Hererra, still standing readily by his side. This problem with her missing apparently bothers his mind more than he thought. After all of this is over he ought to make sure all his important teammates have a piece ofmunication stone on them.

    Uriel, feeling ignored, finally had enough. With his face puffy and red, he shouted, "Sir Tristan... If you have no other solution, I¡­!"

    "Don''t worry, Uriel, here theye¡­ Let''s address the masses now."

    His words had apparently confused the mayor greatly. He was absolutely perplexed.

    Tristan confidently walked outside, standing at a stage that loomed intimidatingly over the hordes of angry citizens. He raised both hands in a motion that demanded their silence, trying to stop the constant shouting, but no one seemed to listen.

    "Go away!! We don''t want you!!"

    All of a sudden, a scream could be heard from the streets in the distance.

    "Kyaaaa!!!"

    More and more screams followed, echoing across the densely packed town hall as a group of green skin figures entered the town.

    "Orcs! Orcs entering the town!!"

    The masses that had been so indignant before suddenly began to panic, turning around and beginning to throw rocks at the orcs in an attempt to hurt them. But such things could not hurt them in the slightest, and the rocks bounced harmlessly off their huge, hulking bodies.

    Throngs of orcs could be seen lumbering throughout the city, and far off even more followed suit. They began to surround the town hall, trapping the angry mob inside,

    The hundreds of citizens'' expressions suddenly turned from angry to terrified. Surprisingly, these fully armed orcs were not attacking at all, and even more shocking was the fact that the town guards were ignoring thempletely.

    Among these orcs were Karra, the 4 champions, and the rugrats. These were all part of Tristan''s orc tribes. Yesterday, he told Karra to quickly bring them all here. Over 200 orcs had descended on the town center.

    Again, Tristan raised his hand, and this time everyone finally turned quiet.

    "My people of Caerleon Town, please, do not be afraid! These orcs are all taking orders from me! They are here for our own protection!"

    Upon hearing this, a few citizens started to groan, starting to shout in disbelief and spewing hatred towards the orcs.

    Tristan let out an exasperated sigh, and Seth took a few guards and grabbed them out of the crowd, which quickly terrified the others in their midst.

    Tristan then started to exin the situation surrounding Connor as well as the other adventurers. He reminded them, again, how he promised to solve all their problems. But this time, the townspeople seemed unconvinced.

    Knowing that it wouldn''t be this easy, Tristan had already prepared another solution to the problem. He quickly raised his voice to address them again, but this time, his tone was serious.

    "People of Caerleon, I was forced to do this... its all because that I have evidence that leads me to believe that the barbarians will be attacking us tomorrow.! Thousands of them will try to take over our beloved city!"

    The news shocked all of them into an abrupt silence.

    "Citizen of Caerleon, trust me when I say that I will protect you from these barbarians! Me, the town guards, and the orcs will defend you!"

 Chapter 182 - Order

    After the arrival of the orcs and the announcement about the uing barbarian attacks, hundreds of protesters were forced to return back to their homes.

    A lot of the citizens still expressed their displeasure, and many even wished to leave the city. But, Tristan had prepared himself for that as well by ensuring a lockdown with the excuse of barbarian attacks.

    The orcs also helped by patrolling and setting a perimeter around the town area.

    When he was done, he went back inside the town hall with a huge smirk gracing his face.

    "That sure went well."

    Uriel tried to keep himself from seemingly panicking, but Tristan''s attitude towards this problem was the straw that broke the camel''s back.

    "Going well!! Are you out of your mind?! It was an absolute mess! All your little stunt aplished was making the people terrified. Also, what about those barbarians? How is this the first time I heard about this?" Uriel asked Tristan question after question without giving him a chance to answer.

    "Dammit, calm down, will you now?!" Tristan rubbed his forehead.

    "How can I calm down, this is an absolute disaster! Gazef, please help me advise the mayor!" Uriel nced at the guard.

    Right in the middle of their argument, Karra walked inside and greeted Tristan.

    Tristan smiled at the orc and praised her.

    "Good job, Karra."

    The orc woman put her hand on her chest as a sign of respect and appreciation.

    Afterwards, Tristan told the female orc to start assigning the other orcs to guard the two town entrances. In addition, he also told them to create a temporary post in half a dozen strategic spots all over the town.

    Karra nodded and turned around to leave the town hall, but not before Tristan reminded her to ensure the orcs to not cause any trouble. He added that any civilian offenders must be left to the town guard.

    During the whole exchange, Uriel watched Tristan with twitching eyes, unable to suspend his disbelief and irritation towards what he just saw. He barely resisted the urge to shout and said.

    "Okay, let me call on my troops from Erantell! They could ride fast enough to reach this ce as quickly as two days at most."

    Tristan looked at him, grinned, and said.

    "Thank you for the thought¡­ But no, I will not let Erantell take the glory!"

    "Glory? It''s an invasion! There is no glory to be found in death!"

    Tristan chuckled and answered.

    "Uriel, let me ask you something. Do you know where I went yesterday?"

    The fat elf stopped and thought, and he realized yesterday Tristan did went out for a whole day withouting back until morning, but he cant think where the crazy mayor could have went.

    "Don''t worry, Uriel. This is all part of the n."

    Yesterday, after Astrid returned from scouting the barbarians'' ce, she told him about their numbers and their current condition. From said information, he believed that he could go ahead with the n.

    He snuck out from the city and into the enemy camp to personally ensure that the Barbarian Lord would be ''convinced'' to attack them tomorrow.

    "What?! Why did you do that?! Lives will be-"

    "Shush!" Tristan red at the fat elf. "Uriel, your mind is clouded with the idea that we will lose, why don''t you consider what the benefits are if we manage to win the battle."

    What Tristan said made Uriel speechless.

    "You see Uriel, I truly believe this is the fastest way for us to regain full control of the town."

    Tristan had seen what is going on in Caerleon first hand, and the main thing he needed for people here is order.

    He has no experience managing a town much less managing a ss full of students. But he understands the meaning of order all thanks to his prison experience.

    Any sign of dissent from people, like the troublemaker in the protests, was quickly grabbed and rehabilitated in the dungeon.

    And of course there should not be any ''hero'' in his town other than himself. Fortunately, that matter has been taken care of swiftly.

    Afterwards, he brought fear to the people with the threat of barbarian attacks. Fear might not be the best solution to create a better town, but it surely is the quickest. With these fears, he brought the people into amon problem, letting them to be more dependent on him as the Mayor.

    These also create an opportunity to force the orcs into the town. Soon enough the people would be more epting toward the orcs.

    Other than the need for order, Tristan also needed more blood essence, and this battle was the perfect excuse to gather some.

    This is the n he has in mind. With the things he sets up, the term ''hitting two birds with one stone'' would be a huge understatement.

    Uriel stared at him, feeling both terrified and impressed with the new mayor standing in front of him.

    "Gazef! Come and hear my order!"

    "Yes, my lord!"

    "Collect all able-bodied men, and force them join the uing battle!"

    Gazef nodded and walked out. Of course, Tristan has no real need for an inexperienced fighter, he wasn''t even sure that the 200 town guards would be reliable enough to assist him.

    This is the part of the first step Tristan has to create to teach the people about following order.

    Just like in prison, What he did was forcing them to do certain things. Useful or meaningless, it holds no weight. What matters was that the people are involved and followed the instructions they obtained, in turn, creating order.

    With the threat of Barbarians, the people were able to follow his orders more easily than he thought.

    The next day¡­

    The sun had barely peeked out from the corner of the sky, and 1000 able-bodied men had gathered together in the middle of the town. There are around 1000 men in total, most of them farmers and miners, and each carried their own weapons, ranging from simple swords to improvised everyday things such as pitchforks and axes. All of them stood straight, ready to follow the mayor into the battlefield.

 Chapter 183 - Battle Of Caerleon

    "Sound the horn!"

    The long, resounding bellow of the horn acted as a signal for a group of warriors to gather in front of the Arcadian town Caerleon. As they congregated in front of the town gate, various types of warriors could be seen. Some were bare chested, bulging muscles shining with oil, while others were armed to the teeth with long swords, wooden shields, and horned helmets.

    Despite their varying appearances, these warriors had one thing inmon; all of them bore the emblem of a two-headed snake on their yellow-green gs and shields.

    The barbarian Viper Tribe had brought their forces together about two months ago. Since then, they have joined the battle with the orcs and the Arcadians.

    When the invasion was heldst month, it resulted in the brutal defeat of Jarl Sigurd and Tornseten. The Viper Tribe led by Jarl Utsu was left running to the shore, prepared to return back home.

    The situation first started as a result of their ships runningte because of poor weather conditions, which forced them to set up camp near the abandoned port. A few dayster, they noticed that their presence was mostly left undisturbed by the Arcadian forces, at which point they realized that it would be a good opportunity to continue raiding.

    Being thest tribe that was still residing on the ins, they found more ces to raid and more loot to plunder.

    Now that a month had passed by and their ship had finally arrived toe pick them up, the Jarl was suddenly paid a visit by a strange man.

    With a little ''persuasion'' from the man, alongside the promise of conquering a town with less than 200 guards protecting it, the Jarl then decided to announce to his captains that the tribe would conduct onest raid. The biggest one to date, right before they left for home.

    It was then that 1000 warriors broke out of the camp, excited by this announcement by their leader, marching in a single mass towards the Arcadian town of Caerleon.

    By the time they had arrived at the town gate, the group stopped in their tracks at the sight before them. Far off, the barbarians saw them; hundreds of citizens armed with makeshift weapons, hastily shambled together out of spare mining and farming tools.

    "My Lord Jarl, it was just like you said, there are barely any fighters among them! The city is dying!"

    The tribe was satisfied upon seeing how insufficient the town''s security was, as well as the weak state that its citizens were in.

    "Is that a pitchfork and a pickaxe?!"

    Said one of the tribe''s warriors,ughing in incredulity as they saw the people guarding the town

    Another captain then turned back to the Jarl.

    "My Lord, should we send scouts to reconfirm the state of the town''s residents? About their preparedness to fight?"

    Lord Utsu shook his head deftly..

    "No. That would be a waste of time. We should begin the attack before the Arcadian forces from the other towns arrive here."

    "My Lord, the gate is open!"

    "These civilians, they wish to fight outside the wall?! How stupid!"

    Several warriors began to scoff, but Lord Utsu did not join them. Instead, he squinted his eyes, trying to make out therge, looming figures that had suddenly emerged from the distance. He raised his hand in a swift motion to silence them, and with his other hand, he pointed forward.

    "Hold on! What is that?!"

    A moment of silence had descended upon them before one of his captains then replied. "My Lord, there are orcs among them!"

    "Humans fighting together with orcs? That''s weird."

    Utsu huffed. "I don''t care about humans or orcs. It''s all the same to us. When we finish raiding the town, the Viper Tribe will go home rich."

    The same captain from before nodded enthusiastically. His eyes were gleaming, prepared for the carnage that would ensue. He had a hand gripped tightly on his weapon.

    "Then, my Lord, let me, Fixen, have the honor of leading the vanguard!"

    The Jarl looked him in the eyes and nodded curtly.

    "Thank you my Lord!"

    Fixen was the strongest captain in the Viper Tribe and had much experience on the battlefield. Knowing that this would be one of their biggest raids to date, he eagerly approached the wall of warriors that were readily standing in front of the gates, and started chanting their thunderous, booming battle cry.

    300 men gathered into a shielded wall formation and began to trudge towards the town. As they marched, they mmed the t side of their swords into their shields, making a kind of fearsome rhythm that reverberated throughout the rolling hills that lead towards Caerleon.

    Thump! Thump! Thump!

    ---------

    On the other side, thousands of civilians were forced out of their homes to join the fight against the barbarians. Unprepared and untrained, many of them arrived on the battlefieldpletely terrified.

    "We are going outside the wall!"

    "The mayor is crazy!"

    It took almost half an hour of herding just for these people to form four separateyers of defensive lines.

    Some of them began to scream hysterically when the barbarians across from them started thumping at their shields. Each thump of sword to shield made them quiver uncontrobly, as though the sword had already thrust through their bodies.

    "Please, we are not going to win this!"

    "The mayor is sending us to our certain death!"

    "I have a kid, please, don''t let them hurt me!"

    "Who doesn''t! But I am not going to let those barbarians raid my home and take our women!"

    "We are doomed!!!"

    At this moment, a loud, booming sound can be heard from across the battlefield. It was the barbarians'' horn being blown, echoing all around like a resounding call of death that was descending quickly.

    "They areing! They areing!"

    All of sudden, a figure rode across the line on a red horse. The man was an elf with white hair. He was the mayor of the town. Their leader.

    Behind him were two dozen orcs following his every move as his bodyguards. Four of these forces were more ferocious than the other.

    "The Mayor hase to fight with us!"

    "The orcs are joining as well!

    "Where are the other orcs?!"

    "I think the Mayor has a n for that!"

    "A n? It''s a n to kill us all!"

    "Shut up! I actually feel much safer knowing those monsters are fighting with us."

    "Safer? Huh! That devil does not care for our lives!"

    Among the chatter of the townspeople, the barbarians had sent their first wave of attackers, and now Tristan must stand and fight.

 Chapter 184 - Battle Of Caerleon 2

    This was Tristan''s fourth battle. In his previous battle, he was only fighting for survival and blood. This time, he also fought for the people of the town.

    Tristan rode on top of the red stallion, trudging across the defensive lines that the citizens of Caerleon had built up. His main purpose was to raise morale and showing that he was ready for battle in front of his new people. A little narcissistic disy could help improve his image among them.

    Seeing the fouryers of civilians, even with the addition of a wall of town guards among them, the forces of Caerleon town still looked extremely pitiful to the battle-hardened barbarians.

    It was also unfortunate that the Caerleon town wall was not thick enough to hold this many people on top of it. And Tristan did not want to risk the battle entering the town and causing more damage to its infrastructure. That would lead to too many costs for him. Hence, he decided to create the defensive line outside of the wall.

    Once again, he looked towards the anxious civilians lining up for defense. He quietly shook his head and hoped not too many would die in the battle.

    He ran through the number of fighters that were under hismand.

    1000 civilians

    190 town guards

    62 Gretchins

    148 Grunts

    4 Orc champions

    There were also about thirty-something adventurers, both silver and bronze ranked, who were forced to join in line with the 1000 civilians and 100 town guards.

    The rest of the town guards who were not on the ground stood on top of the walls, armed with bows and arrows that pointed down towards the hordes of barbarians.

    As for the orcs, only two dozen of them stood next to him to create some intimidation. The rest, meanwhile, were still hidden in the shadows, ready to be called to the fight at his signal.

    The cement''s main purpose was to somehow ''educate'' these 1000 civilians about the hardship of the battlefield, which was the reason why Tristan put these civilians to be the first to engage the barbarians.

    With a long, fearsome bellow, the enemy had finally sounded their warhorns. It was now an opportunity for Tristan to first give a motivational speech.

    Fortunately, he had seen enough war movies back on Earth to create a simple, inspiring speech about gaining honor by fighting for their home and their families. Fighting to take back their lives from their savage enemies in the hope of a better tomorrow where their children would live free from the threat of their enemies.

    Afterwards, Tristan climbed down from his horse and stood defiantly in front of the civilians.

    "People of Caerleon, prepare for battle!"

    Having their leader standing among them was quite new to the citizens of Caerleon, especially in conditions as precarious as this. The previous elf mayor had never been active outside, after all, and most of the time he was safely tucked within the sturdy walls of the town hall. Their old leader would have never dirtied his luxurious robes to stand with themon people.

    After another loud horn, the battle finally began. It started when two waves of arrows from either side cascaded across the grey sky, injuring a few dozen fighters from both the Viper Triber and the Caerleon''s forces when they descended.

    It was then followed by a charge led by over 300 barbarian warriors.

    The barbarians'' wall of shields were then able to charge forward in unison, synced with one another in perfect harmony, which exerted a great force upon impact.

    Brkkk!!

    Other than the forces that were congregated in the very center, where Tristan was perched on, all the other defensive lines that were mainly made up of citizens immediately pushed open.

    Most civilians on the firstyer of defense fell, died, or were heavily wounded. All those who fell were shortly trampled on amongst the chaos.

    Fortunately, the second and thirdyers would jump in and help cover the gaping holes that were left when the fighters scattered. But still, just with that first charge, nearly all the civilians of Caerleon were crushed.

    On the right side of the line, Tristan had appointed Gazef to boost morale, urging the citizens on as he motivated them to give their all in protecting their hometown. On the left side, he ced Astrid and Seth.

    As for Hererra, Tristan decided that with her abilities it would be wise to ce her on top of the walls alongside the other guards. Standing with her was Uriel; although he was relieved that he did not have to partake in the carnage down below, he was still quivering in fear.

    Unfortunately, even with the adventurers, most of the town guards were still basically civilians with some knowledge regarding weapons and basic fighting tactics. The defensive line was no match to these skillful barbarians warriors.

    The situation wasn''t seeming to get any better, but Tristan still decided to let the one thousand civilians have a taste of the battlefield for a little while longer.

    Screams of terror and panic reverberated throughout the defensive lines.

    As for himself, none of the barbarians were able to stand 2 steps away from him and survive. Tristan swung and shed his sword to his heart''s content. Each slice of his de would take away a barbarian''s life.

    With every motion he made, blood stters flung across the ground, staining everything in his path.

    Satttt!! Swwisshh!!

    After a short 10 minutes, Tristan could see that the civilian''s defense lines were in jeopardy. He raised his hand, sending a signal to Uriel who was perched on the wall.

    Suddenly, loud, moring sounds could be heard from the town gates as the orcs lumbered in swiftly, finally joining the battle.

    Chiiwwiilkk!! Chiwwiilll!!

    These green creatures charged right through, dividing themselves into five groups. Each group contained around two dozen orcs, led individually by Karra and the 4 orc champions.

    Thus, with the arrival of the orcs, the situation quickly turned in their favor.

 Chapter 185 - Battle Of Caerleon 3

    "There are more orcs joining the fight!"

    "How?! Why would those orcs fight for them?!" A barbarian with a ck eyepatch shouted.??

    "Jarl Utsu, our lines are trembling!" Another barbarian wearing armor lined with fur hurriedly added.

    "That man¡­ no, that elf leading the charge in the middle, he was very strong!"

    "Jarl Utsu, Fixen''s tribe will notst at this rate. Please, allow me to join the battle!"

    Despite his subjects'' pleas, the Jarl merely shook his head in silence without offering an exnation, much to their fury.

    ------

    The heat of the sun felt scorching against the simple leather armor they wore, and Tristan found himself swiping his brow every so often. He performed his deadly de song in the middle of the battlefield without fear, captivating his allies and striking horror deep into the hearts of his enemies.

    This fight felt so different from his usual battles. In his previous battlefields, he had to aimlessly swing his sword and hope his overwhelming power wouldpensate, but now, he could feel a flow to his swings, and his body felt light.

    Swwiishhh!!

    With each swing, one or two enemies screamed in agony, before falling in a shower of blood. Crimson footprints followed his every step.

    At this moment, Tristan fought while also learning to cast the [Blood Extraction] skill at the same time. At first, it felt hard to concentrate, but apparently, yet again, Katra helped him to focus better.

    Every few swings, he would take a few seconds to cast the extraction skill just like taking a breath from each fight.

    [1000¡­]

    [2000¡­]

    [A mix of 2200 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells¡­]

    [400 Blood Essence gained]

    Unfortunately, as quick as the process may be, it still took him a few seconds to finish. This sometimes made him defenseless against sneak attacks.

    Spaatt!!

    Right as he finished extracting, he felt a dull pain on his back. Before he could think much about the pain, Tristan quickly grabbed the man''s arm, broke it, and cut off his body in half with his massive de.

    He shook his body and dislodged the barbarian''s axe from his back. Though the wound looked severe, Tristan did not feel that much pain.

    He took a moment to look at his surroundings, watching the barbarians fight against the civilians. Even without his scanner, Tristan could feel the difference between their power.

    It took three civilians to fight against one trained barbarian fighter, but it took three barbarians to even stop an orc.

    Only the barbarians in blue tattoo could match the orcs but then most of them are busy fighting against the orc champions.

    When the 100 plus orcs ran towards the battlefield in unison, the barbarians'' defense line quickly crumbled, and the bnce of power tipped in Tristan''s favor.

    Not wanting to miss out on the inevitable ughter, Tristan once again continued his de dance, killing even more barbarians.

    After cutting his way through, leaving trails of blood and corpses on his way, he saw a man with long, messy hair. He stood atop a huge rock and barked orders towards the barbarian soldiers crowded below him.

    Tristan dashed towards the man and swung his de.

    nnkk!!!

    The guy seemed to anticipate his attack, and he blocked Tristan''s de with his own weapon. He smirked at Tristan, a smirk that quickly faded right as Tristan started to outmatch his strength.

    "What?! What are you- ?!¡­ no¡­ please¡­"

    Sttt!

    The strong barbarian captain easily died under Tristan second move

    "Captain Fixen was killed!" A barbarian soldier shouted in fear.

    "No! Fuck it, retreat! Retreat!"

    Their captain and strongest warrior died in seconds, and with him, the morale of the barbarian army shattered. They turned tail and started to run, but of course, Tristan and his orc warriors refused to let this chance go.

    "Chase them!" Tristan ordered.

    "Chiwikkll chiwiiklk!!

    The orcs screeched and chased them in response.

    ------

    Far behind the battlefield, the Jarl still appeared calm, while his two other captains'' expressions turned to panic after witnessing their first group of 300 being ughtered by their enemies and what remained came running towards them in panic and fear.

    Right behind them, a crowd of green monsters wereughing as they chased them, clearly having fun.

    "My Lord Jarl! Give us permission to attack all at once now!" One of the captains pleaded

    Once again, the Jarl shook his head, ignoring the captain and ordered one of his warriors to get out and fight.

    The second captain seethed, his expression twisted into pure rage. It was clear, they were losing, and it was time for them to take action. However, the Jarl merely whispered to the guard standing next to him, and the captain was grabbed before other warriors restrained him.

    With that another group of 300 warriors charged to the center ins and met up with the orcs.

    This time, Tristan asked a thousand civilians to follow in the backline and attack any barbarians who managed to slip past, while the 100 orcs followed him to charge right into the barbarians'' group.

    Right before they shed, Tristan focused power on his hands, creating two zing balls of fire. Without hesitation, he threw both as hard as he could right to the middle of the formation

    Kabbooommm!!! Kaboooomm!!

    A heat wave spread onto the battlefield before they exploded. The two fireballs killed a dozen barbarians and heavily injured two dozen more. The dead barbarians'' ckened corpses were quickly trampled by their enraged and terrifiedrades.

    Such an attack was not enough to truly disrupt the 300-person charge, but the two explosions were enough to disturb it and stop their momentum. In addition, thanks to the dead barbarians, now there are holes in the shield wall formation.

    Karra and the other orcs shouted a battle cry and charged, followed by hundreds of oversized green warriors carrying axes, swords, and other such weapons. They broke the enemy lines without much effort, destroying the morale of the barbarians even more.

    Chiiikl!! Chiwwikkk!

    The orcs screeched and shouted in glee while ughtering the enemies.

 Chapter 186 - Battle Of Caerleon 4

    The second battle which was happening at the center ground appeared much fiercer whenpared to the first one. But still, with Karra and the other 4 orc champions taking and leading the charge, the 300 barbarians in that battlefield were quickly crushed into oblivion.

    These orc grunts were known as bloodthirsty warriors, one that would fight harder and be more ferocious when stacked against lower odds. Allegedly, these people didn''t even have the word retreat in their dictionary.??

    sh! St!

    The sound of weapons cutting through flesh, which then followed by sound of blood sttered on the ground could be heard across the battlefield. The battle raged on passionately as the orcs gave all their might to kill the barbarians, and vice versa.

    It took the barbarians several cuts and thrusts before one orc grunt would breath itsst. Even so, thetter would certainly bring at least one, if not more, barbarians to the death''s embrace together with it.

    After all, these orc grunts were able to smash a barbarian to death easily with their bare arms. Thetter couldn''t even resist the former''s actions as the orcs'' raw strength was truly astounding.

    Momentster, the Arcadian people hade and started surrounding the barbarians as well, reinforcing thetter''s already bad situation. Among them were the Caerleon Town''s guards with captain Gafez and Seth leading them. The overwhelming number that they brought became thest straw that broke the barbarians formation.

    The morale of the barbarians in the battlefield crumbled with each passing second as they saw their brethrens being killed to no end. However, the Jarl, who watched all of this happening, strangely seemed unwilling to send their third group.

    The battle, or rather, the massacre, continued for half an hour before the second group of barbarian was essentially decimated, leaving a few still fighting for their lives.

    By this time, Tristan could see apparent turmoil among thest group of barbarian.

    With their captain restrained by the Jarl''s order, the barbarians were already in an uproar. Tristan could see there was internal strife and fighting between the Jarl''s warriors and the men of the third group''s captain.

    Part of them could be seen leaving the battlefield in batches. Another was stopping and chasing those who were running, leaving only half of them still staying to fight.

    Even though he saw the situation and knew this was an opportune moment for them orcs to annihte the barbarians in one swoop, Tristan did not rush in and do exactly so. Instead, he gave himself and his troops a moment to rest and recover some of their stamina. In the meantime, he also strolled on the battlefield and started extracting Blood Essence from corpses strewn around.

    [2000...]

    [3000...]

    [A mix of 3800 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [1600 Blood Essence gained]

    By this time, Tristan felt that he already got used to the process of [Blood Extraction]. However, he really hoped that he could increase the range of this ability as at the moment, he seemed to only be able to extract Blood Essence within a 50 meter radius around him. A range he felt wasn''t enough for the current him.

    While Tristan was walking around and doing his own things, both the barbarians and friendly force appeared confused seeing his actions.

    After the short break whichsted for several minutes, Tristan decided to send the final push to end this battle. Once again, he took the lead as the orcs began charging at thest group of barbarians.

    The moment the two groups got into contact, the result went as Tristan expected. The still-courageous but now half-spirited barbarians were unable to put up much of a fight as the orcs stormed through their ranks like a raging wave. It was another bloodbath.

    The Caerleon Town''s civilians and guards didn''t even have the chance to join the fray as the orcspletely took the matter in their hand; they were standing on the sideline, watching how their new Mayor and his orc army obliterated the invaders.

    It was also at this moment that they finally saw the true strength their new Mayor had. Tristan''s swordsmanship as well as the mind-boggling prowess he showed both terrified and impressed them greatly.

    "Our lord is a monster!"

    "He really is! He''s definitely much stronger than that Connor!"

    "I am so d that he''s on our side."

    Shortly after, the battle was basically over as the remaining barbarians started fleeing from the battlefield.

    When Tristan walked over to the tent where the barbarian''s leaders should be, he saw the Jarl was already killed, probably by his own people. Seeing the body of one of the Barbarian Tribe leaders, Tristan let out a frustrated sigh.

    He just lost the chance to make use of the Jarl. Not only was it a waste of Blood Essence, Tristan was confident that he could glean a lot of important information from thetter. s, the man was dead before he could do so.

    -

    Cheers of victory were heard resounding throughout the battlefield.

    Today, the Caerleon Town''s citizens witnessed with their own eyes how their Mayor brought a victory against an invasion of a thousand barbarians - saving the town and eradicating the threats that have been looming over them for years.

    Everyone thought that the battle was finally over when it wasn''t. Tristan swiftly summoned Karra and ordered her to bring the orcs to chase after the fleeing barbarians.

    Meanwhile, he took Astrid, Seth, as well as a dozen guards to a ce. Their destination: the barbarian camp. It was a four-hour journey with horses at their fastest speed.

    The moment they arrived at the barbarian camp, which was situated near the shore, Tristan saw there were only a few dozen barbarians left in the camp. Their fate was annihtion as he killed all of them by himself.

    Tristan''s main objective foring here was none other than to secure the loot of war. There were foods, weapons, and most importantly, things that the barbarians had been collecting from their raids to bring back home. Several bags of coins, precious items, and also about three hundred Arcadian citizens that the barbarians nned to bring back to their hometown as ves.

    Moreover, Tristan also managed to capture and acquire two ships that were unable to sail away fast enough. As for the barbarians who were in the ship, their fate was best left unsaid.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 187 - Reward And Punishment

    Not long after Tristan cleared the port from all the barbarians, Karra and the rest of the orcs finally arrived.

    The camp was situated right in the middle of an abandoned port, and as it was made with mobility in mind, the structure was nothing of note. But, with some elbow grease, the abandoned port could be a decent ce to live, considering that it was maintained by the barbarians in thest few weeks.??

    Other than the shabby, half-ruined buildings, there was also the fact that there was currently a ship that was left floating in the harbor. To make sure he can keep the ship, Tristan decided to order some of his men to stay here.

    He discussed the current situation with Karra, and agreed to let her leave half of the orcs in this ce. Tomorrow, she could arrange for the Gretchins to move here and upgrade this ce. For this n, once again Tristan let One Ear be in charge of other orcs.

    As this is still the Arcadian Kingdom territory, he left a dozen town guards to stay in this ce, to prevent future misunderstandings where people would think of it as orcs'' territory.

    After everything was finished, Tristan returned back to Caerleon Town with his loot, and the rescued Arcadians.

    When he returned to the town, the sun had almost fully set into the western sky. He passed the battlefield and smelled the scent of blood, while the citizens worked together to clean off the ce.

    The mayor had finally returned from the battlefield, carrying a huge victory for the town. The civilians started to walk out from their homes and formed a line weing the mayor. It was a victory march

    The mayor rode on top of his majestic red stallion, in front of the 300 rescued civilians, and apanied by the fearsome orcs, these all create certain elegance to Tristan''s return.

    The group slowly passed through the small streets of Caerleon, creating such a spectacr sight.

    People crowded the streets left and right, weing the new ruler of the town.

    It was apletely different reactionpared to when he first arrived 5 days ago.

    At that time, he saw the citizens mock and whisper about him, but this time, all he saw and felt was expressions of both fear and worship. He couldn''t help but smile at their reaction, for this was what he hoped to achieve.

    When he arrived at the town center, he decided to not waste any time. He saw Uriel and Herrera already waiting in front.

    He looked at them, and nced at the crowds forming behind him. He took this opportunity to address the masses.

    Tristan looked at Uriel, beckoned him toe closer, and whispered to him and Gazef to help them make a quick announcement at the town center. The two helped invite the masses that stayed home, and after more people gathered, Tristan walked toward the podium in the town center and began to speak.

    "People of Caerleon¡­ Because of your bravery, now I can assure you that the barbarians'' threat is no more!"

    The announcement was weed with happy cheers from the people. After a few seconds, Tristan raised his hand and said.

    "First of all, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to those who have bravely joined me in the battlefield to protect this town. Unfortunately, while some of you bravely fight with us, some actually turned against us and some have attempted to flee and betray us."

    Tristan signaled for Gazef toe, and the town guard brought out about three dozen men, all in chains. They are the ones who attempted to flee in the battle, or create trouble. The citizens looked at them and whispered.

    He decided to use this opportunity to tell them that such behavior will not be epted, and if anyone still dares to go against his word, they will not go unpunished.

    The punishment was publicshing which was quickly done right away in front of everyone. It was a simple but effective punishment, and the sight of people covered in redsh wounds would be an effective reminder for them to not go against his orders.

    One by one, they were lined up in front of Tristan, and each guard was given a bullwhip to carry out the punishment.

    Everyone went quiet as the shouts of pain can be heard from the punished, and the children amongst the crowd hid behind their parents in fear.

    After a while, theshings stopped, and the prisoners were ordered to turn around to show their wounds. The bleeding red gashes made some of the citizens gasp.

    Next, he talked about the lives that were lost during the battle, and how their sacrifice was not in vain. From their sacrifice, he had managed to save the town and rescue 300 fellow Arcadians from very.

    Afterwards, he started talking about the loot he found. Of course, he made sure to only mention the food. He said that the food was taken from people, and it was only right that they were returned back to the people.

    He looked at Gazef and told him to start distributing the food to all civilians who joined today''s fight.

    What Tristan did was essentially a punishment and reward system. This would ensure the order of the town, and serve as a motivation for the citizens to always obey his orders.

    He thanked everyone foring yet again, and before finishing, he talked about the crimes Connor did. He would handsomely reward those who have any information regarding him and his group.

    Once again, he reassured the town to put their trust in him.

    "As I have promised to all of you, trust me, and all your problems will be solved!"

    The people once again cheer for him.

    Tristan nced behind him, and saw Uriel nod in admiration and approval. It was clear, the fat elf did not expect things to go ording to Tristan''s n.

    Everything was over, and now it was time for him to count his gains.

 Chapter 188 - Numbers

    It seemed to be such a lovely day.

    After a short 6 days following his arrival to this town, Tristan was currently standing inside his study in the town hall. He looked out of the tall, wooden windows, observing the streets of Caerleon which branched out before him. Everything seemed to be in perfect order. ??

    At that moment Uriel, the mayor of Erantell, walked in the room. He approached Tristan, standing next to him by the window, looking at the peace and quiet that had descended over the town. It was as if yesterday''s riot never happened.

    "It''s nice, right?" Tristan asked.

    "Yes... It is quite nice..." Uriel said, the expression on his face and tone of voice bothpletely t.

    Tristan noticed this and immediately he sighed. It was evident that the other elf had more to say.

    "Speak your mind, Uriel."

    The fat elf was reluctant at first, but after more coaxing from Tristan, he eventually gave in and revealed his true thoughts.

    "I think that what you did was amazing, really, but there were just too many unnecessary deaths. 138 men died in yesterday''s battle. Also, what''s with the punishment during such asions? If it were me, I would allow the citizens to celebrate the victory. But you... You just have to make them fear you again with thoseshes."

    Tristan grinned. then replied,

    "Consider this... Without the presence of hardship, they will not appreciate the victory. Without the punishment, they will not appreciate the rewards. This is what I really think, and honestly I don''t care that much about whether or not they are happy. I just need them to be in order"

    The fat elf point was, once more,pletely shut down by Tristan''s logic. He really couldn''t argue with him about it. He had been sessful in leading Erantell in his own way thus far, but he couldn''t deny the ster results that Tristan had contributed within thest few days.

    A momentter, more people entered the study. It was Gazef, the captain of the town guards, as well as Karra. Trailing not far behind them were Herrera, Seth, and Astrid, who had decided to join the meeting as well.

    Tristan started the meeting by running through some numbers and statistics. He turned towards the fat elf.

    "Tell us the numbers, Uriel."

    It was still Uriel''s job to lead the half a dozen ministers when it came to administering the town data.

    Number of residents: 4532

    Guards: 147

    Adventurers: 47

    Orcs: 172

    First of all, Uriel showed them all of the battle reports. There were more than 256 deaths as a result of yesterday''s battle, and another 163 citizens were wounded. There were also more than 400 people who decided to migrate away from the town during the chaos.

    "The 327 captured Arcadians are currently being treated. By now, most of them are probably homeless due to the fact that their vige got raided."

    Honestly, Tristan also didn''t really care about the numbers. Having Uriel go through the statistics with the team was simply a formality. But he knew that the overall size of the town would ultimately determine the town''s overall wealth.

    For this matter, Tristan once again asked Uriel for some rmendations and advice on what to do next.

    Uriel suggested that they ept these homeless people to be official citizens of Caerleon. This fell in line with the city''s infrastructure limits as half of Caerleon''s housing in Caerleon was currently unupied. Uriel then devised an average number of profit that would result from making these individuals partake in work, and use their work as a way to pay for their housing.

    The next idea was to recruit more guards from out of town. This idea would also bring the guards'' families to the town, making them reside there officially as well.

    Tristan agreed with both of his ideas, but seeing how weak the town guards were, Tristan decided that it would be wise to recruit only the best and the most experienced among them.

    He would rather pay double the wages for the price of one reliable guard as opposed to getting three new useless ones. Seeing how poorly the current town guards acted in the battle and how they would have lost without the help of the orcs, Tristan had no patience for ipetent warriors in his midst.

    The next ce to consider was the new port that was currently being established after being taken from the barbarian. Its name was Harlord, and Tristan had already devised some ns regarding its usage.

    Karra already prepared for the 62 gretchin orcs to move into the city, and she would need support for repairs to some of the damaged infrastructure as well as a new facility for the orcs. These projects would therefore lead to a need for more guards and lots of coins.

    With all these things taken into consideration, Tristan decided to hire 500 new town guards from outside of the city.

    With it, he hopes for them to bring at least 1000 more people to fill the town, increase the overall number of citizens, and create a more positive and lively atmosphere.

    Uriel reminds him that forming new guards would not just require coins but also equipment. Weapons and armor for them.

    For that, Uriel showed the revised ie and expenditures of the town.

    Monthly Ie

    Farms: 32 coins

    Mining: 202 coins

    Traders: 15 coins

    Others: 5 coins

    Total: 254 coins

    Monthly expenditures

    Kings tribute: 52 coins

    Wages: 52 coins

    Maintenance: 34 coins

    Other expenditures: 201 coins

    Total: 339 coins

    Total coffers: 129 coins

    Uriel expected a 10% decrease in ie as most work was stopped for a few days because of the battle and riots. But on the other hand, with no more adventures on the payroll, they were able to save 100 coins this month.

    Looking at these numbers, it seemed the town stillcked the coin for the hiring and the new Harlond port project.

    Although Tristan did find arge amount of loot yesterday, he was not willing to share his prize with the people. There must be other ways to make the town rich without using his money

 Chapter 189 - Robbing

    Yesterday, Tristan had reaped quite an amount of benefits from the war against the barbarians. After a thorough calction, he earned himself a total of 163 gold coins, as well as several luxury goods from the plundering he did to the barbarian camp.

    The coins would be going straight to his pocket, as for the luxury goods and other things from the plunder, Tristan nned to ask Hererra to sell themter for more coins. After all, he had no use for such things at the moment, nor had such desire for them.??

    In addition, yesterday''s gain was such a sessful oue, and as a result, Tristan was currently enjoying the taste of his victory, slowly savoring it.

    But again, he had no such n as sharing any of those coins to the town. The task was to be Caerleon''s mayor for three months and he couldn''t know what that bastard king n for him afterward. It''s no time to be sharing these coins with anyone.

    The hiring of 500 new guards for the town would cost around 200 gold coins and the development of a new camp for the orcs would require half the amount.

    There was also a certain amount of funds required for the town maintenance as it had quite a number of facilities that needed to be repaired or reced altogether. After all, the town was quite battered from the battle and riot it had gone through.

    Fortunately, for this matter, Tristan had already a n, and it was in motion.

    He called upon the three elders of the town - thendowners of the mines in Caerleon Town''s territory. Naturally, Tristan calling up the three people caused Uriel to be worried.

    "You aren''t nning to rob them, or anything of the same sort, aren''t you? If you n to do so, I need to tell you that will be out of the line.." said Uriel with apparent uneasiness on his face.

    Tristan, who heard those words, rolled his eyes as a reaction. Then, he scoffed. "Rob them? No. Of course not. I am not that petty, you know."

    The moment the elders entered the meeting room, they realized that the three were still under Tristan''s influence.

    "ept our humble greetings, Lord Mayor." the three elders said simultaneously as they bowed their heads to Tristan.

    Tristan shed a wicked smile as he saw the spectacle. Then a momentter, he opened his mouth and spoke, "Have you three prepared what I asked?"

    Once again, the three elders answered together. "Yes, my lord. We did."

    Each of them then swiftly gave Tristan a book, which he immediately opened one by one before giving them to Uriel without even taking a thorough read. The ex-mayor could only shake his head in astonishment as he read through the three ledgers ounting of the mine.

    Mining sector was Caerleon Town''s main source of ie with almost 2000 of its civilians working in the three mines situated in its territory. From it, the town usually received around 200 gold coins monthly, and before the invasion started, it could even reach up to 300 gold coins.

    The ledgers, on the other hand, were the concrete proof of how much the three elders had been stealing from the town. And as Uriel read through them, his eyes gradually bulged until Tristan could see the former''s eyes were bloodshot.

    The three eldersundered the town''s ie by just a few gold coins every month. But when one added the duration of time they had been doing this, which was up to 10 years, the total amount of money they stole from the town amounted to more than 2000 gold coins. Truly a staggering amount of money.

    After receiving the ledgers and giving them to Uriel, Tristan was seen approaching the three elders.

    Uriel, who saw this, tore his gaze away from the ledgers despite his will telling him not to do so. Looking at Tristan who was moving closer to the elders, Uriel once again became worried as he quickly interrupted. "Lord Tristan, there''s always another way, the better one than killing them outrightly."

    Tristan only chuckled as he heard Uriel''s assumption and his attempt to stop him from killing the elders. He raised his hand to the air, scaring the hell out of Uriel. Thetter was about to stop Tristan himself when familiar red mist diffused out of the three elders'' bodies. It floated around for a while before entering Tristan''s body.

    [I50 Blood Essence returned]

    Tristan decided to take his [Blood Seal]''s influence he put on the three. He then slowly returned to his seat while looking at the slowly recovering elders which gradually gained horror on their faces as their mind processed everything that had been going on.

    Only by removing the seal could Tristan see such sights.

    Putting his hand on his chin in a nonchnt manner, Tristan said, "I believe taking the kingdom''s coins deserves the death penalty." With a wicked smile on his face, he added, "So, how do you n on pleading?"

    In the blink of an eye, the three elders already got into their knees with their heads touching the cold hard floor. The arrogant demeanor they usually adopted when they first saw him was nowhere to be seen, reced by apletely terrified one as they desperately asked for mercy.

    In the end, Tristan offered them an agreement that he believed would be a win-win situation between him, the three elders, and the town.

    The elders would be allowed to keep their lives. In return, they would be signing documents which basically gave the mines under the jurisdiction of Caerleon Town. Moreover, to keep the stability of the mines'' workforce, Tristan ''suggested'' the elders to keep working there for years toe.

    Of course, with the amount of money they stole, Tristan also bestowed them a huge fine that took a huge amount of the wealth they currently had. It was 200 gold coins worth of fine for each of them, and the elders couldn''t do anything besides agreeing to it. After all, considering the alternative was death, losing wealth was certainly better.

    Tristan beginning to understand the benefit of being a mayor. Today he enjoys one of them; The power to rob people in the name of justice.

    Now that the mines werepletely owned by Caerleon Town and less corruption regtion he would bring forward, Tristan expected the town''s ie to increase by 30% which then he could use to fund the town''s and his projects.

    Before sending the three elders away, Tristan once again reminded them of how he could easily grab them one day and use the same skill to them again. He told them he would make sure if they were to be found steal the town gold again, there would definitely be no more forgiveness for them.

    Receiving the ''kind'' advice, the three elders sincerely bow to Tristan before leaving the meeting room in haste.

    With this matter resolved, Caerleon City should basically have no more funding problems, at least for the next three months.

    Next, Tristan nned to hear the reports on the threat of the orcs and barbarians.

 Chapter 190 - Orc Trouble

    The task given to him by the Arcadian King was to settle conflict within the more problematic regions of the kingdom, as well as bing a good mayor.

    In terms of reducing conflict, at the very least Tristan was able to settle the town''s problems with the barbarians and create a sense of order as well.??

    As for the sudden death of the previous mayor, although it happened immediately after the quest was assigned, he assumed that the king would still pin the issue on him and have it added to his already long list of responsibilities.

    Tristan was still waiting for more information regarding the matter, hoping that at least one of his citizens would have any leads, but unfortunately there were none. He could only hope that either Chieng or his wife would bring back new information soon.

    Next, there was the problem with the orc attacks that Tristan had to handle as well.

    It was confirmed that many of the rumors regarding the orc attacks were apparently mere exaggerations spurred by the citizens'' discrimination regarding their species, and that arge portion of the actual attacks were simply disputes between the orcs and other adventurers.

    But Karra had other news to add. She reported what she found during the 3 days of wandering around the Chaotic ins and inspecting its surrounding areas.

    Many of the orc camps around the western side of the ins were mostly abandoned. They were devoid of any residents and only their supplies could be found on the sites. Later she found that these orcs who left were said to be gathering within a settlement farther south, near the Impassable Mountains.

    As for the specific reason, other than the fact that it involved multiple orc warchiefs, she had no further information.

    "Do you have any guesses?"

    Karra was silent for a second before saying, "A gathering involving multiple war chiefs could mean the involvement of an orc warlord, but I am not sure Chief."

    The title of orc warlord was the highest possible ranking in orc society. Tristan had seen how strong and stubborn Ghrall was, and to see multiple orcs like him being subordinate to a single individual seemed both amazing and concerning to him.

    Karra also mentioned that she still had a few trusted orcs in her midst who followed through in searching for more information, but as their current location was quite far away it would probably take a bit of time before Tristan was able to hear of their findings.

    Tristan then asked her a different matter, "Karra, have you seen the orc breedingir at the mines?"

    "Yes, my Chief."

    Karra exined that it was quite unusual for a breedingir. Normally, the orcs do not breed inside of mines. They tended to breed naturally on the bloodied grounds left by the battlefield.

    It was still surprising and slightly amusing to Tristan that orcs apparently did grow like carrots and mushrooms, and sprouted out of the ground.

    Karra was unable to exin in full detail, but what she knew was that the orc''sirs were normally formed naturally on former battlegrounds which were infested by remnants of orc corpses that have umted after dozens of years.

    "Was there anything else different about their in the mind?" Tristan wonder

    Again Karra information about the matter was limited, She added that normally, eachir would breed one or two champions, She would know better when the champion was born.

    "Do you know how long that would take?"

    "I reckon in a month or two, Chief."

    Upon hearing this, the first thing in Tristan''s mind was whether or not she would be able to take them as part of the tribe. The orcs have proven to be very useful for him, but the constant battle has reduced his orc tribe thin. He cants always rely on the orc stragglers to erge his tribe.

    Karra then replied. "Us orcs would normally follow champions who were born from the sameir, they would normally form a tribe. It would be hard for other champions from another tribe to take over, but given time there is a possibility."

    She added that the only other exemption from this custom was if a warchief were to im his dominance on the champion after they have awakened.

    The more Tristan heard about the orcs and their culture, the more interested he was in them.

    Next, Tristan checked in with Astrid for information about any of the other barbarians who were currently residing in the Chaotic ins.

    She was sure that there were almost no other Barbarians on the westeren side anymore as most of them were still fighting the orcs in the east side of the Chaotic ins. The closest horde of barbarians were about two weeks away from Caerleon.

    As for the concern of raids from the sea, there was always a possibility that such things would happen. There were simply too many tribes that dreamed of riches to take from the Arcadian territory, which was the reason why cing security forces on the new port was so crucial.

    With this in mind, Tristan once again returned to Gazef, reminding him to prepare the old and new recruits for training. They needed to be prepared for any sudden attacks from both the barbarians or the orcs.

    Now that all of the town''s matters have been discussed, Tristan sent everyone in the room away except for Herrera, Astrid, and Karra.

    Realizing that the only people who the mayor had asked to stay behind in his study were women, Herrera''s eyes began to glint as a lewd thought crossed her mind.

    Hererra''s stare then shifted towards Astrid, whose expression was as t as ever. She raised her eyebrows before eximing, "Please, Tristan, don''t do this to someone who is under the influence of your spell! That is just so wrong... And I didn''t realize that you had a thing for orcs as well."

    The magician''s words made him speechless. He stared at her incredulously, scowling in confusion.

    "What the hell are you talking about, Herrera?"

    Tristan''s eyebrow twitched as he rubbed his temples. He could never understand the crazy girl''s train of thought.

    He exhaled. "The reason why I need all of you here right now is to help me experiment with my skill"

    Tristan check out the system in his mind and see one sentence that have been there for a while

    [Upgrade blood seal to stage 2 - 5000 blood essence]

    Time for an upgrade.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 191 - Blood Seal Upgraded

    After the previous battle, killing a thousand barbarians rewarded Tristan with an increase of more than 6000 blood essence points.

    [Blood essence: 13986]??

    This was quite afortable number for him, but unfortunately, his blood monarch skills didn''t reallye with a manual that he could simply follow. He didn''t know what the requirements were for the next upgrade, nor what those upgrades would actually be.

    Currently, the only information that was avable to him were the words and information that appeared in his mind whenever he checked for his status.

    [Upgrade blood seal to stage 2 - 5000 blood essence]

    It was quite a huge amount indeed, but he did not worry that much because he had made the preparations necessary to upgrade himself. This [Blood Seal] skill, after all, was the main reason behind his many sesses in battle.

    At this point in time, Tristan could somewhat predict the kinds of changes this upgrade would make. He then check the three women statuses to get a before and afterparison after upgrading the skill

    He quickly exined the exact methods he was going to test out on them before analyzing all three with his blood seal ability.

    [Human - female]

    [Battle power - 25]

    [Spirit force - 90]

    [Blood seal - 350 blood essence]

    [Sess rate - 82%]

    [High orc - champion - female]

    [Battle power - 82]

    [Spirit force - 10]

    [Blood seal - 600 blood essence]

    [Sess rate - 69%]

    [Human - female]

    [Battle power - 56]

    [Spirit force - 11]

    [Blood seal - 250 blood essence]

    [Already Sealed]

    Out of the three, Astrid was the only one who was still under his influence. But he reckoned that her sess rate percentage should be simr to the female magician''s.

    Mentally, Tristan took notes on the status of all three of them. They were good subjects for his tests due to the fact that all three of them were different types, and therefore had different abilities. A magician, a warrior and an orc.

    This gave him more understanding and rity regarding how much difference a second stage Blood Seal would affect them.

    [Proceed]

    "Yes!"

    [5000 points of blood essence are currently being consumed]

    Tristan could feel the blood circting all throughout his body in a concerning manner. He was hot to the touch, gritting his teeth as he tried to resist the burning sensation that made his skin feel like it was crawling with fire ants. All he could do was groan in response, holding himself back from reacting too viscerally.

    "Urrghh..."

    "Are you alright!?" Asked the fire magician in a worried manner upon seeing him in pain.

    Tristan raised his arm abruptly to stop her. He paused for a few seconds and tried to collect himself, before once again regaining hisposure.

    Just when he thought the pain had subsided, his vision suddenly went ck, and a scene of the bloodke once again materialized in his mind. In his mind''s eye, the stark red light made him recoil.

    The deep, reverberating voice had returned again as well. This time, the sound echoed violently throughout the corridors of his brain.

    "All shall bow to the monarch."

    Just as quick as the vision appeared, his sight suddenly returned, and he was met with the sight of Herrera, Karra, and Astrid looking at him, brows furrowed in concern.

    Apparently, everytime he upgraded the skill, he would see the vision of the bloodke once again. He wondered if there woulde a time where he could truly converse with the voice.

    After he gained full control of his body, Tristan could see the system whirring in his mind, like turning cogs in a machine.

    [Blood seal upgrade to stage 2]

    [Increase chances for blood seal sess]

    [Blood seal pool erged to 6000]

    [Unlock Blood seal secondary power - Augmentation]

    "Augmentation! Yes!" He was pleasantly surprised to see that the upgrade came with a new power. It was time to check out the full extent of the upgrade.

    He focused on the skill and more information materialized in his mind.

    [Blood seal usage 1700/6000]

    [Human - 250 blood essence]

    [Human - 1300 blood essence]

    [Human - 50 blood essence]

    [Beast - 100 blood essence]

    The first one on the list was Astrid, the second was Chieng, the third one was information on the Trappers that he had almost forgotten about, andstly was the blood essence status of his trusty red stallion.

    The fact that the pool increased to 6000 points was definitely helpful for him. It gave him room to be able to control more people.

    Now to check the increase in percentages, he walked closer to the three women. A slight trail of mist followed him as he walked, and a steady flow of steam was emanating from his skin.

    [Human - female]

    [Sess rate - 82 - 99%]

    [High orc - champion - female]

    [Sess rate - 69 - 89%]

    The numbers were higher than he thought. A 20% sess rate upgrade was definitely very useful.

    Now, finally came the most exciting part of the process - augmentation.

    [Enhance the target''s blood with the monarch power]

    Tristan decided to first try it on Astrid. The process would most likely go most smoothly with her, since she was already under his influence anyway.

    [Augmented target requires 250 blood essence, proceed?]

    "Yes."

    Another cloud of mist appeared, thicker than the kind you would usually see during a blood seal. It was almost as if Tristan transferred his real blood into the body of the warrior girl. The scene somehow started the other two, who stood to the side as they watched in curiosity and slight concern.

    [Target sessfully Augmented]

    [Human - female]

    [Battle power - 97]

    [Spirit force - 19]

    Tristan was ted to see an increase of 80% within the stats. But he needed more tests, so he then exined to the other two about the specificities of the skill before testing it on them.

    [Augmented target requires 350 blood essence]

    The same thick mist floated towards the magician. As it urred, she shook so violently she almost lost her bnce, but Tristan could see from his scanner that her status showed a significant increase as well.

    [Human - female]

    [Battle power - 38]

    [Spirit force - 152]

    It was an overall increase of 70%. Hererra was so excited that she had passed the 150 point spirit force requirement to be Rank 4 magician. It appeared she was now able to learn Rank 4 spells.

    Next, Tristan went over to the high orc. "Your turn."

    Karra nodded with a hand ced on her chest. The blood mist seeped into her skin sessfully.

    [High orc - champion - female]

    [Battle power - 115]

    [Spirit force - 15]

    This time it took him 600 blood essence points to augment Karra, but it only gave a mere 40% increase in her status.

    This concluded that the second stage of [blood seal - augmented] required the same amount it needed to blood seal the person. But the buff seemed consistently lower the stronger the person was. Tristan could only assume that it was because of his limited strength. He wondered that if he managed to upgrade his monarch to Stage 5, he would get another increase in the augmentation.

    Finally, he checked on the blood seal pool again.

    Blood sealed

    [Human - 250 blood essence]

    [Human - 1300 blood essence]

    [Human - 50 blood essence]

    [Beast - 100 blood essence

    Augmented

    [Human - 250 blood essence]

    [Human - 350 blood essence]

    [High orc - 600 blood essence]

    [Blood seal usage 2900/6000]

    As expected, the augmented were included in the pool. He frowned a little when he saw that his newly upgraded skills had filled up half of the pool. His frown only widened upon seeing the number of blood essence he had left.

    [Blood essence: 6586]

    With the fear of his daily consumption and the beads to use blood essence in battle, Tristan really needed to find more battles to fight or perhaps find different ways to extract blood.

    The Trapper he had blood sealed came to mind.

 Chapter 192 - Augmented

    nk!

    The swords of the two warriors shed, sending sparks of fire all around them.??

    On one side, a beautiful brown-haired girl with tattoos lining one side of her neck and cheek, and on another, a muscr, bald, and dark-skinned man.

    Both of them gripped their sword and shield tight, and from a nce, it was clear both pairs of weapons were of simr quality. They faced each other in a duel so ferocious, to the point dust clouds form every time they push against each other.

    nk!

    The duel was between the two captains, Astrid the barbarian and Gazef the Arcadian.

    Gazef swung his sword in a threatening manner, showing off the thin red aura on his skin. He was using his [Power Up] battle art to increase his strength. Meanwhile, Astrid''s tattoos glowed bright blue, an indication that she was using her [Berserk] battle art.

    In terms of battle art, it appears Astrid''s [Berserk] is one step higher than her opponent. It results in her getting some extra battle power in order to match Gazef''s strength.

    It was clear that both of them are experienced fighters, but they have a very different approach to fighting. Astrid focused on the offensive, she didn''t just use her shield for defense, she also used it inbination with the sword as a sort of blunt weapon. Meanwhile, Gazef fought more defensively, he moved with purpose and there was no wasted action. One was fierce, and the other calm.

    After a while, Astrid slowed down, seemingly losing stamina. Gazef took his chance and started to move faster, to pressure her until she lost the grace of her footwork. When the Caerleon head guard was about to use his finishing move, Astrid suddenly leapt forward, barely dodging the sword. Right as shended, the tip of her sword touched Gazef''s back.

    "You lose!" The female barbarian said.

    p! p! p!

    "Woohoo! Girl power!" Herrera, the fire magician, stood next to Tristan and cheered after watching the duel.

    Both Astrid and Gazef turned to face Tristan. Gazef''s expression is one of confusion. He had seen Astrid''s skills in battle before, and now, within the span of one night, that woman was able to outright defeat him.

    Tristan nodded at the two of them, satisfied with the result of their battle, and told the confused headguard to return to his post.

    Right after the guy left, Seth jumped in front of Tristan and kneeled until his face touched the bare ground. Tristan merely red at him in response.

    "My Lord Mayor, your graciousness was as magnificent as your greatness, I ask you to-"

    "Cut the crap, Seth!" Tristan shouted in irritation, and the thinncer shuddered for a second. However, he kept on kneeling.

    He lifted up his head for a moment to show Tristan his grin and said. "Please, my lord, I will be loyal to you¡­ forever."

    Tristan''s scowl changed into a small smile. He actually saw Seth as an interesting person, as despite his faults, he is an open book, and an excellent opportunist, traits that he can rte to.

    "Alright, Seth, I''ll grant your wish. I do feel you are currently too weak for the task I needed you to do, anyway." Tristan sighed.

    "Please, my lord, I will do anything for you. Nothing will be enough to express my gratitude."

    He did not respond. He closed his eyes, pointed at Seth, and concentrated on the kneelingncer in front of him.

    [Blood Seal ¨C Augmented]

    [250 points of Blood Essence required for sess]

    A trickle of red mist came out from Tristan''s body, before it gathered together and turned into a thick, dark red fog with the scent of iron. The fog entered through thencer''s nose, ears, mouth, and eyes, and soon after, Seth wasying on the ground and start screaming like a girl.

    After a few seconds, Seth stopped struggling, and he stood up on shaky legs. His body felt invigorated but his limbs felt weak, like he went on an intense workout.

    [Human]

    [Battle Power: 84]

    A total of 100% increase in battle power. Just like that, Seth was two times stronger than before. Now, thencer couldn''t stop smiling to himself.

    One session of unending gratitudeter, Tristan dismissed him and gave him a task. Together with Herrera, they will need to do two things. First, they will go sell the luxurious loot plundered from the barbarian camp, and second they have to find a certain group of Trapper, make contact, and find their leader for him.

    Tristan asked them both to conduct the quest with the utmost secrecy. In addition, he also gave them a pouch of gold coins to use during the journey.

    At first, Herrera strongly objected to having to go together with Seth for the quest, but Tristan has a distinct feeling he couldn''t just let Seth go by himself. He also asked Herrera a specific task to buy more fire spell scrolls for him and for herself.

    "I need you to improve, too, or you will be left out." Tristan said.

    Herrera''s expression instantly changed, and she quickly agreed to do the quest.

    They left together, and right as they went outside the gate, Tristan called and gestured for Astrid toe closer to him.

    "I need you to tell me more about your people."

    Tristan was confident that he wouldn''t have any problems finishing the task given to him by the king, but he needs to make sure by the time the three months task was over, he wouldn''t get helplessly forced to do something else.

    He needed to think outside of the box for this solution. Maybe outside the continent will have the answer

    "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" could very much work in this case.

    With her assistance, Tristan hoped he could know more about the barbarians.

    "Tell me, why do people keep calling you ''barbarians''?"

    The girl looked at Tristan with fire in her eyes. "The Arcadians may call us that, but we¡­ We were a proud civilization once. We are older than the Arcadian. We were once called¡­ The Asgardian."

 Chapter 193 - Conclave

    A ne could be seen flying over the Great Sea at an extremely high speed, making choppy waves emerge on the water below. A group of white uniformed fighters could be seen seated on the back of the ship.

    Among them were two particr individuals casually chatting with one another, the stark midday light shining through the windows beside them.??

    "My king, shouldn''t we bring more people along for this ''conve?"

    "Don''t worry, Tobias, if things go south, a few dozen more Kingsde won''t do much."

    Hearing such discouraging words, the old wizard grew silent. Not long after, a dark skinned woman walked towards them from the front area of the ship. She regarded the man sitting next to Tobias in a respectful manner, bowing slightly.

    "My king, we will arrive at the destination within 5 minutes."

    He nodded in response, a slight smile on his face. "Thank you, Zoe. Just pick a spot and drop us down."

    "Of course, my king." She bowed again before heading to the hull of the ship to instruct the crew that they werending soon.

    The ship had been flying for hours, passing over the ocean swiftly, and finally, it was beginning to approach its destination; a remote ind ced smack dab in the center of the sea. A single white dot among the wide blue expanse, the passengers could see iting from miles away.

    The ind was called the Midpoint. It was located right in the middle of the Great Sea, directly between the Arcadian continent in the west and the Asgardian continent in the east.

    From the ne, it could be seen that the ind was mostly made up of white sand and not much else aside from a tall mountain, a few buildings, and threerge boats which were docked on the eastern port of the ind.

    The flying ship then hovered gently down onto a clearing on the western part of the ind. As it descended, the white sand below it thrashed violently in the wind.

    A voice began to crackle from the overhead speakers located inside of the ship, catching all of the passengers'' attention.

    "We have finally arrived at our destination, hope you had a wonderful flight with us."

    The backdoor of the ship pushed open, and out walked King Callen with his great wizard Tobias, apanied by a Kingsde squad of 10 led by Captain Raika trailing after them.

    Raika and some of the members of her squad appeared rather anxious, staying inside the ship for a bit longer, but she tried her best to keep herposure and walked out with the rest of the party.

    As they approached, they were weed warmly by a group of locals. They were made up of a dozen people with dark skin who wore robes.

    "Wee to Midpoint," several of them said in unison.

    The king acknowledged them with a nod. "Thank you, friars. Please lead the way."

    These people in robes were the monks who were put in charge of taking care of the ind. They have been guarding the ind and maintaining it as a ce of diplomacy between the two kingdoms.

    The group was then led to a hill until they eventually reached a staircase that loomed above them, it seemed to lead to the top of a mountain. The staircase was so high that the top seemed to disappear into the clouds. They walked up many steps until they reached the peak of the hill, where stone carvings and pirs could be seen towering upwards around an open dome.

    There were already about two dozen people waiting for their arrival.

    From their clothes, the king could see that at least half a dozen of them were Jarls from the barbarian tribes, while the rest were the valiant warriors of Asgard.

    Among them were two individuals who were the main focus of the meeting. One of them was a pale looking bald man named Vidar. This man was the one who led the invasionst month.

    While the other one had the body of a young boy who wasn''t older than the age of 14, he had an aura that emanated a sense of wisdom and mystery that automatically demanded the respect of those around him.

    These two individuals were the Asgardian Aesir. They were godlike figures among the barbarian tribes. Vidar was known as the god of vengeance, while Firsetti was the god of justice.

    When King Can arrived, it was Vidar who first stood up and spoke to him in annoyance. He crossed his arms, brows furrowed.

    "Huh! Even with your fancy flying machine you are stillte!" He huffed.

    The king nodded as a sign of respect towards the two Aesir, but stayed silent and did not reply to the man.

    The young-looking Aesir Firsetti was the next one to speak. With a calm voice, he asked, "King Can, wee. I wonder if any of the elves areing?"

    "No. But just like usual, I will be the one to represent them."

    The king''s answer seemed to make a few of the Jarls in the group look dissatisfied. They looked at one another wearily.

    Vidar added, "Haha, like always! These elves have never put a human in the same regards as them! Haha."

    Can continued. "We should just start now. Will any of the other Aesire as well?"

    "Maybe Tyr or Bragi wille," said the young Aesir.

    The sun was already at its highest point in the sky. It was already time to begin the meeting,just as Can was about to start, a figure suddenly came down from the sky at high speed and crashed into the gathering ce.

    The man was bald headed but his beard was thick and full. His body wasrge, with a third of itpletely covered in tattoos. Tworge axes were sheathed on his back.

    "Wee Tyr, the god of war."

    When he arrived, all the other Jarls acknowledged him with utmost respect, bowing their heads slightly in their seats.

    "We are all here already!" Said Vidar. "Start the conve immediately."

 Chapter 194 - Ragnarok

    The Asgardians were known as the ruler of the for thousands of years. They were the pioneers of human civilization, and their golden age saw human civilization flourishing on the.

    That all changed 4000 years ago, when the elves invaded the??

    Molten rocks rained down from the skies, carving craters onto the wounded earth. Ultimate magic raged on the ground, freezing the mighty seas and shook the core of the itself.

    Cries of the wounded could scarcely be heard back then, amidst the screams of agony and rage as acid rain and once hallowed grounds opened up to swallow their very being.

    The Asgardians battled for their homnd to the bitter end, regardless of their imminent loss.

    It was a world-changing event the Asgardians called the Ragnarok.

    In the end, the remaining desperate Asgardians performed a forbidden spell that allowed them to stop the war.

    Although the elves won, they were cut off from the outside world. Over the course of hundreds of years, the elves were finally forced to sign a truce with the humans to survive. This resulted in the creation of the Arcadian kingdom.

    Across the sea, the remaining few Asgardians slowly developed their culture, trying to regain their future glory. They remember their defeat from the elves, and with fear and hatred still fresh in their mind, they rejected everything about the Arcadian humans who epted the elves.

    Despite the truce, smaller-scale conflicts remained and went on for thousands of years, with the Arcadiansing out on top. However, as time went on, the elves started to dwindle, and the Asgardians'' numbers were growing steadily even with the conflicts culling their numbers.

    When the peace treaty was signed, they agreed to create the ''conve''. It was known as the way tomunicate, and the tradition to speak of peace during one was considered sacred. Hence, the two always honored the tradition while they were in a conve.

    "Lord of the Asgardians, I am here to once again bring a message of peace. I wish the Asgardians would stop the invasion and raiding altogether." The Arcadian King said.

    "Huh! This again?! We all know that the elves will meet their end soon. It is only a matter of time, and the Asgardians will rule this once more." Vidar, one of the Asgardian Aesir, mmed down the table and spoke.

    "Stop it, Vidar. We are here to talk. Let the Arcadian king speak."

    Can closed his eyes, sat down, and spoke.

    "Lord of the Asgardians, I came here to bring news of great concern. We all know that in thest dozen or so years, we have been visited by the sort we call ''ounders''. I must inform you, these so-called visits have been increasing recently-"

    Vidar, the pale-skinned Aesir, scoffed and cut in.

    "What are you talking about? The one or two anomalies? We have seen this going on for thousands of years, this is nothing new!"

    "I must respectfully disagree, Lord Vidar." The Arcadian king ced a scroll on the table, depicting pictures of ounder cases alongside numbers and statistics. "For dozens of years, I have dedicated my life to researching this phenomenon, and I havee to the conclusion that the mist will dissipate soon."

    The words quickly made all the Jari concerned. If the mist really was open, there was a huge possibility they would once again be involved in the great war with outside elves.

    Shouts can be heard all over the ce, with the Jari and the elves using each other.

    "Liar!"

    "Impossible!"

    "This is nothing but elven trickery!"

    The Aesir raised his hand, and all the Jari immediately mped their mouths shut.

    "King Can, please continue to tell us about your findings."

    "I can prove the increase of ounder visits to this world with these numbers." King Can pointed at one section of the scroll. "Here, you can see that in this year alone, half a dozen ounders have arrived."

    "Hah, that doesn''t prove anything! He''s just trying to distract us so we''ll stop the invasion!"

    "You can''t be calling up the conve because of this. Get to the point and tell us what you know!"

    King Can watched them until they stopped before saying. "It is the prophecy. There are signs of iting true very soon. The White Three of Vanyar spoke of it, and..." The king fell into silence. At first, he wanted to talk about the existence of the blood elf, but he decided not to do so.

    "Hahaha, elven prophecy?! Don''t take us for fools!"

    The king''s eyebrows twitched, betraying his feelings, but he calmly stared at Vidar and replied.

    "I thought even the proud Asgardians believed in the prophecy?"

    Hearing this, Firsetti the young Aesir turn into a sudden contemtion

    "We used to... If only Havi had returned among us, everything would be much easier."

    The situation started to escte yet again, and finally, Tyr who had been staring at themotion quietly decided to raise his voice.

    "There is no need to talk about this with mortals. We shall prove the truth through our shing des in the battlefield."

    Vidar stood up and smiled in excitement upon hearing the words of the Asgardian god of war.

    "Hahaha, such a great proposition from the mighty Tyr! I shall apany you to the battlefield!" Vidar pulled out his weapon, its sharp metallic sound cutting the air, and pointed the tip of said weapon to the Arcadians.

    The Kingsde, along with the great mage Tobias, turned rmed upon hearing those words from the strongest Aesir.

    The situation became even more tense as the other Asgardian warriors followed suit and drew their weapons.

    Once again, Firsetti became the voice of reason and stopped them.

    King Can stared at the only Aesir who appeared to still be undecided about this and asked.

    "Lord Firsetti, as the god of justice, what is your decision?"

    The Aesir turned quiet for a while and said.

    "King Can, unfortunately, I am not blessed with the wisdom of my predecessor. But I might have a solution to our problem. I have heard that you have a new interesting ounder among you."

    An ''Ounder''? The king''s thoughts went straight into the blood elf. He has had a lot of trouble recently. Do the Aesir know about this particr part of elven prophecy? What does he want with him?

    Unfortunately, the King''s line of thought waspletely missed when he heard the Aesir words next.

    "I want you to give us the girl."

    The girl? What do they want with the blood elf''s sister?

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 195 - Vanir

    "Give us the ounder girl."

    Those were the words that came from Firsetti''s mouth before he proceeded to argue with Vidar. It seems that the pale Aesir did not consider the trade as fair.??

    As for Can, he was quite surprised that the Aesir were looking for the blood elf''s sister, not the blood elf himself.

    "Which girl?" The king asked, pretending not to know in order to dig out more information.

    There was something he didn''t know, and in war, information is power. Knowing as much detail about the girl will be crucial

    Firsetti looked towards Vidar in contempt, before he pointed at Raika who stood right next to the king. As the captain of the Kingsguard, she immediately put her hand on the handle of her weapon and red at the Aesir.

    "She knows which girl. She was therest month, in the chaotic ins!"

    "Ah, I see, so you want that girl." The king nodded but said nothing about giving her up.

    La, Tristan''s sister, was currently under his supervision. Indeed, she possesses a very high aptitude for magic, and her Light element proficiency was something rarely found in this world. That was the reason why the king took interest in her and made sure she could have the best mentor.

    He did find her unique, but for an Aesir to ask for her? He found it very unusual. He must have missed something during his check.

    "What is your reason to be interested in her?"

    Vidar, the pale Aesir, answered.

    "We have suspected her to be a Vanir-"

    Before he could say anything more, a young Aesir interrupted him.

    "Shut up! Just give us the girl, and I guarantee that we will hold out the invasion!"

    The two started arguing back and forth, ignoring everyone else in the room.

    In the midst of them arguing and the Aesir''s warriors each taking sides, Tyr, the god of war, once more spoke to Can with a serious tone.

    "Listen¡­ Whether you give us the girl or not, I don''t care! There will be no peace between us! If what you have said is true, and the mist really will clear up, that is even more reason for us to destroy the elves and their allies as soon as possible." He snarled and narrowed his eyes at the king.

    The god of war gripped his weapon and floated in the air, before pointing said weapon at King Can. "I will see you on the battlefield, Can!"

    He flew away, leaving all of the other gods behind.

    Firsetti nced at the god, who flew further and further by the second, and shook his head.

    "Can, this is yourst chance. Give the girl to me, and I might be able to stop the invasion."

    "No, I am afraid I cannot fulfill that request." The king said in a stern voice. "If you want the girl, you must tell me everything you know, then I might consider it."

    "Huh!" Firsetti huffed and turned away. "You have the elf''s arrogance as well, don''t you, Can? Mark my words; your pride will be your downfall."

    Firsetti turned to look at the other Aesir and said. "The conve is done! Let us depart!" He stormed out, while the Jarl and the warriors sneered at the Arcadian kingdom representatives before they followed suit. Within minutes, most of the Aesir was gone, leaving only Vidar, who stared at the king with a mocking smile.

    "I told you already, this conve is nothing but a farce. Prepare your army, Can! For I will bring war upon everything you hold dear!"

    Vidar quickly left to join the others, leaving Can and the Arcadians there. They gave their respects to the monk before they headed out to the open field. The elves'' ship was parked on soft grass, and right as they walked out, the pilot gave them a quick bow of respect before climbing up onto the huge ship.

    The King entered the ship first, followed by the Kingsguard, and finally the rest followed suit. The ship slowly took off to the sky before flying at breakneck speeds.

    When they were in the sky, the king looked out from his window and said to the magician who stood next to him.

    "Did you hear the name they gave for the girl, Tobias?"

    "A Vanir." The magician nodded.

    "That is correct. Have you heard of that name before? Perhaps in a text you read, or during your travels?"

    The wizard shook his head and apologized. "I am sorry, my King, I cannot say that I have."

    King Can nodded, and recalled how the history of bad blood between the Asgardians and the Arcadians was recorded in a memory crystal hidden in the Vanyar Kingdom. Only trusted royal family members are allowed to ess it under normal circumstances, and for others, they will need to get permission.

    ording to legend, the gods of the old Asgard all used to belong in one faction, before they separated into two due to an unknown conflict, and they became the Aesir and the Vanir. Their rtionship was simr to two brothers from a different tribe.

    When Ragnarok came, the Vanir used the ruins to find a new home. 4000 years ago, hundreds of Vanir dispersed and went to a dozen different worlds.

    Now, the Aesir believed that the ounder he is currently protecting came from one such world, and thus, the girl is a descendant of a Vanir.

    Something Can couldn''t help but notice was how much Firsentti insisted for her to be given to the Aesir. The girl must have something that interested them, and it was grounds to check the girl one more time thoroughly.

    Thinking about that ounder girl made the king think about her brother as well. Once more, he looked at Tobias and asked.

    "Tobias, have you heard any news from Caerleon town?"

    "Yes, My King." The magician''s expression turned glum and serious.

    "It''s really that bad, isn''t it?"

 Chapter 196 - Positive Things

    Caerleon City.

    The day had just started to be brighter, and the warm rays of the sun illuminated the trees, the leaves, and their skin. The air was still cold, and hints of the morning dew dripped down from the leaves onto the grass. It was quite a beautiful morning, perfect for a jog. In fact, jogging used to be Tristan''s habit, influenced by his 4 years of ''extra study''.??

    In thest two months, he had to run around ces to survive and take care of things, but now that he has time to settle down in this town, he thought it was a good opportunity to restart his habit.

    "It''s a fresh morning, don''t you agree?" Tristan said.

    "Yes¡­ yes¡­ I agree¡­ But, please tell me what kind of exercise is this¡­ and why must Ie along with you?!" A disgruntled voice answered.

    "Well, this exercise will be good for you¡­ It''s a good opportunity for you to lose some of that extra weight!" Tristan answered andughed.

    Uriel, the fat elf, red at him in irritation.

    "As you don''t seem to know, I will tell you just this once, alright? I was born this way, this is a result of a bad mix between elven and human genes."

    "Whoa, I am sorry¡­" Tristan scratched the back of his head. "But, no need to worry! Even if you don''t get thinner, this exercise will at least make you healthier!"

    Meanwhile, oblivious to their conversation, many eyes stared at them in confusion. They were wondering what their new Mayor was doing, and why he was jogging around the town along with a few of his assistants."

    While Tristan did enjoy his morning exercise, he also used this chance to see what the citizens were doing now that everything has more or less returned to normal.

    Three days had passed since the city battled against the barbarians, and now, the people had started to return back to their usual daily activities.

    From the direction of the gates, he also saw more visitorsing in. Overall, the citizens were mostly back to their usual self, and the happy atmosphere permeated the town.

    The little positive things would help him rx, and at least for a moment, they help distract him from the fact that both his sister and wife''s fate is unknown.

    "Uriel! Is there any news about Serene at all?" Tristan asked, not even slightly out of breath from the running.

    "No, no¡­ but¡­ don''t worry too much! No normal being could hurt her¡­ and those who can¡­ would know who she is, and¡­they wouldn''t dare to hurt her." Uriel answered.

    Hearing the answer did give Tristan a small measure offort.

    They stopped by at the town guards'' headquarters to check what was going on inside.

    Right as he entered the building, he saw two hundred guards currently training, with Gazef performing the proper movements in front of them.

    Each guard carried a wooden sword and shield; They are the standard weapon for the guards of this town.

    Tristan decided to take a short break and check on their training.

    "This is the basics ofbat, and all Arcadian town guards should know."

    Swords and shields are their main weapons, while spears and bows are secondary.

    Tristan Remembered how weak these town guards were in the battle being crushed by the barbarian

    "Is this the standard strength of the Arcadian troop?"

    Apparently, the town guard was normal militia with basic training, most real fighting forces of Arcadian are the knights

    Tristan remembered how the cavalry soldiers who came to their rescue at the end of the chaotic ins'' battle looked. Then, he also remembered how Barry wished to be a knight.

    Uriel exins that The knights are the elite troops controlled directly from the capital under directmands of the king himself. Only being sent at the most dire of needs.

    Tristan wonders if the sudden attack of a thousand barbarians could be considered a dire need.

    Although the barbarian attacks were started by himself, Tristan found himself bing enraged with this kind of allocation. Power aside, shouldn''t border towns such as Caerleon have the best kind of protection, considering their location?

    Uriel exined that from the huge Arcadian continent, the barbarians are not the only threats. The northern city also has its problems facing the dark elves and orcs who were always lurking, looking for a chance to attack.

    Either way, Tristan had promised himself to not be dependent on that bastard king. The first step for that is gathering his own strength.

    He walked towards Gazef and told him the new townguards should not learn all three skills. They have to be specialized. He decided to split the new guards into the sword and shield unit, archery unit, and spear unit.

    People always say ''jack of all trades, master of none. This is a true statement, especially for beginners, it is better to master one form of fighting. That way, they could be stronger, and different units could be employed to take care of different situations.

    Gazef nodded after hearing Tristan''s instructions and started to prepare.

    When Tristan was walking back towards the town hall, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him. He nced back and saw a guard running towards him at full speed.

    He turned around and asked. "What is it?"

    "My lord," The guard gave him a quick bow. "We have a visitor."

    The guard''s shoulder looked tense, and he stood like a ramrod was inserted through his spine, causing Tristan to wonder what it is about the visitor that made this guard so tense. A few minutester, his questions were answered, as he saw a group of elves wearing yellow tunic and silver armor walking towards them. From a quick nce alone, there were 50 of them.

    This group of 50 elves once more reminded him of his wife when she first came to pick him up at the Vanyar kingdom

    As for these people, they are elves from Forlond Kingdom, one of the four elven kingdoms that reside in the Evergreen Forest. Tristan did meet some of them on the day of his wedding.

    The elf who led them looked very old, and he wore a robe that was much more luxurious than the others. Uriel seemed to know him, and the fat elf quickly gave his respects.

    "Elder Giulis, wee to Caerleon."

    The wrinkled elf ignored Uriel and stared at Tristan and said.

    "We came here to bring news regarding Princess Serene of Vanyar."

    Right as he heard the elder, Tristan stared at him. The words caught his full attention.

 Chapter 197 - Forlorn Elves

    A group of 50 fully armed elven warriors had managed to enter the town was something that was surely rming for him.

    It worried him that these Arcadian people were too trusting towards the elves. The same thing happened to him the first time he came to Erantell. This kind of thinking was definitely something he needed to change.??

    Seeming to understand Tristan''s train of thought, Uriel reminded him that the Forlorn elves were the Allies of Vanyar.

    They were one of the four wood elves kingdoms who resided on the south of the Evergreen Forest, situated nearest to the Chaotic ns.

    These elves had many rtions within the Caerleon and Erantell towns. In fact, thete mayor of Caerleon was a member of the Forlorn elves as well.

    Despite this information, an uneasy feeling settled at the base of Tristan''s stomach the moment heid eyes on the wrinkly elder elf standing before him.

    Trying his best not to make his true feelings known, Tristan invited him into the town hall as a gesture of hospitality. To this, however, the elder elf simply shot him a look of disapproval before shaking his head to refuse the request.

    The old, wrinkly elf did not even bother to climb down from his horse before engaging in conversation with him. This was a clear show of disrespect.

    He looked down on Tristan from on top of his stallion, gripping his reins tight as if he was counting down the moments before he could finally leave.

    "You are the new lord of Caerleon?" His voice was dripping with contempt, and there was a cold glint in his eye.

    Instantly, Tristan could feel the condescending tone that was present within the elder''s voice like needles pricking his neck. A tone that he had heard so many times before.

    He had undergone conversations like this many times. It happened so often, in fact, that he had learned how to deal with it calmly instead of the frustration and annoyance that came so instinctually to him.

    He took a deep breath and decided to address him the way any good mayor would; by keeping up a facade of fake politeness and respect.

    "Yes I am, elder," Tristan replied coolly, a pleasant smile spread across his face.

    The elder simply stared at him nkly, looking him from head to toe, when suddenly he broke into a grin. Seeing the elder''s expression made Tristan''s skin crawl, as there was nothing good natured about the smile that was on his face.

    "I guess the rumors were true. You are not a real elf." Something of a sneer had dominated the elder''s expression.

    Tristan felt a little more irritated than before upon hearing those words.The old elf really had some nerve talking to him like that.

    And yet, the man continued, still talking down on Tristan as though he were chastising a child.

    "The king really shouldn''t put an elf like you in such a position, especially without consulting us!"

    Tristan cleared his throat, keeping hisposure. Actually, this time, he somewhat agreed with the elder. But It''s not like he wanted this position in the first ce.

    "Elder¡­. You can take that issue to the king. I have no say on this matter¡­ Now please tell me, what news did you bring about the Vanyar princess?"

    The elder didn''t answer. Instead, he looked over his shoulder towards the group of elves who were trailing him a bit farther back. They rolled a cart in front of Tristan and the elder before opening it, uncovering the cloth that was concealing its contents.

    The smile on Tristan''s face instantly dissolved. There was a body inside the cart. Arge, hulking figure was lying unconscious, limbs folded ufortably in the tight confines of the cart. It was Chieng, the space knight.

    He quickly dashed beside the cart and checked on him. The space knight he ordered to look for Serene had only turned up now, and he was barely breathing. Deep stab wounds riddled his entire body, but fortunately, he was still alive.

    No more ying around. Tristan ditched all the pleasantries he had presented before, and turned to the elder again, now with a serious tone.

    "What happened to him! Who did this?!" He demanded, hand clenched into a fist.

    Instead of answering, the elf simply handed him a tightly bound scroll.

    "This is a message from our Forlorn prince, Janus."

    Tristan was a little too impatient and frustrated to read it at the moment. What he really wished was to knock some sense into those wrinkly elves and force the information out of them instead. But he had to restrain himself, for the town''s sake and for his wife''s.

    So instead, Tristan simply snatched the scroll out of the elder''s hand and gave it to Uriel to read it.

    Tristan has a bad feeling about this. He took a deep breath and tried to analyze the situation one more time.

    He had been feeling rather uneasy about this group of elves from the beginning, so he had been analyzing the elves every move since they first started conversing.

    He used his Katra to check the way they were breathing and every little movement that they made. He then realized that the 50 elves were on high alert, as if they were expecting a fight.

    Tristan stared back at Uriel, only to see that hisplexion had turned pale after reading the contents of the scroll.

    "Tell me, Uriel! What is it?!"

    "Here it says that princess Serene was a guest of the Forlorn kingdom and she won''t be returned for an indefinite amount of time."

    The news surelyes as a shock. What was that supposed to mean? She was given a task to investigate the mines, and for her to suddenly disappear and be a guest if another kingdom was certainly unusual!

    Tristan once again stared at the elder, demanding a clear answer. It was at this time that Uriel had to stop him.

    "Tristan, they¡­ They also requested a im on an abandoned mine¡­ This..." Uriel''s voice dropped to a low whisper. "This is that one mine, with the orc breedingir."

    The second message, although shocking, actually cleared a lot of the confusion in his mind.

    Tristan stared at the elder, a malicious grin on his face. He had finally found the culprit to all of Caerleon town''s problems.

    It appears that it was the Forlorn elves who were behind all of this all along.

    With the backing of the elves, it''s no wonder that the adventurers were so daring, and this also exined the mystery behind Connor''s sudden death.

    Tristan also bet that these elves were also behind the previous mayor''s death.

    The gears in Tristan''s brain started to turn, and all the information presented to him led him towards one question.

    Why? Why are they revealing this to him, why did the 50 elven warriorse here? What do they want?

    Finally, realizing the elder''s smirking looming on top of the horse, he found his answer. The reason that they came here today was to provoke him.

    To see what kind of mayor he was, whether or not he would make trouble and interfere in whatever it was they were nning.

    Uriel also understood this as he looked towards Tristan to see what his decision would be.

    "Lord mayor! I need your answer right away! Will you ept the prince''s request?!"

    A request? More like an order. Tristan''s current position was already dominated by that bastard king telling him what to do, so of course he would not let this go.

    This was definitely an act of aggression. Which would only mean one thing - fight.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 198 - New Enemy

    These elves not only hurt Chieng to such a brutal extent, but they were also holding his wife captive. That was what they came here to say.

    Given these facts, retaliation was inevitable, but Tristan needed to be smart about this. He believed that if he were to reject their offer, the elves would make trouble right away. He needed to calcte the risks of bringing a sudden battle to the streets of Caerleon. ??

    With a quick scan, he could see that these elves were more or less on the same level with the Vanyar elf warriors, at least in terms of strength.

    Each of them possessed around 75 points of battle power and 125 in terms of spirit force. All 50 of them running amok in his town would be problematic, to say at the least.

    The fact they were still mounted on their horses also gave them the advantage right now. They could make a swift getaway if the situation did not turn in their favor.

    Lastly, this elder was definitely not an easy individual to deal with. Tristan checked for his statistics as well.

    Wood Elf - Male

    Battle power - 142

    Spirit force - 323

    This elder was as strong as Captain Raika of the Kingsde, and just like before, his [Blood Seal] technique also did not have an effect on elves.

    This meant that Tristan had to be careful not to do anything too rash, or make any hasty decisions based on instinct alone.

    "Tell me lord mayor, your decision!" The elder shouted once again, growing extremely impatient.

    Much to the surprise of everyone who was present there, Tristan smiled yet again.

    "Yes, yes... I agree."

    He then slowly approached, drawing closer to the elder''s horse. He could sense all the elves were about to react and pounce in to protect their kinsman, so Tristan raised both his arms upwards, a gesture to show that he was not going to attack. Instead, he leaned in to whisper his response.

    "Elder¡­ The truth is, I don''t want any trouble. I was forced to do this by that king, really, so you may take the mine... And as for the princess... They also forced me to marry her."

    He stared at the elder, whose expression was unreadable, so for full measure, he added a wink.

    "I will be out of everyone''s way."

    Like always, the best lies were the ones that had a certain element of truth in them.

    Apparently, those words were enough to satisfy the elder, whose mouth was now stretched out into a satisfied smile. Tristan wasn''t sure whether or not this was because he was getting better at lying, or if these elves were all just stupid.

    The elder then replied, "Very good, then, mayor! You made the right choice. Don''t worry our prince is wise. He will take good care of his allies, he did let this ounder human live, after all."

    The elder then grabbed his reins, beginning to turn his horse around as he said, "We will take over the mine now, then! I need people to help us move things right away!"

    Tristan bowed his head slightly, which only pleased the elder more. "Yes, certainly¡­. Right away."

    The group of elves, nowpletely satisfied, were finally prepared to leave the town. They galloped leisurely towards the gates.

    When they were out of sight, Uriel approached Tristan with a slightly perplexed look on his face. "So, what''s the real n?!"

    Tristan answered, "Didn''t you hear what the elder just said? He said he needed me to bring people to the mine."

    This response only made Uriel even more confused. He began to raise his voice at Tristan, and in a worried tone, he said,

    "Are you going to fight them?! Don''t be a fool! Those fifty elves alone are stronger than a thousand barbariansbined."

    "So should I just stand down, then?"

    Uriel was conflicted, shuffling a worried hand through his hair. He then added incredulously, "But they are Vanyar allies! How do you think the king is going to react to this?"

    "Huh!" Tristan huffed and rolled his eyes. "That fucking king probably knew about this problem before he even sent me here!"

    Tristan quickly told Uriel to take care of Chieng and to help him recover from his wounds, and afterwards he asked a nearby knight to grab his horse. He then called up both Astrid and Gazef, asking them toe along with him on his task.

    "Just two? What are you trying to do exactly with two?!" Uriel eximed, surprised.

    "Of course not!"

    The three of them mounted their horses, galloping swiftly towards Harold, the port where the orcs were residing.

    After reaching there, he quickly assembled all the orcs together for a sudden meeting. Instantly, Karra and the 4 champions congregated together at the center of the port, with Tristan standing at the very front of the group. He began to shout.

    "My orc warrior!! I will bring you to fight against our strongest opponent yet! Who''s with me?!"

    Chiiwiiik chiwwiiikk!!

    Upon hearing these words, the orc tribe became extremely excited, and they chirped out their infamous battle cry. They were, after all, simple monsters who were thirsty for battle. Karra however reacted rather differentlypared to her tribesmen; before going off and fighting, she must ask first about the opponent.

    "50 elven warriors?!" She cried. "How are we going to fight them?!"

    "I have a way! Choose for me all the best orcs you have on hand."

    What Tristan did next surprised everyone. Karra and the others quickly gained newfound confidence for their next battle.

    The whole horde of the orc tribe came rushing out of the port, following Tristan who galloped fast in front of them.

    The group arrived at the designated abandoned mines. The ground was shaking and dust was flying everywhere.

    "We will definitely teach those old elves a lesson!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 199 - High Quality

    50 elven warriors; Tristan totally understood how strong this kind of group was.

    During his experience of travelling to Vanyar before, he had seen with his own eyes how 50 elven warriors could easily stop and subdue dozens of human trappers within a matter of seconds.??

    Thus, there must be something wrong with Tristan''s head if he decided to challenge them with just a hundred orcs. A mere hundred of ferocious orcs simply wasn''t enough to tackle the fifty highly skilled and rtively more intelligent elven warriors.

    However, at the moment, Tristan was just unable to ept any more insults. Those elves must pay the price for hurting his people, and he would personally make them cough out the payment by force if he had to.

    Either way, Tristan had already made his preparation. Now, he would have to see if it was enough to defeat those elves.

    ¡­

    As soon as Tristan and the orcs reached the outer periphery of the mines, the elves could sense their loud arrival. The sight of a hundred orcs riding on horses with a white-haired elf leading them across the horizon was reflected in the elves'' eyes.

    On the other hand, through his enhanced senses, Tristan could clearly perceive from afar that there were only a half dozen elves waiting for his group at the entrance of the mines.

    "Small group? Lucky!" Tristan happily thought.

    The moment they arrived several meters away from the elves, Tristan could see that thetter were too arrogant and never thought that they came for a fight.

    "Are you bringing those orcs to help?" asked one of the elves in a condescending tone.

    Tristan didn''t immediately answer the elf''s question. Instead, he kept his calm attitude as he approached the said elf slowly but surely.

    The moment he was close enough to thetter, he swiftly drew out his sword and did a sweeping motion.

    "What are you.."

    St!

    In the blink of an eye, the elf who was still looking at him arrogantly was instantly bisected in two at his waist.

    The other elves were taken aback by his sudden and unexpected kill. Furthermore, Tristan was already one step ahead of them as he took the lead charging at them. As a result, he managed to take out another elf before the others started casting their spells.

    Unfortunately, the elves'' reactions were a bitte as the sudden attack was followed by assault from Karra, Gazef, and Astrid. The three people who were each stronger than the elves swiftlymenced a bloodbath, killing the few unfortunate elves who were still in the middle of their casting.

    One elf was trying to escape to the mine entrance in order to warn his other brethrens. s, the man was pierced on the back by Tristan''s sword before he could reach his objective.

    Even though none of the elves survived, Tristan knew that these elves had very good sense. Those who were in the mines should know about thismotion, and soon, the remaining of them would certainly emerge to find out what was going on.

    "Be ready!!" shouted Tristan as he pulled out his sword out of the elf''s back.

    The orcs responded in their ownnguage, "Chiiwikkkk chiwwiikk!!"

    Tristan looked at the elf''s body lying on the ground and then realized that this was the first dead elf he got his hands on.

    With the trademark wicked smile stered on his face, Tristan quickly cast [Blood Extraction].

    Seeing the elf corpse on the ground Tristan just realized this is the first dead elf he ever found.

    With a wicked smile, he quickly cast his [blood extraction]

    [A mix of 50 high-quality blood cell were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

    [220 blood essence gained]

    "!!!"

    Tristan was very surprised when he saw the amount of Blood Essence listed on the notification.

    He just had to check the number once again, and it was indeed true. This one elven warrior gave him almost as much Blood Essence as a golden adventurer. Realizing this, Tristan couldn''t help but be amazed. The elves'' indeed of high quality blood.

    It took Tristan three minutes before he managed to extract from all the elven warriors'' corpses, whichted him an average of 200 Blood Essence per body. All of a sudden, he felt an exhration welling inside him as they waited for the other elven warriors who woulde out soon.

    Not long after, Tristan could perceive many energy signatures approaching their location from the direction of the mine entrance. Several secondster, the Forlorn Elves were seening out with their elder leading at the front.

    "Hmm.. What do we have here?" said the elder. "The orcs are following the mayor''s order? This is indeed interesting."

    The elder clearly saw the dead body of his subordinates, but his expression didn''t even change one bit.

    "Lord Mayor, have you decided to change your mind?!" asked the elder as he stared straight at Tristan.

    Hearing that, Tristan showed a shocked expression, as if he couldn''t believe what he just heard.

    "No! No, of course not! I won''t... I will naturally follow your prince ''request'' It''s just.." Tristan trailed his words, causing the elder to raise his eyebrow.

    "Just what, Lord Major?" the elder asked, impatience evident in his voice.

    Tristan looked at the elder and with a smile on his face said,

    "It''s just, these orc friends of mine won''t say yes without a fight!"

    The elder scoffed when he heard Tristan''s words.

    "Huh?! You dare fight us with orcs?! Seems like you are more foolish than I thought, Lord Mayor. 100 lowly orcs won''t be enough! A thousand, maybe!"

    Ignoring thest part of the other party''s words, Tristan maintained his smile and said

    "We''ll see, I am quite confident with my green friends here to kick your ass!"

    Upon hearing this, the orcs quickly moved and stood in line. The elder was startled when he saw the orcs that were famous for being chaotic lined up in an orderly manner.

    "What kind of tribe is this?!" asked the elder, who subconsciously raised his voice.

    The elder then realized that at least one out of every three orcs had arger body and tusks that were longer than normal orcs. A disbelief expression surfaced on his face as he recognized what they were. They were the infamous Orc Champion, and there were so many of them.

    "H-How.. could this be possible?!"

    Tristan''s smile widened into a smirk as he said, "No more need for chatting. Everyone, attack!!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 200 - Charge!

    Just hours before the battle with the elves...

    [Blood sealed - augmentation]??

    [Augmented target required 80 blood essence, proceed]

    [Orc Grunts]

    [Battle power 35 - 78]

    [Targets sessfully evolved into Orc Champions]

    This was the strategy he had painstakingly prepared for this battle. The secret behind his confidence and determination.

    His blood seal augmentation ability had the capability of pushing the power of a mere orc grunt to the level of a champion''s with over 100% increase in battle power.

    But the best thing about this was the fact that using this ability on the orcs required a far smaller amount of blood essence inparison to using it on a human.

    Knowing that they all had a difficult fight ahead of them, Tristan didn''t hesitate to use all of his remaining blood seal pool to strengthen the group of orcs that had volunteered to help him with the task.

    With an average of 75 points of blood essence per orc, Tristan augmented 30 orc grunts into orc champions. Leaving him 600 blood essence points left to use on the 4 champions within the group.

    [Augmented target requires 150 blood essence points, proceed?]

    [Orc Champion]

    [Battle power 80 - 108]

    Simr to Karra, the orc champions only received about a 40% increase in points.

    Although it was not as effective and efficient of an increase inparison to the grunts, the 30 battle power increase would still make the difference between fighting on the same level as the elves or actually having the capability to overpower them.

    With that, Tristan now had 35 orc champions within the group of 100 that came to the mines to face off with the elves.

    Upon seeing this, the elder was confused. One of his elf warriors could fight 10 orc grunts. But when it came to the orc champions, their level of strength was about the same. Which was what made the presence of the orcs that were now trailing behind Tristan so rming.

    Normally, a standard tribe of about a hundred orcs would only have one or two champions in their midst. This made the fact that Tristan was able to find a tribe with over 30 champions even more impressive; seeing it with his own two eyes left the elder at a loss for words.

    While the elder was still baffled at the sight of the group before him, the white haired elf on the other side had alreadymanded his men to charge.

    "Attackkk!!" He roared.

    As soon as Tristan gave the order, the high orc Karra shouted out her innate ability, [Battle Cry], which instantly gave the orcs'' strength another 10% boost. This was a special ability reserved only for high orcs such as herself.

    "Chiiwwiiikk!!!"

    All one hundred orcs began to charge through the group of elves, whose numbers were merely a little more than 40.

    The elves took out the des and bows that were resting on their hips. Arrows began to rain on the orcs, but unless it hit any critical points on their bodies, the green creatures were still advancing, remaining mostly unharmed. A few may have fallen when the arrows pierced their heads, but the others managed to plow through without any issue.

    "Yess!! Kill them all !!" Shouted Tristan, high in spirits.

    Tristan, the one with the highest battle power out of all of them, bes the first to encounter the wood elves. He didn''t waste any time before quickly shing the elf that was closest to him with his de.

    With just this one charge, Tristan could see that the orcs managed to overwhelm several unprepared elves with sheer force alone.

    The poor elves were being swiftly dissected with the orcs'' huge axes and swords.

    After the first charge, the rest were already able to cast their spells. Tristan could see that many of them utilized [Stone Skin], a spell that made their skin tougher and more resilient to any attacks. Some used different, more defensive spells that incorporated wood, such as [Oak Flesh].

    With those protection spells, Tristan could see that the high swing of the orc ax was only able to throw the elves around without killing them, nor make any marks on their bodies.

    On the other hand, the elves'' fast movements were able to dodge the attacks that were directed towards them, as well as striking the orcs'' thick skin.

    With high speed, Tristan helped the orcs that were closest to him and cut apart the elves with his Mithril longsword.

    Tristan grabbed the elven saber that one of their opponents had dropped and threw it to Astrid.

    "Use this!"

    It annoyed him that the orcs were unable to maximize their strength because of their low standard of equipment.

    The battle quickly turned into a huge brawl where the orcs were able to outstrength the elves and overwhelm them, but were hardly able to kill any of them. In addition, the orcs'' body resistance and stamina were being tested as well.

    Tristan grabbed another elf by the cor before cutting his head off. Finally, he saw the elder standing in the distance, about to cast a spell.

    The elder was in a trance; it appeared he was casting a high tier spell. Tristan rushed in and tried to stop the wrinkly elf, but he was suddenly held back by another opponent whose body was cast in [Stone Skin].

    Not wasting much time, Tristan used his de art and managed tond a huge cut on the elf''s chest. His powerful Mithril sword sessfully cut through the stone skinyer, and elf blood poured out from his chest.

    Being hindered, he could now only helplessly stare as the elder floated in the air, with a wave of green spiritual energy spreading from himself towards all the elves around him.

    To his surprise, the elf he had just cut before instantly regained his strength, and even the gaping wound on his chest had suddenly closed.

    It was a mass healing spell.

    "Dammit!" He yelled.

 Chapter 201 - Turning Tides

    A mass healing spell would be a very useful boon in a fight like this, but for Tristan, it spelled bad news.

    Just when victory stood right in front of the eyes, the elder cast such a spell, turning the tides of the hard-won victories from the orcs'' hard work in an instant. Now, the elves had started to regain their footing, and they were able to push the orcs back.??

    The elves'' second wind was followed by attacks using multiple forms of magic. nt magic caused the leaves and grass all around them to shift and vibrate with energy before they absorbed it into their body, water magic formed whips flowing all around their body like tendrils, and earth magic pulled chunks of the ground to form some kind of shield all around the elven warriors. Those are the three elements mastered by the wood elf.

    At first, Tristan thought about not focusing on the warriors and tried to take the battle right to the elder, but so far, the elder has not used any offensive spells. All he saw the elder use was multiple buffing and healing spells.

    Considering the situation, it would not be the smartest move to face him, and Tristan decided to try for a different target. He rushed forward and decapitated an elf who was distracted from fighting the orcs.

    He alone had managed to personally kill eight elves. Unless the elder has the ability to bring dead elves to life, he has no need to worry about them.

    Right now, the best thing he could do for his force was to thin out the opponents'' forces to make it easier for his team and with it render the mass healing spell useless.

    After he killed his ninth elf, two elves tried to charge at him together, but they made a grave mistake, for no one there could match Tristan''s speed nor strength.

    "AARGGGH!!" Tristan shoutout all his rage toward theing elves

    With such speed unable to be stopped by the elf, he pierces one elf''s heart with his de. while the de was still stuck on the elf''s chest, he used his arm to grab onto the second elf and break his neck.

    He nced at the corpses all around his feet with eyes full of disdain, before casting [Blood Synthesis] multiple times. Small des made of crimson mists formed all around him before dashing towards the direction of the group of elves fighting the orcs.

    He saw the des scratch and nip at the elves'' skin, disrupting their concentration. As he expected from his experience in Vanyar, the des made from [Blood Synthesis] would not be enough to do any significant damage to the elves with body protection spells. However, although it could only scratch, the multiple distractions was enough to give the orcs the chance they needed to overpower them.

    Tristan was very satisfied when he saw a mere grunt was able to kill an elf with the help of his skill.

    Just like he predicted, within minutes there were now only about a dozen elven warriors left. With this, the mass healing spells won''t matter much anymore.

    Now that the bnce has tipped to favor them, the elder''s expression twisted into one of utter rage. the wrinkled elder raised his hand to cast another spell. On hismand, three pirs of water rose from the ground, before it squirmed to form humanoid creatures of water.

    They are water elementals, a creature made of pure water whose size was about twice that of an adult human. In ce of hands, those creatures have a pair of des made of hardened water.

    The elven elder pointed at the orcs, and in an instant, the three creatures ran amok, attacking the orcs without thought. For Tristan, this was his cue to charge towards the elder.

    But, as soon as he reached around five meters away from him, the old elf turned invisible. It was a [Mirage], a tier 4 water element spell.

    "That is cheating!, you coward!"

    Tristan attempted to taunt the elder, but he received no response. One of the water elementals returned and started attacking him.

    The monstrous water elemental swung its des all around, but dodging a creature without its own thought was nothing. The problem was this water elemental seems unable to die. Multiple shes only made them easily reform back.

    Seeing one elemental not enough to stop Tristan, the second elemental turned away from the orcs and started to approach him

    Now that there were two elementals against him, dodging became much harder. He kept on moving, trying to find the invisible culprit.

    Tristan decided to activate his Katra, and lines appeared within his field of vision, a dim glow indicating the direction and speed of movement. Unfortunately, whenever he managed to sense movement and tried to track it, his invisible opponent was always quick enough to escape, resulting in the lines changing too quickly for him to properly react.

    It is time for a different approach.

    The two water elementals dashed forward again to attack, and this time, Tristan didn''t try to escape. Instead, he approached them, dodged the de-like arms, and quickly touched its chest while casting [Heat Touch]

    Extreme heat quickly turns the two of them instantly evaporated into white water mist.

    With the help of the white mist of little water droplets that fill the area, the elder was no longer invisible. The old elf looked like a bulky, armor-shaped distortion amidst the white mist.

    "There you are!" Tristan eximed and dashed as quickly as he could.

    Without wasting time, he jumped at the invisible form before it could turn away again and swung his sword to the side.

    Swishhh!

    nk!

    To his surprise, his sword was blocked, his 200 battle power was stopped.

    The elder started to appear in front of him. Although he looked old and wrinkled, he wore a seemingly heavy metal armor decorated with golden highlights. Two small crystal des blocked his attack, and from the feeling they exuded, Tristan could tell both the armor and the daggers were magical items.

    Their eyes met, and the elder smirked at him. All of a sudden, blood gushed out from the left side of his waist.

    "What the fuck?!" Tristan red at the elder. The attack did not hurt too much, but what worried him was the elder''s ability to make the cut without him seeing it.

    "Haha, did you think I would just run around waiting for you to find me?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 202 - Dangerous Combo

    His current opponent was an elven elder. With his wrinkling skin, Tristan could deduce that the elf had most likely been around for about a thousand years. And in those years, he must have umted the skills needed to engage inbat.

    Water element invisibility spell, water element summoning, and a healing spell. From the stats and the spells that he used, it was clear that the old elf was a support type magician. These types of magicians were normally weak in terms of close rangebat or any physicalbat.??

    Unfortunately, what hecked was made up for with the artifacts he possessed. The armor as well as the dual daggers were definitely magic items, and potent ones at that.

    Tristan had seen what a high tier item imbued with magic could do. He wondered what this one was able to aplish.

    Now that the old elf had removed his tunic, Tristan could see that the full te of golden armor he was wearing covered almost all of his body, up to his neck.

    Honestly, the armor''s appearance evoked a sense of strength and superiority that really did not match with the elf''s pale, wrinkly skin¡­

    Tristan was like, "Please... Cover it up, old dude..."

    The old man''s appearancebined with the malicious smile on his face bothered him, somehow.

    The elder said in a calm manner. "It appears I will be killing two mayors in a week."

    Tristan appreciated the old man''s honesty. Now he had no need to worry about any reprimands from the king or the other elves when he eventually killed the old bastard.

    "You are so confident, old goat!"

    "You will see why!" replied the elf

    The old elf cast his spell again. From what Tristan could tell, it was a speed buff spell, making the elder''s sinewy body move at an inhuman rate. [slipstream] and added with [Mirage], were both powerful Tier 4 water element spells to boost speed and render its user invisible. A dangerousbination indeed.

    Swiiissh! Swiish!

    Tristan could tell from the movements in the wind that the dagger wasing, but it was simply too fast. If only he was able to see his physical form; he could dodge the attacks better then.

    Saatt!!

    Tristan has been trying to dodge and parry the attack but still, the old elf had managed to strike at least half a dozen wounds into Tristan''s body, injuring him.

    Since his eyes seemed to be ying tricks on him, Tristan decided to close them shut and started to depend on his other senses and Katra to predict the old elf''s movements.

    Swiishhh!! Swisshh!!

    He starts to depend on the sounds of the earth around him and the flying dusty wind whizzed past his ears, that''s when he can tell the enemy''s movement and react faster.

    "To the right!"

    nkkk!!

    "Lucky guess!"

    Tristan was unable to dodge or parry all of them, but just like before, Tristan''s body had the capability to adapt to his opponent in the heat of battle. It was as if his body has a memory and every each repeated attack only made the body react better. It can also be said he was relying mostly on his instincts.

    Surprisingly although he was still barely able to see the enemy, It didn''t take much longer before Tristan was able to predict theing attacks with even more precision. This time, he was able to counter them more effectively.

    nkl!!

    Unfortunately, despite his efforts, it appeared that he merely hit the ted armor... Such an annoying opponent.

    Tristan could see the elder elf decloak from his spells a few meters away. Although he was not able to injure him directly, the old elf still seemed shocked from the hit. Tristan smirked.

    The wrinkle elder looked very irritated now. Once more, he cast the summoning elemental spells, and again three towering pirs emerged from the ground, eventually transforming into three humanoid water elements who charged directly at Tristan.

    Now with the three elementals added to the fight, Tristan could no longer sense the enemy''s movement like before. There was simply too much to focus on.

    "Shit!"

    It appeared that the elder had figured out his strategy. He was looking to overwhelm Tristan''s senses by adding more opponents.

    He could dodge the elemental attack very well with his speed, but it was the old elf''s dagger that kept managing to reach his body.

    With blood dripping from the wounds on his body, Tristan thought of an idea. His elf body could handle the wound easily but then he decided to pretend to be weakened by all the attacks. He lowers his speed, reaction and opens himself more to be hit.

    Finally, the move Tristan had been waiting for hade. The old elf decided to stab him from the front to hit his heart and end the battle.

    All Tristan needed to do was move a little at the right moment just to make sure he didn''t hit the heart.

    Spatttt!!

    When the dagger pierced Tristan''s body, The elder grinned at first, but upon seeing the wicked smile that had spread on Tristan''s face, he quickly tries to dislodge the dagger. Unfortunately for him, Tristan had grabbed the old elf''s shoulders with his tworge hands, pulling him in, letting him pierce the dagger deeper.

    "I got you now!! taste my strongest move! Elvish headbuttt!!"

    Baaammmm!!

    With such high battle power, that single hit instantly made the elder''s nose begin to gush violently with blood. He didn''t realize this elf was so crazy. He tried so hard to release himself from the grip. But he can''t move his body at all. Tristan''s grip was too strong for him.

    "Haha! You must be really regretting that you didn''t wear a helmet, aren''t you!"

    Baaaammmm!!

    The second headbutt was enough to almost knock him outpletely.

    "Safety first! Always safety first! wear a helmet!!"

    Tristan''s wickedugh and spur of words he dont gets was thest thing he heard before,

    Baaaammmm!!

    Finally, the third headbutt made him fall unconscious.

    Although his body bleeding here and there plus a huge headache from all the headbutting, Tristan couldn''t help but feel satisfied that he had won.

    By the time Tristan had finished the duel, he saw that the orcs had also already finished up all the elves warriors. He stood up straight, valiantly looking towards his troops as blood dripped down his forehead.

    "We have won!!!"

    The sight of their bloodied chief screaming of victory made the orcs shout with him in Unison

    "Golug!! Golug!! Golug!!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 203 - Loots

    Tristan had just won his first battle against the elves, and he couldn''t help but feel good about that. It was such a good experience for him, as he ultimately had an opportunity to fight a group of elite fighters and strong magicians and even came out on top of them as the winner.

    Unfortunately, Tristan''s forces didn''t seed unscathed as there were several losses from his side as well.??

    From the more than a hundred orcs that he brought for this endeavor, he was left with 48 grunts and 22 champions. In addition, some of those who survived suffered severe injuries and fatal wounds.

    In this one battle, more than 50 orcs breathed theirst and would never be seen again. However, considering the 50 elves they defeated, Tristan should still count this as a win.

    Moreover, though more than 50 of their brethrensy lifelessly on the ground, these orcs acted as their death to be an honor and shouted out their war cry loudly. They were celebrating for winning the battle and praising their extraordinary chief for leading such a battle.

    "Chiiwiwkk!!"

    This was something that Tristan always thought as amazing from these orcs. Seeing these very scenes made him more attached to these orcs, and his mind even thought those 50 stinking elves were notparable to the 50 orcs he just lost.

    At this moment, he suddenly felt this victory of theirs was a pyrrhic one.

    In order to not let the same thing happen, or at least reduce the loss they would suffer, Tristan decided to find a way to further strengthen his orc tribe.

    Afterwards, Tristan ordered the orcs to start clearing the dead bodies and picked up all the equipment off the elves'' body. The majority of these elves, after all, were equipped with Tier 2 weapons and armor. There were even a few who had Tier 3 weapons, which certainly made Tristan really happy when he saw it.

    He decisively decided to share the tier 2 weapon to the orcs, as for the armor and all the tier 3 were kept for himself.

    The reason he didn''t give the Tier 2 armors to the orcs was because their muscr figures didn''t exactly match the elves'' slender figure.

    In the end, there were still 3 elves who survived the bloodbath. The elder and the other two who were heavily injured.

    Tristan decided not to kill them in order to get more information about what was actually going on.

    Naturally, before bringing the three back to Caerleon Town, Tristan didn''t forget to take all the equipment on the elder''s body. Immediately after, he willed the system to show the equipment''s stats.

    [Cuirass Set - Heavy Armor - Tier 3]

    [A set of body armor]

    [Weight 33.5 kilograms]

    [Increased durability]

    [Mithril Dagger - Tier 3]

    [Weight 2.8 kilograms]

    [Increased attack speed]

    The armor surprisingly had an increased durability effect, while the dagger gave its wielder a speed boost. One was a magic-based buff to the artifact itself, while the other granted positive buff to the user.

    While he was still immersed in the joy of finding the two artifacts, Tristan also discovered a storage ring on the elder. But unfortunately, he discovered he couldn''t open it and had no idea how.

    Even so, Tristan still gained a lot from this battle. Not only did he receive a total of 10,260 Blood Essence from extracting all the elves, he also earned 820 Blood Essence from the orcs.

    Unfortunately, it was the same with the blood-sealed, augmented orcs who died didn''t give back his Blood Essence, only the corpse''s blood itself.

    At the end of the day, Tristan was extremely happy that his almost empty reserve of Blood Essence was once again refilled.

    [Blood Essence 14190]

    Today''s battle gave Tristan an understanding that the orcs were the best ally for him, as their prowess were formidable and the amount required to be augmented were very low. As for the elves with their high harvest of Blood Essence they should be an ideal enemy for him to harvest.

    ---

    Tristan told Astrid, Karra, and a few Orc Champions to stay, while ordering Gazef to take the remaining orcs and three prisoners back to Caerleon as he still had onest thing he wanted to do.

    "Karra, we are going to check the orcir one more time."

    Tristan thought the elder''s attention to the mines appeared to be too much for a mere 100 orcs. Hence, he decided to once again enter the mines, heading into the breedingir. Several minutester, the group reached the ce where the cocoons were.

    It would be a week or two before the orc would be mature enough to break through its cocoon with its own prowess. But Tristan didn''t have the n to wait as he was sure part of the answer for his problem was beyond this cocoon.

    Tristan swiftly took out his newly-acquired Tier 3 dagger and delivered an upward sh to one of the cocoons. In the blink of an eye, it was torn open and revealing the bits of what inside.

    Everyone, even Karra, was surprised when they saw it wasn''t a normal orc thaty inside the cocoon. It was arge orc-like figure with dark ck skin. An Uruk.

    [Orc - Uruk]

    [Battle power 55]

    The dark-skinned orc was the same kind Tristan fought when he first arrived in this world. This kind of orc was tougher and stronger than its normal counterpart. Even though not yet fully grown, it was already almost twice stronger than a normal grunt.

    Seeing the figure who managed to exert a faint pressure even on himself, Karra quickly said, "Chief, these orcs are not natural. They are an abomination"

    A few secondster, the Uruk woke up and quickly attacked the group at sight. However, Karra was fast enough to kill him before he could do anything dangerous.

    After making sure the Uruk was dead, Karra quickly turned to Tristan and said, "Chief, these orcs were born with an objective nted by their creator. I don''t think I could convert them into our tribe."

    Tritan once looked around the wall of the caves. There are more than 100 Uruks orcsying inside theseirs ready to follow their mastermand in a week or two.

    Knowing the Forlond elf behind it all, it must have been nothing good.

    At first he was thinking about destroying them but the uruk corpse in front of him only gave a mere 15 blood essence. He decided to find more information about them first before deciding.

 Chapter 204 - Report

    Tristan returned back to Caerleon, quickly calling a meeting with Uriel and Gazef.

    First things first, he needs to report that the Forlorn Kingdom was the one responsible for the murder of the previous Arcadian mayor. Aside from that, the fact that Tristan had just killed off 50 of their warriors was something that needed to be reported to the capital quickly. ??

    Uriel then carried out a ck wooden box, inside of which had three stones. All of them weremunication devices that had been provided to the group by the kingdom for matters of emergency.

    The red marking stones served as a directmunication method to the capital of Arcadia, while the other two were able to contact the two towns that were closest to them, which were Erantell and Falkreath. The purpose of all these devices was to maintain a steady stream ofmunication between the towns.

    Uriel immediately used the one with red markings on it to report about what had happened. Usually, it took about an hour before they would receive an answer.

    "Uriel," Tristan started. "What if I wished tomunicate to queen Leena of the Vanyar directly?"

    Tristan had a feeling that if he wanted to deal with the Forlorn forces, he would need more backup from the Vanyar. They were, after all, holding the princess of Vanyar hostage.

    Uriel said that he actually did have onemunication stone that could directly contact one of the Vanyar elders. The trouble was that he left the stone at Erantell, he was after all came here to this town without much packing.

    The other option was to still use the red mark stone as a way of leaving a message for the queen through the arcadian capital andter the capital could contact the queen of Vanyar for him.

    Uriel exined the processes of themunicationwork with pride, as this was a subject that he had keen knowledge about.

    Fortunately, when it came in terms of technological development, Earthlink was at least a hundred years more advanced in matters of convenientmunication devices. Almost every human on earth has one, some even have a few.

    Although themunication stone on Tristan''s hand had magical properties, this device alone was not very efficient; it worked at most just like a pager, which was a hundred years old obsolete technology.

    While waiting for an answer from the capital, Tristan decided to find more information about the Forlorn kingdom and the individual the elves had mentioned, the highly revered Prince Janus.

    When he broached the topic, Uriel was more than happy to exin.

    Mirkwood, Vanyar, Forlorn and Ithilien. Those were the 4 wood elf kingdoms that resided in the Evergreen Forest. Mirkwood being thergest, Vanyar the most influential, Ithilien the most mysterious, and Forlorn the strongest.

    "What?! The strongest? These Forlorn are the strongest, that''s bad, really Bad!!" Tristan was about to scold Uriel not to mention this before attacking them.

    Uriel calmly answered

    "Don''t worry, these titles became famous a thousand years ago before the Arcadian kingdom began to flourish. At the moment, they are at about the same level as the Vanyar."

    This definitely make Tristan abit calmer, but then thinking about the strength of the Vanyar he once again anxious

    When talking about strength, For elves it is mostly taking into ount the number of Yinto, the nobles, Yuri the warriors and Yento elves that were present in each kingdom.

    The Mirkwood had twice the overall number of elves, with a poption of over 10,000. Despite this, though, more than 90% of them were peaceful Yenti elves who preferred to not engage with the frivolous issues of the outside world.

    Meanwhile, the Vanyar and Forlorn elves these days had about the same number of Yuri warrior ss elves, which was a little above 1000 elven warriors.

    To be more clear about their strength, topare, today Tristan killed 50 out of 1000 of them, as well as capturing one of their elders, the elven Yinto noble.

    "1000?! Of those warriors?! That''s a lot of elven warriors, how many men do you think the capital would send for this matter?" Asked Tristan incredulously. The previous battle he had just won, took one third of his forces. He definitely needs reinforcement from the capital for this

    Surprisingly, It was Gazef the head guard who supplied him with an answer.

    "I am sorry to interrupt my lord... But I believe there won''t any troops will be sent from capital for this"

    Hearing the wordsing from Gazef, Uriel turned to him and grinned before Tristan demanded him to exin.

    "What do you mean by that, Gazef?

    Gazef appear more serious than usual when he exins

    "In thest 10 years I have be a head guard, such conflicts between the Arcadians and the elves have happened a few times." He looked the mayor in the eye as he continues

    "But after all I had seen, the conflicts have never actually umted into a real war or battle. The conflict usually died down fast without any reprimand to the elves"

    Tristan was dumbstruck and had momentarily gonepletely silent.

    "What is going on, Uriel? What am I missing?!"

    Uriel seemed hesitant at first, but afterward, he said, "You could say that most of the conflict between the Arcadians with the elves mostly ended with the humans being at fault, this is the way it always been"

    "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

    As this was happening, the stone with red marking that was resting inside the ck wood box lit up.

    Uriel took it out of the box. The message had finally reached them. As he passed over the stone to Tristan''s palm, he smiled.

    "Here, listen to this reply from the capital."

    [Information received, do not act further, an investigation will be held, release elven prisoners right away]

    "What the fuck is this, Uriel?! They murdered the mayor, came to threaten us and demanded things, and now you''re telling me we are not allowed to retaliate but instead we are supposed to release them? What about Serene?! What about my wife!"

    "Calm down!" The fat elf seems panicked with Tristan''s response and continues "that''s the way it is in here, as for your wife, they will never hurt her. Like always, the king will send envoys to both Vanyar and Forlorn regarding this matter. Like the message just said, do not act any further!"

    Upon hearing this, Tristan''s anger boiled over. He was red in the face and furious upon hearing Uriel''s urge for him to calm down.

    "Fuck! Fuck the king. Let me see the prisoner!"

 Chapter 205 - Prisoners

    Despite Uriel''s relentless attempts to stop him, Tristan still forced his way down to the dungeon apanied by both Gazef and the helpless Uriel. He wanted to check the three prisoners he just captured, and there was nothing that could stop him from doing exactly that.

    Tristan and the other two swiftly entered the damp and gloomy dungeon, and they were immediately greeted by the pitiful sight of the three prisoners. The three werepletely stuck on the dungeon wall as their four limbs were bound by metal chains, immobilizing them from any sort of movement.??

    When Tristan took a closer look at them, he realized that the two elven warriors looked like they were on the verge of death while the elder strangely looked very lively despite his old age.

    The moment the elder saw Tristan, he immediately opened his mouth and spoke as if he had expected his arrival. "Huh! Release us! This is not how you treat the elves!"

    Tristan ignored the other party''s words as he approached them. When the distance between them was only a mere meter, he spoke in a reserved tone.

    "Ah, I''m truly sorry, elder. I just received a message from the capital.. And I feel really bad for my actions."

    "Hahaha! Can! So predictable! Now release us!"

    Tristan appeared to be in panic as he tried to find something on his waist. While the elder was smiling and thinking that he would get the key to release him, Tristan took out his crystal dagger instead. Even so, the elder still thought nothing of it and only assumed that Tristan wanted to return his dagger back to him.

    Unfortunately, reality didn''t go as the elder had hoped because Tristan abruptly lunged forward and stabbed him in the shoulder.

    "Aaarggghh!" The painful wail of the elder echoed throughout the dungeon, sending shivers if one could hear it.

    Gritting his teeth, the elder stared dagger at Tristan as he said, "What''s the meaning of this?!! You dare!??"

    Faced with the elder''s murderous re, Tristan returned to his nonchnt attitude. "Aahh, I''m truly sorry, elder. Is this treatment still not good enough? If so, let me do it better for you."

    He immediately stabbed the elder''s other shoulder after saying that, causing another cry to be heard.

    "Aaaarrggghh! You are a lunatic!!"

    Instead of disagreeing, Tirstan actually seemed to agree with what the other party said.

    "Hmmm.. Maybe I am.." Tristan answered while showing a wondering look. Then, his gaze suddenly turned sharp and he brandished the dagger on the elder''s neck. "So you better tell me what I need to know! Tell me about the truth about the mines, and the whereabouts of my wife now!"

    Despite the pain he currently felt, the elder unexpectedly chuckled at Tristan. "Hahaha.. You''re new, aren''t you? If you hurt me.. Your king will be in trouble, and so will you.. you better release us now and I will say nothing about this"

    Tristan fell silent as he stared deeply at the elder. "You really think that I wouldn''t dare to kill you, don''t you?"

    The elder smiled wickedly at his words, but just as he was about to chuckle again, Tristan walked over to the elven warrior on the right and slit his throat. Blood immediately painted the floor of the dungeon, followed by a body that twitched violently and nearly slumped to the ground only to be held back by the chains.

    The elder was stupefied as he had taken the live view of what was happening with his own eyes. He slowly pointed his finger at Tristan and stammered as he spoke. "What?!! You- You are crazy!!"

    His eyes shifted toward the two people next to Tristan, his gaze was telling them to try and put some sense to this crazy mayor of theirs. In the meantime, Tirstan calmly wiped the blood on the dagger with a cloth, turned his head around and said,

    "Gazef, it''s sad that we were forced to release the prisoner. You did already release those elves, didn''t you?"

    Gazef was caught off guard for a moment by Tristan''s question and then understood what thetter meant the next moment. Nodding his head, he deliberately lowered his voice but still loud enough for the elder to hear. "Yes, My Lord. I released them already"

    "I see.. Let''s hope they don''t run into any bandits or dangerous creatures out there. After all, it would be a pity for their family if they died somewhere unknown in the wilderness."

    At this moment, Uriel unexpectedly joined in the conversation. "Actually, Lord Tristan, there are many bandit groups roaming outside Caerleon. This ce is located very close to the Chaotic ins, after all.

    Tristan turned to Uriel with a smile on his face. "That is indeed true, Mayor Uriel."

    Hearing the three people''s conversation, the elder and thest elven warrior panicked. They finally understood how cruel and insane Tristan was, and realized that the threats he had made earlier were no joke.

    "You.. You are crazy!! You can''t do this!!"

    Tristan turned around and smiled wickedly at the elder. "This is where you are wrong, elder. I definitely can.."

    The two fell silent while anger and hatred welled up within them. Realizing that, Tristan quickly gave his next move.

    "Actually, I need ONE of you to pass a message back to Forlorn. Therefore, the first to answer my question will be the lucky one. Only the first-"

    Surprisingly, it was the elder who quickly interrupted him.

    "I will answer your questions! Just promise me that you will keep your word!"

    Tristan inwardly smirked when he saw this, though outwardly he kept his calm demeanor.

    "Of course, I will."

    Hearing this, the elven warrior could only watch in disbelief as his elder betrayed him so quickly. He couldn''t even see the slightest bit of hesitation at thetter''s actions.

    "Go on, then. Answer my previous questions."

    Fearing that Tristan would take back his words, the elder quickly spilled everything that he knew. He said that their prince had always fancied Serene for a long time. So even though she was captured and held captive, she was treated very well.

    As for the orcs, the elder appeared to be a little hesitant. But he immediately revealed the truth when he saw Tristan ying around with the dagger in his hand.

    "Our prince wants to return Forlorn to the position of the strongest elven kingdom once again. We have been experimenting on the orcs for that endeavor, hence the mines."

    Tristan showed an interesting expression when he heard that. "How much help can 100 Orc Uruks give him?"

    Hearing this, the elder strangely started to chuckle.

    "100? No, no, no.. We actually have over 20 of such mines scattered around the Chaotic ins, totaling more than 3000 Uruks."

    The elder sounded so proud that he even said the grand n was using the Uruks to take over the entire Chaotic ins'' orcs under the banner of Forlorn Kingdom.

    Satisfied with the answer, Tristan said his thanks and began ying with the dagger again.

    "I told you everything.. Let me go this instant! You promised me!" the elder said hurriedly as he was terrified seeing Tristan flip the dagger around.

    "Aaa.. did I really?"

    Realizing where this was going, the elder made hisst ditch attempt. "Keeping promises is an elf''s honor!"

    Tristan looked at the elder with a wicked smile. "Elder¡­. Did you forget what you said about me when we first met?... Didn''t you say I''m not a ...real elf..?" Tristan asked with a confused tone, but the smile on his face grew even wider.

    The elder was at a loss for words. He then started begging for mercy, but unfortunately, Tristan wouldn''t and didn''t n to give it to him.

    Spaattt!

    Tristan cut the elder''s throat open and watched as life slowly left out of the elf body.

 Chapter 206 - Clarification

    Witnessing the death of the elder did manage to give him some degree of satisfaction.

    Of course, he didn''t simply kill them for that reason alone. The man did insult him and hurt his man.??

    Aside from that, Tristan also captured him from a winning battle fair and square. The elder was his prisoner, so he believes it was well in his rights to do whatever he wanted with him.

    Even on earth, there was such a thing as a prisoner ransom. Therefore, he refused to just release them. And above all these reasons, Tristan''s main deciding factor in killing the man was as simple as the desire for blood.

    Once more, Tristan cast his skill.

    [Blood extraction]

    [A mix of 250 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Now extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [1150 blood essence points gained]

    It was just as he thought. The elder elf managed to give him such a high amount of blood essence points. As he checked the statistics, Tristan smirked triumphantly to himself. He was d that he could gain so many points, considering the amount of trouble it took to beat the elf. He also made sure not to forget to collect blood essence points from the other one.

    [Blood essence - 15320]

    Seeing the number gave him much joy, and he grinned to himself, satisfied that he finally got that out of the way.

    He then slipped out a ring from his pocket, turning it in his fingers as he studied it attentively. This was the storage ring that had belonged to the elder elf. Just like he had been told, once the owner of the ring dies, it bes avable and open to anyone who can im it.

    This must be how opening a christmas present feels like. He dropped a little blood onto the ring andmanded it to open.

    [Storage ring - Tier 2]

    So, this particr ring was currently in the same tier as the one Serene owned. Upon analyzing it further, Tristan found that it had a dimension of 2 cubic meters.

    Peering into it, he found two more magical items had been stored inside. Particrly a sword and a shield, which were both Tier 3 items.

    [Round Shield - Tier 3]

    [Weight - 12 kilograms]

    [Increased durability]

    [Short sword - Tier 3]

    [Weight - 9.8 kilograms]

    [Increased strength]

    There were also about a dozen potion vials resting at the bottom of the storage space, and upon examining them more intently, he realized that he had no knowledge of any of them. After rummaging some more, he then found about two dozen small crystal pebbles, which were yellow in color. As for these, Tristan had been told about them before. They were called spirit stones, and they served as a kind of currency which was used by the elves. Uriel told him a single one of these stones should be worth about ten gold coins.

    Tristan counted the spirit stones one by one with a gleeful smile stered on his face. "26...27.. 28¡­ I am now 280 gold coins richer!"

    Uriel can only look on at Tristan''s newly acquired fortunes with envy. War and battle did give more profit than peace, that was for sure. Especially when taking into consideration Tristan''s need for more blood essence.

    Finally, when he was ransacking the elder''s corpse, Gazef began to ask him more questions regarding their further course of action.

    "Should we release this one, then?" He said as he pointed in the direction of thest terrified elf, who was shaking violently in his binds, eyes as wide as saucers.

    "Why?" Tristan only gave a confused look in return and did not say anything else.

    From the beginning, he had never nned to release any of the hostages. In fact, he had other ns for thisst one.

    Tristan can see the elf hopeless expression hearing his words

    He then returned back to his study and discussed the n even further with both Uriel and Gazef, who were trailing behind him.

    With this new information that had arisen about the 3000 orc uruks, Tritan was confident that this time, he would get a better response from the capital.

    Upon his orders, Uriel sent the new message to the capital immediately. Unfortunately, though, the reply that they got back from the stone was highly discouraging.

    [Information received, do not act further, an investigation will be held, release the elven prisoners right away]

    Tristan was dumbfounded to find that it merely stated the exact same response as the message before.

    To be sure, he told Uriel to reconfirm and send another message which requested further rification. But this time, they did not even bother with a reply.

    Once more, Tristan exploded with rage, and he smashed the ck wooden box to the floor.

    Rubbing his temples, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. Once he had regained hisposure, he began to speak to Uriel

    "And this answer definitely came from the king himself?"

    "Yes, most likely the king had been notified." Said Uriel, slightly nervous from Tristan''s outburst.

    With this, Tristan was now 100% sure that the bastard king Can knew something about this matter. He was most probably trying to douse the issue by refusing to acknowledge it in the first ce.

    Seeing his irritation, Uriel then said, "Just let this go. These are matters between kingdoms. It''s a matter a king should attend to, not mayors of small towns like us."

    Tristan somehow knew that this matter was not supposed to be part of the king''s test. But outside of his anger towards the elves and the worries regarding his wife, Tristan still decided to involve himself in this matter. He would never be free from that king just by sitting around in his mayor chair, for him after all conflict would always bring him benefit.

    Tristan turned towards the two of them with a wicked grin spread across his face. Once more, the fat elf breathed out a long sigh. This mayor in front of him always made him feel uneasy.

 Chapter 207 - Bloodletting

    The secret of survival for Tristan was definitely the unique trump card that he believed he alone had in this world, the Blood Monarch skill.

    Besides the overpowered skills that allowed him to have a much easier time in this unknown yet extraordinary world, it also gave Tristan outstanding strength and an almost undying body. However, such unreasonable advantages naturally had its own disadvantages. And in Tristan''s case was its absolute need for Blood Essence.??

    Every skill and spell needed Blood Essence, and an enormous amount at that.

    Others could cast a spell using something called spirit, which was a type of energy that seemed to be constantly sustained by their own body; but for Tristan, he had to spend lots of Blood Essence to do the same.

    And as if that wasn''t enough, Tristan also had to deal with the daily consumption of his body, where he would automatically lose an average of 10 Blood Essence every day and appear to only increase further the stronger he bes.

    He had be a being that lived off blood!

    Hence, when Tristan saw how the elf could give much blood essence, he immediately thought of an idea he wanted to try.

    ---

    On this particr night, Tristan sneakily made his way into the dungeon by himself. He returned to the ce where thest elf was being held captive and entered the cell. At the moment, the elven warrior was hanged with metal bars on his four limbs, making him floating horizontally in the air with his face facing the floor.

    The man looked paler whenpared to yesterday, and that was because Tristan had made a cut on his wrists and ankles. The cut wasn''t deep and just enough for a drop of blood to slip through every now and then.

    He believed on earth people called this practice as bloodletting.

    While the elf was bound in the air, there were fourrge jars seen on the floor. Their purpose was to contain the blood that the man was dripping.

    As Tristan walked closer, the elf seemed aware of his presence as he could hear his whimper. "Ple..s.. Ki..l me.."

    Tristan subconsciously took a deep breath when he saw the pitiful state the elf was in.

    Actually, Tristan did think that what he did to the other party was a little inhumane, but he kept telling himself that it was all for his survival and to bepletely urate he wasn''t really a human anymore, therefore inhumane seems to be the right word.

    He walked forward and crouched to pick up one of the jars. Then, Tristan silently prayed for his sess before using his skill.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Targeted blood cells are insufficient]

    "Dammit!!"

    Tristan was very upset because he really hoped that he could extract Blood Essence from the blood of living beings. After all, if he somehow managed to do this, he didn''t have to kill everyday.

    He was astute enough to understand that the more people he killed, the more problems they would bring to him in the future.

    One can imagine how disappointed Tristan was when he discovered the first jar had given him nothing. However, he still had three more. It was still not the time to lose heart.

    Each of the four jars were different as Tristan did the bloodletting at four separate intervals. The first jar, which was in vain, was prepared 2 hours ago, the second was 4 hours, the third was 6 hours, while the fourth was 8 hours.

    Tristan''s hand reached over to the second jar while hoping for the best. He used [Blood Extraction] once again, and a notification suddenly came into his mind. The moment he read it, Tristan let out a smile.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 1 high-quality blood cell were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

    [2 Blood Essence found]

    Even though it was a small amount, it meant a lot to Tristan. Before concluding the result of this experiment, Tristan used the skill on the third jar - the one which was prepared six hours ago.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 4 high-quality blood cell were found]

    [The stale condition of blood cell has decreased the blood quality]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

    [1 Blood Essence found]

    As for the fourth jar, a notification that stated a different result appeared in his mind.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 6 high-quality blood cell were found]

    [Blood cell is too old to extract]

    [0 Blood Essence found]

    In the end, Tristan only managed to obtain a total of 3 Blood Essences. However, the expression on his face did not look disappointed. On the contrary, he couldn''t pull back the big smile that was there.

    Tristan was extremely happy because the experiment had shown him a few crucial rules on the [Blood Extraction] skill.

    First, he needed a certain amount of blood before the skill could be used. The first jar failed because there was too little blood collected in two hours.

    The second rule, he needed fresh blood to gain the most amount of Blood Essence. Those below 6 hours would be considered stale blood and decreased the amount of Blood Essence extracted

    The solution for the first issue was simple as Tristan just needed to acquire more blood. A human body had about a gallon of blood. He just needed to draw enough blood for the skill to work while trying to not kill too many people in the process.

    As for the second issue, the simple solution would be a refrigerator. However, it was very likely that such amazing technology didn''t exist in Arcadia. Thus, Tristan could only resort to the alternative, an Ice element magician.

    In the meantime, Tristan did a calction in his head. Killing the elf now would give him about 200 Blood Essence, but keeping the guy probably could give him an average of 5 to 10 Blood Essence a day. So, it was certainly a profitable endeavor to keep the elf alive.

    Then, Tristan''s thoughts began to wander. What if he had 100 elves? Wouldn''t it mean he could receive around 500 to 1000 Blood Essence daily?! This thought quickly made him regret killing those 50 elves yesterday.

    Tristan grinned as he looked at the bound elf. Next, he decided to release thetter from his shackle. And on the way out of the dungeon, he ordered the guard to find a healer for the elf.

    "Oh and also, give him lots and lots of nutritious food from now on please, thank you."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 208 - Gear Up

    Tristan can feel with every fiber of his body that before his three months are up, another huge battle wille.

    Thest fight with the Forlorn elves merely served as further confirmation of his feelings, and another proof that there are still too many things missing for him to create a proper lineup for battle.

    First, he needed some good equipment, both weapons and armors. The orcs'' current weapons are just normal steel, not even strong enough to be considered tier 1 equipment. It would be such a shame to deprive them of at least that much, for his strong orc forces might be defeated or even died because of ack of proper equipment.

    Buying tier 2 and 3 swords would cost too much coins. Hence, Tristan decided for the town to open up their own cksmith.

    They would build the ce and hire veteran cksmiths to forge custom-made weapons and armor.

    For this to happen, Uriel needed some gold coins to set up the workshop and buy the materials.

    Fortunately, from the 600 gold coins he obtained from the mine owner fines, he still has around 300 coins left. He counted around 100 gold coins and gave them to Uriel. It wouldn''t be enough in the long run, but for now, he just needed enough equipment to ensure the survival of his orc army.

    To cut costs for them, Tristan gave Uriel all the tier 2 loot he found to be modified into orc-sized equipment.

    "Here are the weapons." Tristan handed them all to Uriel. "If possible, I''ll need 200 or 300 sets of tier 2 weapons and armor." Tristan said.

    Uriel nodded and quickly piled the weapons to be carriedter. Next, Tristan turned to Karra and asked.

    "We need more orcs! How can we recruit more orcs as soon as possible?"

    While the city forces are still under training, Tristan will need to depend on the orcs as his main fighting force for a while. Hence, he needed to acquire more of them as soon as possible, those who are willing to pledge their loyalty to his tribe.

    Tristan gave her a very special mission. That is, to recruit as many orcs as possible and erge the tribe.

    The female orcs listened to Tristan''s wishes and nodded confidently. Tor recruit these orcs are not as easy as to pay their sry like the human guards.It could be said its harder or easier depend on the recruiters.These orcs need an inspiring leader as their main requirement.

    One of the most effective way was to give a show of strength, and right now, with the 26 orc champions within the tribe, this will not be too difficult task to do. She was confident she could do it, and all she needed was time.

    With her task at hand, Karra quickly left the ce, leaving the Caerloen security fully to Gazef and his town guards.

    Last but not least, Tristan needed healers.

    In thest fight, he saw the elder''s healing spells in action, and he concluded that having more healers is definitely crucial. Unfortunately, healer talents can rarely be found in Arcadian territory, and Tristan is not allowed to ask for help from the Vanyar elves.

    The only thing he could do is look around for a healer by himself.

    He went to his desk, took out a piece of parchment, and sent a request to the mage guild and the adventurer guild for a healer. He promised decent pay for healers who are willing to stay at Caerleon, and while he was at it, he also requested an ice magician for his special projects.

    His preparations are all done, and he called upon the newly healed Chieng and Astrid.

    "You two wille with me to Forlorn."

    Tristan''s words made Gazef and Uriel nce at him with concern, but he decided to ignore them as usual.

    "Dont worry i have a n"

    --

    The next day, right as the day started to get warmer; six riders came galloping from Caerleon''s southern gate. They went directly to the town hall to meet the mayor.

    Five of them are Arcadian knights, each wearing simple yet sturdy armor with insignias carved on their shoulders. Thest one was a middle-aged man wearing the robes of a formal Arcadian uniform.

    "Greetings, Mayor Tristan, I am Agoon, an Arcadian minister assigned to be the envoy for the Forlorn incident. I heard that you have something to add before my journey to the elf kingdom?"

    "Ah yes, Mister Agoon, I n to join your group in the trip to the Forlorn Kingdom."

    The minister stared at Tristan in surprise.

    "I apologize, My Lord, but there will be talks of a sensitive problem between the two kingdoms. I am afraid I am not allowed to take you with us. This is all the will from the king himself"

    "I see¡­" Tristan nodded and sighed, seemingly resigned. "Just one question, then, aren''t you worried they will turn out hostile and might harm you right as you arrive?"

    "That is a valid concern, My Lord, and if I am being honest, I can see such a thing happening. But, it will still be my duty to follow."

    "That''s amazing!" Tristan smiled. "Then, me and my two teams will join the convoy."

    "Again, I apologize, my lord, I really can''t-"

    "Yes, I heard you the first time. I am sorry too, Minister Akon."

    Tristan walked closer to the minister, grabbed his face, and casted [Blood Seal]

    Red mists immediately engulfed the minister, and as he was caught by surprise, he had no chance to run away or retaliate.

    [Human]

    [Battle Power: 25]

    [Spirit Force: 62]

    [Blood Seal requires 180 blood essence to take effect]

    "Yes. Proceed." Tristan whispered.

    He nced at the five knights, who were prepared to pull out their weapons, and gave them a creepy smile."I hope one of your knight''s uniforms will fit me."

    With the envoy now under his control, Tristan finally got his invitation and way into entering the Forlorn Kingdom while disguised as one of the envoy groups.

    The whole n again gives much concern to Uriel. It does appear to be a very dangerous mission indeed.

    Admittedly, he and Serene were not in the best rtionship at the moment, but no matter what happens, she is still his wife. Besides, it would taint his pride as a man if he let his wife be taken captive without doing anything.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 209 - Disguise

    Loud rumbling sounds resounded and yellowish dust rose in the air as seven figures were seen galloping through the Chaotic ins along the treeline of the Evergreen Forest. This small group of four seemed to be in a rush as their horses sped through the terrain, ignoring the breathtaking view around them.

    After a whole day of uninterrupted traveling with the horses from Caerleon, they finally arrived at where the ce was and found the entrance.

    A huge stone with elvish markings could be seen guarding the path into the forest.

    "It''s a half day journey along this path," said Agoon, the envoy who was currently under Tristan''s Blood Seal influence.

    The seven continued their ride for a few more hours until they finally reached their destination. The moment they arrived exactly at the outskirts of the Forlorn Kingdom, the group quickly came to a stop. At this time, the sky had begun to darken.

    "The location is an hour away to the west." said Agoon when Tristan nced at him.

    Tristan nodded in satisfaction and turned to his other subordinates. "All right, Chieng. Do your magic."

    "Yes, Master." replied Chieng as he quickly went into action.

    In a matter of moments, thepletely healthy space knight took out the ''Gremlin'' drone and its controlputer. Right away, the drone began to fly so fast that it reached high in the air within several seconds. Then, it disappeared into the distance.

    After tinkering with theputer in his hand for a while, Chieng turned to Tristan and said, "We will have a total scan showing the entirety of the area in 10 minutes, Master."

    "That''s great. Good job."

    Afterwards, Tristan took something out of his interspatial ring. It was the Arcadian knight''s uniform that he took yesterday. He gave one set to Astrid and another to himself, as they quickly put them on.

    Fortunately, there were two people who had the right size for both of them among the 5 knights dispatched to guard the envoy.

    Naturally, after stripping the five knights bare of their possessions, Tristan temporarily left them locked up in Caerleon. He couldn''t afford to throw a wrench to this n, after all.

    It was also for their own good, as this mission that Tristan was about to do - rescuing Serene under the nose of thousands of hostiles and escaping from their homebase - would certainly be considered as suicidal.

    The only people sane enough to apany him were the ones who were blood sealed by him.

    Returning his attention back to his current situation, Tristan quickly wore the breastte which was then followed by the gloves and then the helmet. Thetter was enough to cover his ears and long white hair, which was considered a plus in his book.

    Next, Tristan handed over his newly acquired Tier 3 sword and shield to Astrid, and the dagger to Chieng. Those were the weapons that they were best suited with. So it was natural for him to give them those as they could utilize them much better than him.

    Right after the drone finished its scanning, Chieng gave Tristan an earpiece.

    Looking at the familiar yet foreign equipment, Tristan couldn''t hold his mouth frommenting, "Finally, a top-of-the-linemunication device."

    This time, Tristan needed Chieng to stay in this position as the eyes of the operation. Through the drone that was still in the air, Chieng would gather information about things he should be wary of andmunicate it through the earpiece.

    Making sure they were ready, Tristan got everyone gathered as he said.

    "Alright. This ce will be our rendezvous point. If anything goes wrong during the mission, we will immediately fall back to this position."

    Before leaving, Tristan once more confirms the n with the three.

    Preparations were arranged, and now it was time for the execution. Three figures enter the Forlorn Kingdom, the envoy and his escort, two disguised Arcadian knights.

    An hourter, Tristan and the others finally entered the capital of the Forlorn Kingdom, Forlorn City.

    As his eyes looked around, Tristan noticed that the Forlorn elves seemed simr to their other counterpart, the Vanyar elves. The buildings and architecture in Forlorn City had the same ambience as Vanyar City, where exquisite style and design arts could be seen everywhere.

    One of the unique differences was the existence of walls of stones built up around it. Another major geographic difference was also the existence of a hugeke near the city, situated exactly next to the crystal pce. Theke was extremely extraordinary in that its surface reflected the cover of the night.

    Momentster, Tristan''s group of three was seen being led into the crystal pce under the escort of a dozen Forlorn Kingdom''s elven guards. All of this happened because of the presence of the envoy, which allowed them to sneak in without much suspicion.

    (Can you still see me, Chieng?) Tristan spoke in a low voice, as he waited for the other party''s reply from the earpiece.

    (Affirmative, Master. Currently, you are being escorted toward theke)

    Tristan was surprised when he heard that. He did not expect that these people did not take them straight to the pce. Was there a possibility that their cover had been blown?

    While walking toward the destination, Tristan tries to analyze the surroundings andpare them to the people in Vanyar.

    One thing he realizes was the Forlorn appear to be warier as he can see more guards and more elven citizens holding out weapons on the street. This was not a good sign for Tristan.

    Several minutes of walking through Forlorn City''s bustling streetster, they eventually arrived at what seemed to be a tree construction that was made overreaching the hugeke.

    There, Tristan saw an elf wearing a golden tunic embroidered in an elegant and delicate pattern. The other party had short spiky hair of bright green color and was currently holding a ss of drink while being surrounded by many beautiful elven girls.

    The elven guards who escorted Tristan and the others told them to stop. To be safe, Tristan and Astrid stand quite a bit away at the back

    A momentter the elf escorted them. announced who this figure was before them.

    "Arcadian Kingdom''s envoy, you are now in the presence of Janus Itrethril, the Forlorn Kingdom''s prince."

    The prince was standing turned to look at Tristan and the others. "Just three of you? That''s unusual."

    ----------------------------------

    Author Note

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    All specials only for September, Thank you very much.

 Chapter 210 - Diplomacy

    The one who was being introduced by the guards was the prince mentioned by the elder. This young man standing before Tristan and the others were the source, the origin behind everything that was happening.

    Currently, the Forlorn Prince was apanied by two elves dressed in silver tunic and a dozen others who stood all around the structure they were currently at. It seemed these people were his followers, as Tristan could see the reverence as well as subservience they showed to the former.

    Naturally, as a safety precaution, Tristan quickly scanned these people before he tried to do anything that could offend them.

    The result showed him that these people consisted of a dozen warriors and two elf nobles with high spirit force, just like the elder he fought before. A formidable entourage, if Tristan should say himself. And this group still had its main figure, the Forlorn Prince himself.

    Tristan could vaguely perceive that the young man had a certain aura in him, telling that thetter couldn''t and shouldn''t be underestimated. As expected, he could only shake his head inwardly when he saw the scan result of the Forlorn Prince.

    [Battle power undefined]

    [Spirit force undefined]

    Seeing the words that basically stated the Forlorn Prince shouldn''t be yed around, Tristan could only sigh. Luckily, he didn''t let his pride get into his head and stupidly came barging into the Forlorn Kingdom with an unbridled attitude. He was sure that if they did that, they would certainly be obliterated within minutes.

    Tristan was not even sure if he would be able to win against the two elves standing beside the Forlorn Prince. Moreover, these people were obviously those who the Forlorn Prince wanted them to see, as there was no way the protection for a kingdom''s prince was only to this extent. There must be a dozen more of those elf nobles and hundreds of warriors hidden somewhere on standby.

    Once again being reminded of his powerlessness state in this world, Tristan subconsciously clenched his fist.

    The only advantage Tristan seemed to have right now was the fact that these elves didn''t seem to care nor notice him. It was apparent that these people were arrogant and had no interest in a mere human foot soldier - the identity he was currently using.

    As Tristan and the other two stopped several meters away from the Forlorn Prince, Agoon quickly bowed at thetter and said, "Greetings, Prince of Forlorn. I am Agoon, the person who the Arcadian Kingdom sent as the envoy. Forgive my insolence, but I wonder if King Itrethril will be joining us today."

    The Forlorn Prince was seen swirling the ss in his hand as he said,

    "No. You Arcadians will be dealing with me."

    Even though the current development was somewhat unexpected, Agoon quickly schooled his expression and nodded. "I understand, Your Highness.. Then, first of all, we havee here to deliver my king''s deepest and sincerest regret about the incidentplicating your men."

    Afterwards, he took out a sealed parchment and box. These were the messages that King Can wanted to send to the Forlorn Kingdom.

    Through the mental connection that [Blood Seal] made, Tristan knew what the envoy intended. However, he couldn''t open the sealed parchment and box. Hence, he was curious about their contents.

    After reading the message and opening the box, Tristan saw the other party suddenly frowned.

    "Huh! I can''t ept an apology from a half elf! And what''s with these mere 100 spirit stones!" said the Forlorn Prince as he eyed the box with utter disdain. "This measly amount of stones aren''t even enough for the lives of my man!"

    Tristan was surprised when he heard a king as arrogant as Can would send an apology letter for him. Moreover, 100 spirit stones wasn''t a small amount. In fact, unlike what the Forlorn Prince said, that amount of spirit stones was a great deal, a wealth that was equivalent to more than 1000 gold coins.

    Agoon once again nodded his head and added, "Your Highness, We know this isn''t enough, but we hope you understand that these terms have been part of our alliance pact. Therefore, I sincerely hope for your wisdom and insight."

    "No! Those are the terms with my father! You are now dealing with me, so those terms are invalid! And I say this is not enough! Besides, that Arcadian mayor also killed my elder. I can not let this pass,"

    Agoon brought forward the argument that the prisoners had been released, but it was clear the Forlorn Prince didn''t believe him.

    "I can tell that Elder Giulis is already dead, and I am sure that the new mayor is the one responsible for it!"

    Seeing how determined the Forlorn Prince was at his statement, Agoon could only take a step back for now and told the other party that he would certainly have this issue investigated.

    Hearing the way the Forlorn Prince and Agoon conversed made Tristan extremely confused. The current situation was as if the Arcadians were the one at fault, and the Forlorns had nothing with them at all.

    Did Agoon truly had no intention to inquire about the murder of the mayors?

    At the moment, Agoon still maintained his calm demeanor, keeping his respectful attitude to the Forlorn Prince. Tristan could see him nodding at the other party''s words when he suddenly said something that baffled him.

    "Your Highness, if I may hear about your wishes, then I can convey them to my king."

    Tristan could clearly see the green-haired Forlorn Prince showcased a wicked smile in the blink of an eye.

    "You want to hear my wishes?! Fine! Listen carefully!"

    "First, I want 300 spirit stones aspensation! Not one stone less!"

    "Next, I want.. I want Can to give Caerleon to us. The Forlorn elves."

    Agoon was seen nodding his head at the Forlorn Prince''s words, but caught off guard by the next thing he heard. A confused look appeared on his face as he slowly asked the Forlorn Prince in a unsure tone.

    "Your Highness, regarding your second wish, do you mean you want us to rece Caerleon Town''s mayor with one of your people?"

    "No! I want the town! I want you to force those mongrels away. Kill them if you have to, I don''t care. What I care about is that the town is empty."

    Agoon seemed unsure about what he should do. "Your Highness, this.. This request is never heard of. Therefore, I could only convey your wishes to my king."

    It looked like the Forlorn Prince had expected Agoon''s reply as he returned his attention to the liquor in his hand. "Go! Tell Can that I want the town to be cleared in a month!"

    While the two figures were conversing about this matter, Tristan who stood at the side let out a smile on his face. He secretly thought this was going to be fun.

    When the Forlorn Prince assumed the envoy had finished his business and was about to send thetter away, Agoon suddenly inquired about another matter.

    "Your Highness, my king also hopes that you can release the Vanyar Kingdom''s heir, Princess Serene."

    The Forlorn Prince seemed surprised by the inquiry. "You don''t have to worry about her. The matter regarding the Vanyar Princess is between me and the Vanyar Queen, and shall be dealt with between us. There''s no need for you, Arcadians, to get your hand in this matter."

    Upon hearing the Forlorn Prince''s words, Agoon showed a troubled look.

    "Your Highness.. Princess Serene is the cousin of my king. Hence, it''s reasonable for him to be concerned about her safety and well-being. Please release her and let her follow us back to the Arcadian Kingdom. The king even specifically instructed me to say he''s willing to give a heftypensation for her release, and would be very grateful to the Forlorn Kingdom."

    This time, what Agoon said was something that Tristan ordered him to do through [Blood Seal]. This was the best case scenario for him; having his wife released using the king''s money.

    Unfortunately, the Prince firmly rejected it.

    He seemed to be starting to lose his patience when Agoon continued on Tristan''s next order.

    "Your Highness, my king expressly ordered me to check on her well-being. I am absolutely sure that he will not let me return without seeing her."

    "That Can has gone mad. He''s getting weirder every year!"

    He then contemted Agoon''s words, and felt there shouldn''t be anything wrong with it. After all, the other party only wanted to take a look at her. Thus, the Forlorn Prince gestured at one of the elf nobles next to him.

    Immediately, the said noble approached Agoon and told him to follow him. Tristan and Astrid, who acted as Agoon''s escorts, quickly followed.

    The result was very clear to Tristan. That Forlorn Prince was an unreasonable person. Therefore, there was no need for further diplomacy.

    As the group of four walked out, Tristan sneakily touched his earpiece and whispered, "Are you ready, Chieng?"

    Not even a secondter, a reply came from the other side.

    "[Affirmative. I''m ready whenever you are, Master.)

 Chapter 211 - Prison

    Agoon as well as Tristan and Astrid who were under disguise were escorted by the elf noble as they made their way toward the pce, which was a short walk away from theke. Tristan maintained his act of guard as he threw his gaze across the surrounding area, pretending to search for any possible danger. In the meantime, he also secretly observed the person who the Forlorn Prince tasked to escort them.

    The one who escorted them appeared to be an elf noble, one that was known as the Yinto ss. Tristan was confident that he could overpower the other party in one-on-one confrontation, but wasn''t sure if he was fast enough to prevent thetter from calling for help. Therefore, he decided to keep his hands low and watch how things develop from now as one couldn''t be too careful.

    The group of four went through the crystal pce side entrance and headed into a staircase leading down to the basement. The ce was swarmed with elven warriors as Tristan could see a dozen elves already from the side entrance to the staircase.

    A bleak atmosphere immediately pervaded them the moment they entered the basement area. As they walked through the passageway, Tristan silently observed his surroundings. It was a 100 steps passageway, heading down into a gloomy basement with watery walls. The visibility here was very poor and almost non-existent if the torches on the wall were not present.

    When Tristan''s eyes reflected the condition of this ce, a question popped into his mind. It was said that the Forlorn Prince took a fancy to Serene, then if that was the case, why did he put her into this kind of wretched ce?

    Not long after, the group reached a wide enclosed space with torchespletely packed on the left and right side of the clearing. There were several cells where Tristan could see people being chained and locked. One of the cells in particr was making a loud thumping noise.

    Quietly, Tristan reached his earpiece and whispered, "Chieng, can you still hear me? I need to know the details of this ce and how many prisoners and guards are around."

    Several secondster, Chieng''s voice was heard from the earpiece.

    (10 prisoners locked in the area where you are, Master. As for the guards, there are 30 of them in the basement and hundreds above the ground on the first floor.)

    Hearing the number, Tristan couldn''t help but be surprised. "That many?"

    (After all, this is a royal pce, Master.)

    Tristan frowned when he understood the situation they were in. He has contingency ns prepared for this operation.

    n A was to rescue his wife by the use of diplomacy, which failed due to the Forlorn Prince''s insistence.

    n B was to sneakily break her out of the ce she was detained

    n C was essential to gather detailed information about the situation first and returnter with better preparation.

    looking at the current situation, where the ce was heavily guarded, it seemed they had to eat the bitter taste and chose n C.

    The noble who escorted Tristan and the others finally stopped in his tracks when they almost reached the end of the ce.

    "Here she is. You can see that she''s alive."

    Tristan and the others were greeted by a huge steel door with a small window that could be opened. Seeing this door, as well as the others made Tristan couldn''t help but remember about his pathetic life in the prison. Hence, he became even more worried about Serene.

    Agoon, as the envoy, was the only one allowed to check Serene. After looking through the small window, he secretly nodded towards Tristan.

    Now, the next step he nned to do was to talk with Serene. However, in order to do that, they needed to somehow handle this one elf noble. Still, unless he was sure that he would be able to take Serene out safely and smoothly through n B, harming this elf was a no-no choice of action.

    Therefore, Tristan could only resort to the best and most effective technique he knew in his repertoire. He took a deep breath and walked toward the elf noble while hoping this n of his would work.

    "Excuse me, sir.." said Tristan as he took out a bag from his pocket, which made the said elf rmed.

    The other party was about to reach for his weapon when he caught a glimpse of the contents of the bag. The moment the elf got a closer look, Tristan could see his eyes glistening with desire.

    What Tristan took out was a bag full of spirit stones, the one that he took from the deceased elder.

    "Please, sir. We hope to have some privacy with the prisoner." When Tristan noticed the hesitation in the elf''s eyes, he immediately continued, "Just for a few minutes, sir. And this bag will be yours."

    Even though he could still see the elf hesitated, Tristan knew this was a good sign and quickly added, "Please be kind, sir. Look, there are only three of us here, and what can we, human weaklings, do to your esteemed being? It''s only a few minutes, sir."

    The elf hesitated for a few more seconds before he eventually took the bag in secret and walked away.

    Tristan smiled when he saw his n was working. Looked like this special technique worked on any intelligent being.

    Even though his heart hurt a little seeing the bag went away, it was a necessary sacrifice for their venture.

    Without further ado, Tristan dashed to the door and took a peek through the window. There, he saw the back of a blonde-haired girl. Because Serene was facing away from the door, Tristan quickly called her.

    "Hey, beautiful princess. Come here now" said Tristan with an authoritative tone while mimicking the Forlorn Prince''s voice.

    Tristan''s words were immediately responded with a loud curse from the beautiful figure. Upon hearing that, he held hisughter and secretly snickered.

    Although it was fun to tease the girl, they, unfortunately, didn''t have much time to y around.

    "Serene.. Wifey.. It''s me, your lovely husband?" said Tristan in a teasing tone.

    He could see Serene''s body jolt when she heard what he said. She quickly turned her head and immediately jumped for the door with a look of joy and surprise on her face.

    "Tristan?! Is this really you!?"

    A mischievous grin escaped and stered on Tristan''s face as he said, "Aahh, you are so happy to see me, aren''t you wife?"

    In an instant, the look of joy on the blonde''s face was reced by irritation.

    "You! ...Huh! The choice that I have is between you or the cockroach on the wall. So yes I am happy!"

    Hearing the half-hearted attempt to beat him, Tristan couldn''t help butugh at his wife''s silliness. "Hahah, wifey, your sense of humor is still good. So I can assume you are alright?"

    Serene was about to respond to Tristan when she suddenly stopped for a second.

    "What''s wrong?" asked Tristan, worried.

    "What are you doing here? Did that bastard Janus let you see me? It can''t be!"

    Tristan inwardly heaved a sigh of relief when Serene just puzzled as to why he was here. He smiled at her and said, "No, wifey. Ie here to rescue you."

    "What?!" eximed Serene in shock. "How.. who.. Is my mother here? Or Can?"

    Deep frown appeared on Tristan''s forehead when he heard Serene''s words. "What the hell?! I came to rescue you. Me! Not those two!"

    Instead of trying to calm his annoyance, Serene said, "Tristan, you are insane! How are you going to do that?!"

    "I just sneaked my way in.. I had some ns beforehand, but I am not so sure now. There are just so many guards here. So, any ideas? After all, you have been here for quite some time."

    "No¡­ I have none. Tristan, don''t be stupid. Janus is not like any other elf.. He-he''s very strong! So, just leave me here."

    "Yes yes. wifey, I just need to see that you''re alright. I promise I wille back for you."

    Serene realized that Tristan had selectively ignored her words and was thus speechless because of that. "Just call my mother, she''s the one who can help me."

    Hearing that, Tristan showed a pained expression. "Aaahh, wifey, you still doubt me? Remember what I said earlier? You are mine now, so you are my responsibility."

    Serene turned quiet when she heard that, and shortly after, spoke while gritting her teeth. "Just worry about yourself with that purple hair bitch!"

    Tristan was immediately reminded that thest time they talked was when Herrera dered that she wanted to sleep with him. With an awkward expression on his face, Tristan said,

    "Seriously? Are you still thinking about that now, wifey? "

    Serene inhaled a deep breath, calming the anger inside her, and said, "Just go, it''s too dangerous here. If you want to save me, go find help!"

    "Alright. Take good care of yourself, wifey," replied Tristan, who once again ignored the parts about getting help.

    Tristan was about to leave when he suddenly saw the side of Serene''s face hidden by her hair. There were bruises there, and anger suddenly exploded from him.

    In a voice colder than the abyss itself, Tristan said, "Serene.. Your face.. Did he hit you?"

    Goosebumps ran all over her when Serene heard Tristan''s words. Even so, she didn''t answer and only said, "That guy is trying to use me as a way to ckmail Vanyar. He won''t really hurt me."

    Hearing her words and looking at the bruises on her face, Tristan fell into a state of eerie silence.

    Then, when Serene was about to nudge him, he suddenly said, "No! You areing with me. NOW!"

    Tristan hold the door handle with both of his arm and cast a spell

    [Heat Touch]

    In an instant, the hinges of the door melted.

    "I will not let anyone hurt you!"

    There was no turning back now.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 212 - Escape Plan

    Tristan couldn''t stand seeing the bruises on Serene''s face. The swollen reddish marks distorted her delicate features, and the longer he looked at her, the tighter he clenched his fists, his rage growing by the second.

    The utter indignation he was feeling must have been very evident as well; as he looked Serene in the eye, the look on her face melted into one of concern and slight fear.

    "Tristan¡­" She began to say in an attempt to reassure him.

    "No!" Tristan roared. "I won''t let anyone hurt you! You areing with me now!"

    For some reason, Serene''s soft voice and dejected expression only angered him even more. His frustration was not directed at her, but rather the individuals responsible for her pain

    Tristan began to rattle at the confines of the cell, his [Heat Touch] spell starting to melt the steel bars that were locking him in. It took him three casts of the spell before they fully melted. Finally, when the door could no longer withstand the heat, it cracked open.

    "Tristan! You are insane!"

    Those were the words that came out of Serene''s mouth.

    But when the door swung open, the figure of the man added the fresh air that rushed in from outside somehow began to melt the ice that encased Serene''s heart.

    She walked towards him, hand ced over her heaving chest. Although he had annoyed her many times in the past, what girl would not start to melt upon being treated like this?

    When the door to Serene''s cell swung open, somehow, all the other hostages began to shake at the bars of their cages as well, making loud, rattling noises that reverberated throughout the holding area. It was as if they knew what Tristan was doing.

    Before anything else could happen, Tristan quickly rushed towards the front area. And just as expected, the noble elf ran into the tunnel.

    With his experience against fighting the elder, he knew that these noble elves were very powerful when it came to magic.

    Because of this, before he could react to anything, Tristan jumped ferociously towards the noble like a wild beast taking hold of his prey. He grabbed at his neck with both hands, stopping him from screaming for help or alerting any of his guards.

    Tristan quickly cast another round of his [Heat Touch] spell to put further pressure on the noble''s neck.

    "Urrgghhh!!!" The noble elf moaned, writhing in agony.

    When Tristan had clung onto his back, the noble had managed to cast some earth magic in defense, which allowed his body to harden into stone. But he was toote as the hardened earth that protected his neck turned into molten rock. Before long, mes erupted out of all the orifices in his face, and as smoke began to pour from his ears, he died.

    Tristan dropped his body slowly to the ground, and not forgetting to grab his bag of spirit stones, and of course,

    [Blood extraction]

    [950 blood essences received]

    He also decided to check the noble''s belongings as well. Rummaging through the elder''s satchel, his fingers happened upon a cool, metallic object. Bingo! He had found another spatial ring to keep. He fished it out of the bag, smiling triumphantly.

    Meanwhile, as Astrid stood by closely on guard, Serene rushed over to where he was standing. "What now? How can we get out?!"

    Tristan forced himself to smile. "I prepared something, but it''s kind of risky, so let''s just hope it''s going to work."

    He touched his earpiece and began to speak. "Chieng, operation draw out the rabbit is a go!"

    (Affirmative, master)

    Chieng''s voice cracked out from the staticy speakers of his earpiece.

    The words only confused Serene even further, but little did she know, an hour away from the Forlorn city, a small me suddenly began to burn in the forest. With the right calctions, the wind blew the fire in the direction of the city.

    Within minutes, the Forlorn elves'' citizens and warriors were alerted, and hundreds were sent to check and deal with the me.

    Meanwhile, at the very bottom of the Crystal Pce, Tristan patiently waited.

    "Yes!" He yelled as he began to hear themotion that was brewing above him. "It has started to turn chaotic upstairs. We will get out during the mess!"

    Serene was in awe of the preparation he put into enacting this n. Upon seeing the astonishment on her face, he smirked. "Just one more touch to perfect the n."

    He then walked confidently towards each of the prison doors, and each time he whispered through each of the bars. "How would you like to escape?!" The more aggressive and enthusiastic the answers were, the more it benefitted him.

    [Heat Touch]

    The smart thing to do was to not let go of any of the elven prisoners, as they might be Forlorn elves who were still loyal to their kingdom somehow.

    Among the 10 captives, there were two humans, from their im and stats, both gold-ranked adventurers. From their suspicious appearances, they must have been held captive here because they did something that had offended the elves.

    "You two can go."

    Tristan did not have much hope for the two as they did not seem to be in prime conditions. After all, who knows how long they had been held captive there, deprived of the most basic necessities.

    All his hope wasid in the one cell that had been echoing with the sound of loud, repeated thumping. Inside it was a stone troll. A humanoid creature with a majority of its skin covered with blue stone that stood about three meters tall.

    [Elder Stone Troll]

    [Battle power - 230]

    "Now this one looks promising," he muttered to himself.

    Unfortunately, upon approaching its cell, Tristan saw that the troll seemed to be too chaotic and umunicative, refusing to converse with him at all. But there was one way to make sure this troll could be useful.

    [Blood Seal]

    [This Blood Seal requires 400 blood essence points]

    Tristan was quite satisfied; it appeared that the troll had a low blood essence requirement to be sealed just like the orcs.

    Finally, when he thought he had all theponents of his n prepared, Tristan realized that there was still onest room he had not visited. It was perched at the very end of the tunnel, and its steel door was twice asrge as the other cells''.

    When he opened the small window, he saw an elf with long, bluish hair sitting solemnly at the corner of the room. To his surprise, the elf was actually handicapped and did not have any feet and with Cloth-covered his eyes.

    A blind elf without legs locked in a room with heightened security only brought him more interest. He did not care about other elves that were in this captive, but this one, in particr, had piqued his interest.

    "Hey... How would you like to get out of here?"

    In the dimness of his cell, Tristan could see a smile spread on the elf''s face when he said,

    "I am just a blind disabled elf, but let me out and I will help you"

    ---------------------

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 Chapter 213 - Escaped

    The first thought that appeared when Tristan heard the elf''s words was to reject it. However, he quickly stopped himself. In the precarious situation and the countless dangers that were about to jump onto them, Tristan certainly would need all the help he could get to escape from Forlorn City. After all, there were hundreds of elven warriors, not counting the thousands of elves, waiting for them outside.

    Therefore, Tristan looked intently at the blind elf as if he wanted to see through what thetter hid. "What can a blind and disable man help me with?"

    From the look of it, the elf in front of him didn''t appear too old. However, his enhanced senses could perceive a certain glow within him, and therefore, Tristan kind of knew that the elf shouldn''t be underestimated. Otherwise, he would get the short end of the stick.

    "I might be blind. But I can certainly tell your group would not be able to escape from here, especially if Janus is included in the factor."

    "Why would you say that?" asked Tristan calmly, and a bit curious. Even though he knew that Forlorn Prince was strong, why was this elf so sure they would not be able to escape? After all, escaping and fighting head-on were two entirely different matters. It might be true that they wouldn''t be able to win against him, but it shouldn''t be impossible to escape.

    As if he had expected Tristan''s question, the blind elf let out a faint smile and slowly said, "Janus is at the peak of stage 4 Katra, a stage that countless couldn''t even reach in their lifetime. There are not many people in this world who can defeat him."

    "And, you mean to tell me that you can?" Tristan asked in an interesting and somewhat provocative tone.

    "I might not look much, but I am a peak stage 4 Katra practitioner myself. Therefore, I can definitely help you." replied the blind elf in a calm voice.

    The blind elf immediately hit right into the most worrisome matter they currently had. Tristan had a few ns thought of and prepared for the hundreds of elven warriors, but he, unfortunately, didn''t have any to deal with Janus who had undefined stats in his panel.

    During the conversation, Tristan realized that Serene was staring at the other party, and her expression showed that she was thinking about something.

    "What is it, wifey? Something''s wrong?"

    Serene ignored Tristan''s inquiry, instead she got closer to the blind elf and asked, "Who actually are you? Your voice sounds familiar to me."

    A bitter smile appeared on the elf''s face, confusing both Serene Tristan.

    "Princess Serene, it is really sad for me that you no longer recognize me."

    While Tristan was wondering what was going on, Serene seemed to know who the elf was as she approached him and opened the cloth that covered his eyes. The moment the blindfold was taken off, everyone could now clearly see his face.

    The elf had masculine and handsome features, but it was ruined by several scars that were prominent on his face. However, the worst didn''t stop there. The most disturbing sight that everyone saw from the elf''s face was his empty eyes, void of anything. The things that were supposed to be there weren''t there, and what weed them was an eerie gaze from hollow eyes.

    Before the others could wonder what happened to this elf, Serene had put the blindfold back.

    "My apology.. Prince Elroth. What exactly happened to you?! I mean, why?!"

    The man showed a smile, one that contained anguish. "It''s my insane brother. Anyway, Like I said earlier, get me out of here and I will help you!"

    Even though the blind elf, who apparently was a prince, didn''t say much, Tristan could somehow get the gist of it. Then, he contemted the proposal that the other party proposed for a while, and eventually decided to take him with them.

    Now they were about to enter the next phase of this operation.

    "So, what''s the n? How do we get out?" asked one of the golden adventurers.

    The two adventurers who were saved by Tristan along the way were still around. It seemed they were smart enough not to rush out by themself.

    Acknowledging their inquiry, Tristan took out weapons from his interspatial ring and handed them to the two. "It should be a little chaotic outside. But in order to be safe, we will separate and go in two groups. That way, we have a better chance of surviving."

    Before the two adventurers could open their mouths, Tristan added, "I have these women and a blind guy, so the troll wille with me."

    The two adventurers quickly disagreed with Tristan''s n and were about to make a ruckus as they could tell that both Astrid and Serene were strong in their own way.

    "Alright, I don''t want to argue with you two because we don''t have much time. Let''s do it this way. The troll cane with you two, but you will open up the way for us."

    The two adventurers smiled when they heard that. For them personally, the Forlorn Kingdom''s elven warriors were not too hard to handle. And what Tristan said was true, that time was at the essence for them. In addition, being in the front did have its own advantages.

    "Alright! What are we waiting for? Let''s go!"

    A minuteter, the dozens of elven warriors who stood guard outside the entrance of the dungeon were startled by the sight of two humansing out and attacking them. The two golden adventurers dashed to the closest elven warrior and swung the weapons in their hand.

    Due to the surprise, two elven warriors were immediately killed by the two adventurers as they made their way through the stairs, heading outside the dungeon.

    Right behind them was a figure of massive monstrosity, a troll. And though its figure was huge, the troll was able to catch up to the two adventurers'' speed and even slightly surpass them.

    The elven warriors who were caught off guard by the sudden attack quickly collected themselves and beganunching a counterattack on their enemy.

    The spear and the arrows that the elven warriorsunched weren''t able to prate the troll''s thick skin and only managed to leave a small nick on its surface. They could only watch helplessly as the troll wreaked havoc amidst their ranks, harvesting lives with each passing moment.

    The two adventurers hid behind the troll when a volley of arrows was sent in their direction. Then, when the time was right, they would attack and continue to reap the lives of the elven warriors.

    While they were mowing down the elven warriors, the two adventurers couldn''t help but exim at the sheer ridiculousness that the troll had shown.

    "This troll is freaking awesome! Ahahaha!"

    Thanks to the troll who acted as the finest distraction, diversion, and tank, the two adventurers had an easy time overpowering a dozen elven warriors and cleared up the dungeon entrance in a matter of minutes.

    When they reached the above-ground and peek outside, the two realized Forlorn City was strangely enveloped by thick nkets of smoke, and elves were seen running toward the north where the smoke seemed to being from.

    Hence, they quickly shouted to the dungeon entrance. "The path is clear! Quickly now! We should go now!!"

    A momentter, Tristan''s voice was heard from the entrance.

    "We still need a few more minutes!!"

    The adventurers could see that not only the blind elf needed to be carried, there was also a human who was too weak to climb the stairs, effectively slowing the group''s advance.

    While they were considering leaving these people behind, they caught wind of Tristan''s shout that resolved their dilemma. "You two should go ahead! We are right behind you!"

    The two adventurers certainly would not let an opportunity for freedom pass them by. They didn''t take another look behind and immediately ran as their figures disappeared behind the cover of the smoke. The troll who Tristan ordered to follow them naturally did so as it caught up to the two.

    "Haha those stupid people, with those speeds they will be caught up!"

    "This is better, they will be the one the chase and we will be long gone by then!"

    "That is fucking true! haha"

    When they were halfway into the city, the two adventurers were surprised when the troll suddenly went berserk. Themotion that it caused instantly rmed the elves in the surrounding area.

    "What the fuck?!!"

    "We''re being tricked!!"

    The realization of the two adventurers came toote, as they were instantly bombarded by attacks from all directions. The two deeply cursed Tristan who actually set them up as another bait for their escape.

    Then, right at this moment, Tristan and the others slowly walked out of the dungeon. They identally encountered a group of elven warriors who proceeded to stop them.

    Facing this group of enemies, Tristan calmly said, "We are the arcadian envoy! Help! The troll managed to escape from its prison, and we were attacked by it."

    The elven warriors scrutinized Tristan''s group. They saw a group consisting of the Arcadian envoy, Agoon, three figures with the Arcadian Kingdom''s knight uniform, and a wounded elf wearing the silver noble tunic.

    That''s right. Tristan had taken out another set of Arcadian Kingdom''s knight armor and gave it to Serene. Her eye-catching golden hair was sessfully hidden beneath the steel helmet, while the blind elf''s attire was taken from the noble elf who he just killed before.

    "Let us pass quickly. This man is dying!"

 Chapter 214 - Stall For Time

    The two golden-ranked adventurers were assassin types. Basically, they are high skilled burrs who were caught trying to steal Forlorn Kingdom''s elven artifacts.

    Their techniques focus on surprise sneak attacks, dealing damage and making a quick getaway. It was to be expected that they have excellent speed-oriented skills.

    The dozen elven warriors who were the first responder did not see iting.

    While The troll took most of the elves'' attention, as the creature possesses a massive attack power along with a huge, indestructible body, the assassins managed to sneak behind them andid a fatal blow to the elves.

    Stt!!

    "We- No, forget it, just leave the troll here!" One shouted.

    "Agreed, let''s get out!"

    But, right at that moment, around six elves wearing an ornate silver tunic came. Patterns and stones were sewn on their outfits, their simrity most likely denoting their rank within the kingdom.

    They did not waste any time, and right as they came, they threw multiple magic spells at the two burrs.

    Water gathered all around one of them, creating dozens of spears that flew through the air towards the two. [Water Spear].

    Another chanted a spell and created dozens of sharp leaves that flew through the air so quickly, they made whizzing noises. [Leaves of Steel]

    The edges of the two humans'' body started to bleed thanks to the sharp and quick movements of the attacks. Those are merely tier 3 spells that could only do light attacks, but they were still pushed back, rendering them unable to run.

    "We should split!"

    Both nodded at each other before running in opposite directions. But, they only managed to run a few steps, before a loud bang could be heard from behind them, right in the direction where the rampaging troll was.

    Bammmm!!

    The two human assassins looked back, and they were shocked to see the elder troll was knocked down t on the ground with just one move.

    Said loud bang came from arge, blue thunderbolt that fell from the sky. The troll was stilly on the ground, and asionally, blue sparks could be seen from its twitching body.

    They quickly looked at each other, realization written all over their faces. From that attack, they knew that the Forlorn prince, Janus, ising after them.

    It was an easy guess. All Forlorn elves are part of the wood elf bloodline, which makes them a master of nt, water, and earth elements. Lightning element was a very powerful element that could only be wielded by high elves, and the only Forlorn elf with such an ability was the prince, who is known to have high elf blood.

    There was no time to waste. The two used their abilities and tried to escape the ce as quickly as possible. The prince merely nced at them, snapped his fingers, and cast [Lightning Arrow]

    A small but long blue bolt appeared out of thin air and chased one of the assassins. It pierced his heart, and killed him right then and there.

    Before the prince was able to do the same for the other one, the elder troll jumped up and tried to grab the prince.

    The creature was blood-sealed, and Tristan let it out with one sole objective. That is, to make as much of a mess and stall for time as long as possible.

    Fortunately, the stone trolls have a natural resistance to lightning magic.

    "Argh! This filthy creature!"

    The prince gave the troll a hard elbow, forcing it to let him go.

    Even a troll with 220 points of battle power was unable to match the prince''s strength. But, the troll was specialized in defense, and it will take more than one punch to kill him.

    They struggled for a while, and as the prince beat the troll into submission, he realized what he was fighting against.

    "Those humans and trolls are our captives from the dungeon! Someone, quickly check the situation, and do not let anyone escape!"

    --

    On the other side of Forlorn city, Tristan quickly snuck past the elven guards.

    "Alright, so far so good¡­" He muttered.

    Behind him, there were Serene, Agoon, and Astrid who was carrying a blind limbless elf on her back. They left the prison from the pce''s side door, avoiding the guards as they went. Tristan had managed to trick them into letting him go in, and he was not going to try and push his luck twice.

    He touched the tiny earpiece and asked. "Where to next?"

    (Head past the second building, and turn left to the first path you see.)

    "Alright."

    With the help of Chieng and his ''GREMLIN'' drone up in the air, they were able to sneak undetected by any other elves.

    "On position, Chieng!"

    (Yes, Master. On your path, there are three guards up front. That is the smallest number of sentry guards you must pass. I am afraid there is no way to evade this one.)

    Tristan gestured to Serene and gave her the task to handle one. He will handle the other two.

    Their quick movements ensured the elven warriors did not stand a chance. Of course, Tristan took a few seconds to use blood extract, hide the three bodies, and rushed out into the thick forest.

    Their rendezvous point was an hour away to the east, and afterwards they could gallop away with the horses they hid on standby. After a quick hour run through the forest, they will be free.

    Not more than five minutes after they ran, some kind of light dashed through the sky from the nearest tree. It blows in the air like fireworks.

    "What the hell?!"

    The group was shocked. This could only mean their position waspromised.

    The blind elf on Astrid''s back said.

    "Did you guys just trip on the sensor¡­? That''s too bad¡­"

    Tristan twitched his eyes in annoyance. "Why didn''t you warn us before?!"

    "I am sorry; can''t you see that I am blind? How am I supposed to know?"

    Before Tristan could get even more enraged, Chieng''s voice rang through the earpiece.

    (Quickly, Master. A few dozen elves are chasing you.)

    ---------------------

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 Chapter 215 - Ambush

    There were dozens of elven warriors that were chasing after them, and there must be more of them trailing right behind them. Tristan also believed that the powerful elven nobles won''t be too far behind.

    He would have to be extremely cautious upon dealing with this situation.

    He looked towards his group, and saw that Astrid and Serene had enough battle power between the two of them to maintain the same pace as he did.

    His main problem would be Agoon the King''s envoy. Considering his low battle power, among the group, he was the weakest link.

    Tristan thought about leaving the envoy behind, after all, he did say he''s ready to die for Arcadia. But then on second thought, Tristan worried that this would be yet another reason for that bastard king to make trouble with him.

    The death of an envoy minister must be worth something for Can, after all.

    Tristan also had another factor to be concerned about. It was the fact that these woods were the elves'' habitat and the ce where they had built their homes. Due to the natural advantage that this setting provided them, he refused to believe that this was just a matter of who ran the fastest. He believes if he doesn''t somehow dy them, they will eventually gain on them.

    With these two factors in mind, he decided on a new n.

    "Ok change of n!"

    He decided Astrid will take Agoon on her back, while the blind elf will stay with him, and together they will be the rearguard.

    Hearing his n, Serene instantly began to shout in protest.

    "What are you doing!" She eximed. "We should run together! We''re supposed to stick together!"

    "You should go now, wife!" Tristan roared back in return, dodging the branches and twigs that flew towards his face. "Someone needs to dy those guys!"

    "Then¡­ then I will stay and help you!"

    Tristan shook his head, his expression a mix of exasperation and affection. He began to speak again, with as firm a voice as possible to make sure the point went across her stubborn head.

    "Serene, your safety is the main priority here. If you are captured again, then all our efforts will be for naught! Don''t worry, this is part of the n!"

    Serene looked down, visibly still hesitated.

    "Just go!" Tristan yelled out. "You are wasting time!"

    Astrid pulled Serene''s hand along, urging her to follow in her direction, as the three of them quickly ran towards their respective rendezvous points.

    With them all gone, Tristan grabbed the blind elf and the elf quickly wrapped his arms tightly on his back.

    Tristan then start running toward the rendezvous point as well, but this time he opens his eyes wide checking the condition of the surrounding

    "Why are you keeping me with you?!" He shouted over the roar of the wind that was whizzing past them.

    Tristan chuckled in response, mouth curved into a sly grin.

    "Isn''t it obvious?" He responded. "They are chasing us for the Vanyar princess, but I am sure that if they knew you were with me, they would decide to chase us instead."

    The blind elf smiled. It was a rather cunning idea, after all. "Smart! So, what n do you have for this?!"

    "n?" Tristan said, skipping over the thick vines and shrubbery that crept along the forest floor. "There is no n! Just stall them for time and run as fast as possible."

    Tristan suddenly changed his tone, and although hispanion could not see him he threw a cold re over his shoulder, glowering at the elf that was currently perched on top of his back. "You better be useful or I will throw you away!"

    "But¡­ I am just a blind elf¡­ What can I do?!" He squeaked, subconsciously gripping Tristan tighter despite the threats he had just made.

    Tristan was beginning to get irritated with the elf, and made a silent vow to himself that if he did not start paying his due, Tristan will have another blood extraction feast. He wondered how much blood essence would a powerful peak stage 4 Katra.

    After running for another 10 minutes, Tristan found a good spot. This particr area has thicker trees and heavy bushes. A great ce for an ambush.

    He quickly touch his earpiece and said

    "Chieng, give me their location!"

    Other than his confidence in battle power, this was one advantage he had to stop the elven warriors who were chasing after them.

    Tristan took out the Mithrill long de and readied himself.

    Using the urate coordination provided by Chieng, Tristan managed to prepare a deadly ambush. His high speed and strength turned deadly when it was used to hunt his enemies from the shadows.

    Within minutes Tristan was able to take on the elves one by one.

    He killed three of them, and using his high battle power to run and continues his path to the rendezvous

    After a few hundred more steps, knowing more gaining on him, he once more hid himself between the trees and the rocks, using the terrain to his advantage.

    He would then jump towards the next elf and kill him instantly,pletely without remorse, before the elf was able to cast any spells.

    And of course he would not waste the chance to take their blood.

    [Blood extraction]

    [A mix of 50 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [210 blood essence gained]

    Tristan would ambush, kill, extract, and run eastwards, before repeating this process all over again. He was like an unstoppable force of nature, a fearsome machine with a vehement bloodlust. With this, he managed to kill the first dozen elves that were chasing him.

    With the dozen elves he extracted from now ced inside the prison, plus the noble and taking into consideration the troll blood seal, Tristan analyzed the amount of blood essence points that he currently had.

    [Blood essence - 19150]

    He hoped that when he reached 20,000 he would be able to upgrade himself once more.

    Eventually, his actions piqued the attention of the elf behind him.

    "I may be blind, but I can tell what you are doing¡­ Who are you¡­? What are you?!"

    Tristan seriously has no time to exin, just for the fun of it he said.

    "Have you heard of the blood elf before?"

    Upon hearing this, the elf perched behind him turned quiet.

    His continuous actions had carved out a distance of 40 minutes of travel between him and Forlorn City. He believes he has dyed enough. Now it''s time to run quickly towards the east.

    Suddenly, a voice crackled over Tristan''s earpiece.

    (Master, there are moreing this time, directly to your direction, fast.)

 Chapter 216 - Chased

    It should have only taken about 15 to 20 minutes for them to reach the rendezvous point. He thought that his escape was guaranteed and that he had outsmarted the enemy for good. But apparently, these elves were more diligent than he had originally thought.

    "How many of them, Chieng?!" Tristan shouted into his earpiece.

    Chieng''s voice crackled back in reply through the speakers. (Thirty to forty of them, Master. They are currently approaching at high speed, and it seems that they brought along mounts.)

    Tristan went silent for a second, and as he continued to dash towards the rendezvous point, he was quietly making calctions in his head.

    (Master, the others are here already, what are your orders?)

    "Alright, Chieng, tell them to leave." Tristan took a deep breath before continuing. "As for you... Well, you know what to do."

    (Yes, affirmative.)

    Scanning his environment once more, he quickly hastened towards the rendezvous point yet again and started to run quickly in its direction.

    A few minutester, with his acute, enhanced senses, he began to feel the trembling of the ground resume. Tristan sighed; it was just as he had thought. He knew that the enemy would be able to chase after him.

    But, there were just too many of them going much faster than he had thought. Fortunately, he had another card up his sleeve. If this works out, he could actually even gain something from this.

    Not long after, The Forlorn elves emerged behind him, hot on his trail. Among the elves, he could see four figures jump up off of their horses, casting spells as they began to chase the pair on foot.

    Two of them seemed to be able to hop effortlessly between the trees, passing through them as though they were made of water. It almost appeared as though they could enter and exit the trees as they wished.

    The other two, on the other hand, were clearly casting the same spell used by the elder elf. Their bodies glowed with an ethereal, light blue color, and they were able to run effortlessly as if they were gliding on ice.

    Both of these spells gave them the ability to run faster than him, and from his heightened senses Tristan could tell that all four of them were elf nobles. This was going to be really troublesome for him.

    While he ran, the elf that was clinging to his back began to speak into his ear.

    "The spells that were just casted included [Tree Stride] and [Sleepstream], two of the wood elves'' greatest mobility spells. These four elves are at the peak of the third level of Katra, as well as also being Rank 4 magicians. They are quite formidable."

    Tristan ignored him and kept running straight.

    The four started to throw long-range offensive spells in his direction, [Steel Leaves] and [Water Spear] in particr, but with the distance between them Tristan was still able to dodge them.

    Unfortunately, the opponents were able to get closer to him little by little, and the spells slowly became harder to dodge.

    "Ah¡­" The blind elf still clinging tightly onto his back huffed exasperatedly. "We are not gonna make it, are we?!"

    Tristan tossed an infuriated re over his shoulder. He was really contemting just throwing the other elf on the ground and leaving him to rot for the enemy forces to find.

    "If you have anything to contribute, do it now!"

    "Argh, I can''t even see them, how is it possible for me to do anything with them?!"

    "Ugh!! I should just drop you here right now, then!!" Tristan eximed, cing his hands on the arms that were grasping his abdomen as though he was about to pry them off.

    "No... No¡­!" The blind elf yelped in protest. "You shouldn''t do that to a poor blind man; trust me, it will only bring you misfortune!"

    Tristan quickened his pace even further. At the moment, he could already see the enemy forces closing in on him through the corner of his eye.

    Right at the same time, Tristan suddenly saw great, thick roots erupt from the ground in front of him. It was the nt spell, [Entangle], and it appeared that the enemy had already grown close enough to be able to cast such an annoying spell.

    Multiple roots began to charge from three different sides towards him, and Tristan used his sword to slice them all up. But his speed was just one more hindrance that he had to ount for.

    Tristan could tell that the four nobles were now only a few steps behind him.

    With more roots twisting out of the ground in front of him, this time, Tristan decided to jump on top of them instead. With this move, he instantly became more vulnerable to the offensive spells that were shot their way.

    He had miscalcted. Immediately, he could tell that several razor-sharp steel leaves began to fly towards him, and there was no way that he dodge them.

    At this moment, suddenly, the razor leaves were blocked by an ice-like barrier.

    nk! nk!

    The elf that was perched on his back. It seemed like he was able to fully block all the iing spells that were being flung in their direction.

    "You can cast ice element spells?! I thought you were a wood elf!" Tristan shouted incredulously, realizing that the blind elf had been the one to save him from the oing attack.

    "Oh, you know... Just part of a crazy family tree breeding freaky sons." He chuckled slightly.

    "Good!" Tristan grinned. "Now, cast more magic, or I will definitely drop you here!"

    "Alright Alright!..."

    The blind elf cast another spell, and suddenly, a thick sheet of fog descended throughout the entire forest. He had just cast [Cloud Mist], a low tier water spell.

    "Now everyone can see how it feels to be blind! Hahaha!" Laughed the elf gleefully.

    It was somehow a useless spell as most of the elves had Katra to see without using their eyes. But strangely enough, even Tristan''s enhanced senses could not easily see much in front of him. This turned out to be quite a powerful spell indeed; it definitely surpassed Tristan''s initial impressions. With this, the four nobles started to slow down, as did the rest of the riders.

    As for Tristan, when he started to decrease his pace due to being unsure of the correct direction, the blind elf pointed it out for him.

    It was at this point that Tristan began to run again, just as soon as he saw the rendezvous marking peeking out from the mist.

    "We are almost there, Chieng!"

    (Yes master, everything is prepared.)

    The rendezvous point was a small clearing with a little hill in the middle of it. He managed to jump out of the treeline and leap on top of the hill. He abruptly stopped, turning to look at the iing elves with a triumphant smile.

 Chapter 217 - Arrived

    When Tristan arrived, he quickly looked left and right as he checked his surroundings, a little smile slowly creeping onto his face.

    "Why are we stopping!" Said the elf on his back, questioning at the abrupt stop Tristan had just made.

    "Listen, you are a free rider, so just be quiet and follow my lead!" Tristan roared back in reply, exasperated at the other elf''s unnecessaryments.

    A minuteter, the 4 hostile elves finally managed to jump out of the treeline, which was still drenched in a thick nket of fog. As they arrived at the rendezvous point, they squinted their eyes, adjusting their sight to the sudden sunlight.

    Upon seeing that their target had stopped in his tracks and now appeared to be waiting patiently for them, the 4 nobles instantly stopped running as well. It was clear from the expressions on their faces that they were startled and confused.

    "Arcadian!" One of them bellowed. "What are you nning!?"

    Tristan only smirked in response. "So many of you chasing a single man and one blind elf."

    Evidently, this affronted the nobles greatly, and they all red vehemently at him in response. "You Arcadians dared to make a mess within the bounds of our city. Your king will pay for this!"

    Hearing this, Tristan began tough, amused at the idea of that bastard king facing the consequences of his actions. "Yes, please, you can send the bill to him!"

    It was at this moment that the group of elves suddenly realized who the figure resting on Tristan''s back was. They stepped back in shock, eyes widened.

    "That''s¡­!" One of them sputtered, momentarily unable to finish his sentence. "Who are you?! Why are you taking Prince Elroth away?!"

    Tristan was still wearing the Arcadian knight armor, but none of them believed Tristan was a mere soldier.

    The elven noble that had just questioned Tristan quickly turned towards hispanions. He dropped his voice to a sharp whisper. "Should we wait for Prince Janus?!"

    "What are you afraid of, that''s just a blind cripple!" Another one of the nobles scoffed. Although he tried to appear unbothered in front of their target, his voice quivered slightly, an indicator of his uncertainty.

    "You are right!"

    At the same time, the trees and the ground began to shake as the three dozen horses the nobles had brought along with them finally arrived, stopping right behind where they stood.

    Tristan raised his hand in a gesture that was meant to halt them in their tracks.

    "I am warning you! If you take a few more steps, you will regret it."

    "Huh!" One of the men at the front of the troops hollered. "What can you alone do against us?!"

    "Capture him!"

    Over 30 riders and the four nobles charged towards him. Tristan looked towards the iing elves with a malicious smile before touching his earpiece yet again.

    "Do it now, Chieng!!"

    (Affirmative, master.)

    At the same time, multiple clicking sounds could suddenly be heard from the ground beneath the elven warriors. They stopped dead on their feet, looking down in confusion. But it was already toote.

    KABOOMMM!!! KABOOOMMM!!

    The multiple explosions that burst out of the ground quickly incinerated the elves that stood in direct proximity to them, while the rest that were standing around them had been thrashed off of the horses they were riding, their senses immediately impaired.

    These were the explosives that Tristan and Chieng had scavenged from the space knight wreck. It was part of Tristan''s backup n, just in case he was met with a desperate situation that required him to have an ace up his sleeve. Just like now.

    Seeing the fire created from the multiple explosions and the screams that echoed all around him somehow made him smile. His mind was currently only filled with the hope that there were more of the explosives left.

    Mere seconds after the explosions, when the surviving elves were just about to get back on their feet, a huge figure emerged from the smoke with a huge, heavy gun that was so massive in its size that it needed two hands to carry it. It was a gatling gun.

    It huge cylinder tube suddenly rotate giving out a loud screeching sound

    Ziiiiiinggggg.Tratatatatatatata

    The machine gun instantly shot out cold steel bullets towards the still confused elf inside the smoke. The rain of bullets pierced right through their already weakened bodies. Anything that moved quickly became a target for this ruthless killing machine.

    The figure holding the huge gun was none other than Chieng the space knight, who had been patiently waiting to get his revenge for what those elves did to him.

    Seeing more movement through the smoke, Chieng quickly sent more bursts of attacks. But this time, the elves collectively managed to cast a spell creating arge wall made of stone to defend them against the barrage of bullets that were being shot their way. Unfortunately, the bullets were unable to pierce through the stone wall. But Chieng still poured all the bullets around it, until...

    Clink! Clink!

    The gun was finally empty.

    When the attacks stopped, a few elves jumped out from behind the wall and moved towards Chieng.

    The space knight was prepared for this, though, as he threw a small ball of metal right in the middle of the group and pushed a small button in his hand.

    Kaaabbbooooom!!!!

    The elves were thrown back by the sheer force of the explosion, and the one standing closest to the bomb was immediately blown to pieces. Those warrior elves didn''t stand a chance.

    Chieng was having such a great time that he didn''t realize that thick, twisting roots had begun to creep up his body.

    The roots suddenly tightened, forcing him to drop the weapon. At the same time, multiple arrows were flying at high speed in his direction.

    Before they were about to pierce him, the arrows were quickly parried by Tristan swords.

    He also immediately cut through the roots that were covering Chieng''s body, before the space knight used both hands to rip them apart.

    "Excellent job, Chieng!" Said Tristan. "Let''s see how many you got!"

    A momentter, the smoke from the explosion finally dissipated. As it cleared up, Tristan could see the sea of corpses strewn across the field.

    But there were still one-third of the elven warriors still standing, and among them stood the three noble elves, who appeared to bepletely unscratched.

    "Well, you managed to kill one of the nobles as well, Amazing!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 218 - Feast

    The trap prepared earlier was certainly effective as it had killed most of the chasers. However, thanks to the loud explosion that was its aftermath, Tristan was sure that it would bring the attention of the entire warrior of Forlorn City onto the location they currently at.

    Therefore, Tristan and the others had to get away from this spot as soon as possible. Otherwise, they would be trapped here forever, buried under the ground by hundreds of enraged Forlorn elves.

    However, the idea also appeared to be a stretch as there were still three elven nobles alive amidst the dozen lucky elven warrior survivors. Even though their number had decreased, they were still a force that needed to be wary of and reckoned with.

    When the smoke dissipated and the visibility returned, Tristan could finally see the reason why those elves were able to survive such a level of explosion and the intense barrage of bullets that followed before.

    There, several meters away from him, the elves were seen with their skin coated with things that shouldn''t be possible back on Earth. Most of them had their skin covered by rough stones, while some of them had skins resembling that of a tree.

    These two are the mostmon but most effective defensive spells earth element spell [Stoneskin] and nt element [Oakflesh].

    It truly wasn''t only a talk when one said these elves were amazing warriors. Tristan was sure that had it not been for the unexpected factor of the attack, most of them would have survived and at most suffered moderate injuries.

    After a few moments of silently mourning the abrupt death of their brethrens, the three elven nobles brought out their magical weapons. The moment their weapons revealed themself, Tristan immediately sensed the prowess they possessed.

    The long-haired blond male elf brandished a long spear with a huge de. The spear''s appearance somewhat reminded Tristan of the celtic spear back on Earth, but with a much bigger de. Standing right beside him, the female elf brought out two rune-inscripted daggers and yed them around while thest male elf removed his bow from his waist and grabbed the arrow in the quiver.

    As if they didn''t want to lose to the elven nobles, the elven warriors also began taking out their own weapons. In seconds, the elf group standing across Tristan and the others was ready for confrontation.

    Sweeping his gaze across the elves, Tristan''s face turned serious as he could tell those used by the nobles were all magical items; their weapons and also their armor. Fortunately, only the nobles had magical items as the equipment used by the elven warriors were normal.

    "All of you will pay for what you have done!!"

    A loud shout contained extreme anger resounded through the air as the elves readied themselves to fight Tristan and the others.

    Seeing this, the blind elf, Prince Elroth, opened his mouth.

    "I wonder... How do you n to deal with this?"

    Tristan let out a chuckle when he heard that. He turned to the crippled man and said, "You know what.. You just gave me a very good idea."

    Even though Prince Elroth couldn''t physically see Tristan, he instinctively knew that thetter was looking at him.

    "What kind of idea- Woah! Wait-"

    Sound of something speeding through the air was heard as the angry elves were dumbfounded when they saw Tristan throw the crippled Forlorn Prince towards them. Prince Elroth, who didn''t expect he would be thrown by Tristan, was seen iling his arms around as his body flew in the air, heading closer to the group of fighting-ready elves.

    Most of the elven warriors were stunned by the sight, some even considered the option to catch Elroth. However, it seemed the elven nobles knew better as they strangely decided to quickly move out of the way.

    The still hesitating elven warriors were given the surprise of their life when they saw the supposedly crippled elf suddenly casted Water element spell to create a water-based spear mid air, which immediately shot forward and sessfully pierced two of them. The recoil momentum that the spear gave also being taken advantage by Elroth as his body flew back to the sky.

    "Attack him!" shouted one of the elven nobles, which promptly awakened the stunned elven warriors from their shock watching their twopanions'' death.

    In a matter of seconds, multiple arrows and spells were thrown at the elf who was currently having his time in the air. But then, all those projectiles were blocked just an inch away from thetter by a thickyer of ice.

    Before his body hit the ground, Elroth once again casted the same water spell to throw him flying across the sky, charging toward one of the elven warriors. The said elven warrior was caught off guard as he was being grabbed in the neck and felt a burden on his back.

    The other elven warriors who were nearby were stupefied to see Elroth staying on the said elf''s back while beaming a wicked smile that shivers down their spine. The long unkempt hair, the severe scars on his face, and the terrifying hollow eyes only made the view even more spine-chilling.

    "Hahaha! Why are you all attacking your prince?!! Have you all lost your respect for the royalty?!"

    Prince Elroth''s words, added with his current scary appearance, made thee elven warriors frozen still in their ce. However, they quickly escaped out of the state by a loud shouting from the elven noble.

    "We only follow Prince Janus'' order! What are you all doing standing around? Catch that viin!"

    Knowing the elven warriors would be a step toote, the elven nobles swiftly casted spells to buff their bodies and dashed toward the crippled and exiled prince.

    The situation quickly became chaotic as one blind and crippled elf was seen wrecking havoc and jumping around the dozen elves who were giving their best tond a hit. This scene where Elroth easily handled the elves interested Tristan very much.

    Just like what the other party imed and Tristan expected, the blind elf was indeed very powerful.

    Of course, Tristan wouldn''t just stand by and silently watch the ongoing scuffle like an unrted bystander. Between the options of helping the elf, finishing the chasers, or starting his escape, Tristan chose his main nature.

    Tristan''s figure swiftly sped toward the battlefield, causing all the elves to be nervous. However, to their surprise, Tristan passed them and stopped right where the corpses of the elves were instead.

    He stood there confidently with the trademark wicked smile stered on his face and hands raised to the air.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Familiar wisps of blood-colored rose from the elves'' corpses before entering Tristan''s body.

    [800...]

    [900...]

    [1100¡­]

    [A mix of 1200 high-quality blood cell were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell..]

    [5900 Blood Essence gained]

    Tristan could clearly feel the sensation of each of these elven''s high quality blood rushed into his body, giving him a feeling of pure delight. He even almost let out a groan of pleasure at how good it felt, which he luckily managed to suppress in time.

    Then, his eyesnded on the number of Blood Essence he had sessfully gathered. Immediately, a nearly maniacal level ofughter bursted out of Tristan.

    [Blood Essence 26050]

    With it came a notification that he had been waiting for.

    [Upgrade host''s body to stage four Blood Monarch?]

    [Cost 20.000 Blood Essence]

    Clenched his fist tightly, Tristan mentally replied, "Yes, upgrade!"

    Thest time Tristan upgraded his body was during the battle against the barbarians. Since then, despite the tremendous increase in his strength, his life had been on a continuous loss. Hence, he really hoped this upgrade to stage 4 would really make a difference and allowed him to stand tall in this world.

    [Upgrading to Stage Four Blood Monarch..]

    [20,000 Blood Essence used]

    [Advancing to Blood Monarch - Fourth Stage¡­]

    The moment thest notification appeared in his mind, Tristan immediately felt the changes happening in his body.

    He could feel the blood that was running through his veins stirred as it all flowed backwards simultaneously, heading to his heart. The beating of his heart sped up, and came with it was a deluge-like sensation. New, stronger blood was pumped and circted throughout Tristan''s entire body.

    Tristan could feel part of the new blood rapidly make its way to his brain.

    Then, he waited for the bloodke''s appearance, but surprisingly this time it didn''t show.

    It was quite strange indeed, but Tristan soon forgot about it when he really felt his muscle start to bulge. He felt like his body was being tempered by the new flow of energy coursing through his entire body.

    [Stage four advancementpleted]

    [Advancement affect host''s physical body]

    [Battle power increased significantly]

    [Battle power 250]

    [Stage Four Innate Skill has been unlocked]

    [You have learned a new skill Blood Legacy]

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 219 - Stretch

    Tristan''s attention immediately locked into the notifications that stated his battle power had increased and the new skill. The sight of these two notifications quickly made him feel the 20.000 Blood Essence spent on the upgrade extremely worth it. His heart, which actually ached, when he splurged that much of Blood Essence quickly healed and eased by them.

    [Blood Essence 6050]

    The remaining Blood Essence should be enough for multiple battles. Even if it wasn''t, Tristan shouldn''t have anything to worry about as he had more targets to extract Blood Essence off gathered right in front of him.

    Tristan stretched his entire body, from up to bottom, from the head down to the legs. His body felt as if it was a suppressed bomb, where it carried an untold amount of energy but had no means to discharge it. In addition, Tristan could also feel the new stage of Blood Monarch came with even more urge for blood.

    While Tristan was feeling the newfound power he had gotten himself, the blind and crippled Prince Elroth was still busy fighting against the elves, doing his thing amidst thetter

    Initially, the battle between the two parties seemed to be one-sided. However, the situation gradually changed when there were only a few elven warriors left. The reason for that was because even though the elven warriors were nearly annihted, the three elven nobles were still alive.

    Thanks to the absence of the elven warriors, the blind elf lost his medium of diversion, distraction, and obstruction. After all, the elven warriors had basically been acting as his protection.

    Now that they were almost gone, the situation in the battlefield gradually came to a standstill.

    The blind elf, Elroth was seen throwing multiple kinds of water spells to the remaining elves, which managed to flung them away or kept them at distance - giving no chance for thetter to reach him. Meanwhile, the elven nobles who couldn''t do anything besides defense also didn''t do poorly as they blocked and deflected every spell Elroth sent at them.

    In the end, none of the elven nobles managed to even touch a fabric of his cloth, and neither could he deliver enough damage to stop or possibly kill them.

    It appeared that water element spells weren''t the best choice for offensive in a fight, as water didn''t exactly have the most destructiveness.

    From the three elven nobles, Tristan discovered that the female dagger user was the most annoying as she kept trying to find an opening on Elroth''s move, which certainly irritated thetter to some degree. In the meantime, the spear user was giving his all to relentlessly chase the blind elf till kingdomse.

    However, Elroth managed to take advantage of their desperation to kill the remaining elven warriors. He jumped between two elven warriors, and the next moment, the spear user had sessfully killed his subordinates - piercing through them like a chicken skewer.

    The blind prince continued to jump around, dodging the attack sent by the frenzied spear user whileughing wickedly.

    There were times when he was nearly caught by the elven nobles, but Elroth was still able to stop himself and them using his [Ice Barrier] spell.

    Tristan could see the only reason why those nobles managed to get a hit was because the prince being blind gave him slower reaction speed and had to depend fully on his Katra.

    But then again, Tristan was sure that the blind prince was still ying around and hadn''t gone all out. For some unknown reason, he decided to not show his real power.

    Knowing it wasn''t wise for them to dwindle around here any longer, Tristan decided to join the fray and speed up the business.

    The first target that Tristan chose to test his newfound strength was the elven noble wielding the bow.

    Just when the said noble focused his attention onto Prince Elroth, waiting for the opportune moment to release the fully-drawn arrow, in that split second, Tristan sped toward him.

    The elf, who partially kept his attention on Tristan''s group, couldn''t believe his eyes when he saw how much speed Tristan showed. In the blink of an eye, Tristan had arrived in front of him and the elven noble only managed to dodge half a step before his body stopped in its tracks. He used all the strength he had to jump away, only to fall headless on the ground.

    The other two elven nobles were quickly rmed. Seeing the two distracted and their attention leaving him, Elroth swiftly took advantage of it by catching the spear and dashing in to touch the spear wielder''s shoulder.

    [Freezing Touch]

    A powerful Tier 4 spell erupted from Elroth''s hand, and in seconds, the said elf had turned into an ice statue

    The sight of herpanion turned into a literal block of ice immediately made thest remaining elven noble, the dagger-wielding woman casted [Slip Stream] and used her enhanced speed to flee towards the woods.

    However, Tristan unexpectedly showed a massive grin as he saw the woman''s figure sped into the trees.

    How could he not though? It was time to test how fast he could move.

    Previously, when Tristan fought the Forlorn elder in the mine, he was unable to follow his speed. But this time, for each two steps the woman took, Tristan already ran three steps. Hence, he quickly caught up to the former and sent the sword in hand right ahead of her path.

    Spattttt!

    The elf woman was split in two and blood sttered all over him.

    With her death, all the elves who chased them had died.

    Abruptly, a loud shout distracted Tristan when he was about to do his usual routine of extracting.

    "You!! Hey!! Yes, you! A crippled person needs help here!?

    Tristan quickly gave a nce at Chieng, and the space knight went to help the shouting man.

    Now that there were no more enemies, Tristan once again smiled.

    "More time to feast!"

 Chapter 220 - Accelerate

    [Blood Extraction]

    Several momentster, the extraction process ended like usual and Tristan quickly revelled in the joy of seeing his Blood Essence reserve increased. He was extremely delighted to discover the three elven nobles and another dozen elven warriors had given him another 5800 Blood Essence.

    With his Blood Essence passing the 10.000 mark, as expected he received a notification in his mind.

    [Upgrade Blood Seal to Level 3 - 10.000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrade Blood Synthesis to Level 2 - 10.000 Blood Essence]

    Looking at the options that came, Tristan truly didn''t know what to say about his system. He had just hit the 10,000 mark and wanted to see the abundant Blood Essence for a bit longer when he was given the temptation to spend it again.

    Still, Tristan couldn''t resist the temptation because an improvement to his prowess would always be weed any time.

    The notification for upgrading the Blood Monarch''s skills was quite anticipated by Tristan, especially the Blood Seal. As for the Blood Synthesis, he wondered what level 2 would do to the skill.

    Tristan also still had the new skill [Blood Legacy] that he wanted and should give a try. But then, they really should get away from this ce first before doing anything else.

    Not forgetting to collect the equipment and spatial rings of the deceased elves, Tristan decided to dash away from the ce together with the others.

    It seemed this rescue mission of his had turned into quite a profit; a big sess, even.

    "Time to go!"

    Then, when they were about to go, Tristan turned to Chieng and asked, "Serene and the other should have gone far by now, right Chieng?"

    Hearing his question, the space knight quickly brought out the controller device to check and operate the drone.

    Within a few seconds, Tristan watched as Chieng''s face gradually began to change as he fiddled with the device.

    "What happened, Chieng?!"

    Tristan''s words caused Chieng to jerk his head upwards.

    "I-I''m sorry, Master. I have been so upied with the fight that I didn''t notice this earlier. Apparently, they were heading towards a group of Forlorn elves and would engage with them any moment."

    Tristan''s face drastically changed when he heard that. "What?! Dammit! Let''s go!"

    Without dilly-dallying anymore, Tristan quickly sped towards the direction that Chieng pointed out, while Chieng followed him after putting the crippled Elroth on his back.

    While they were running through the dense woods, Tristan asked with an urgent tone in his voice.

    "How many are the enemies there and how far are we from them?!"

    Chieng, who wasn''t that far from Tristan, swiftly answered, "There are three elves and they will encounter each other any time now. As for the distance, 4 kilometers upfront, Master."

    "Three?" Tristan said again, to make sure he didn''t hear it wrong. For a moment, he exhaled a sigh of relief before increasing his speed again. "Serene and Astrid should be able to hold three for a while. Even so, we still can''t rx. Let''s speed up!"

    In the blink of an eye, Tristan had crossed a distance of a dozen meters, leaving Chieng who was also carrying Elroth even further. Then, when he was about to elerate even more, Chieng''s shout was heard from behind.

    "Master! The elves have found my drone! " Then, came Chieng''s shout,pletely filled with disbelief. "It''s now destroyed!"

    Hearing the bad news, Tristan''s sense of urgency grew even more.

    "Fuck!! I''ll go ahead!! Catch up as fast as possible, Chieng!" said Tristan as he basically vanished within the sea of trees.

    Running through the forest at his maximum speed, Tristan''s heart was restless because he was really worried about them, or rather, Serene. He had seen how high the drone could fly, which he still struggled to find despite his enhanced senses.

    Hence, one could imagine how powerful the three elves would be for Serene and Astrid to face. No, nevermind. The three elves were definitely stronger than the enemies he had fought until now.

    As he ran as fast as he could, Tristan''s heartbeat also beat faster and faster with every passing second. He wondered if it was because he was worried that something bad would happen to his Astrid and Serene or because of the fact that he was finally able to actually use and test the newfound strength he possessed.

    After sprinting through the trees for 10 minutes, Tristan finally could catch up to their tracks. He could see traces of people fighting up ahead and eventually the people when he continued advancing.

    Three elves. Two were seen fighting, while thest one was holding something in his hand.

    Tristan could be absolutely sure that it was a still bleeding, decapitated head.

    Seeing that, he gritted his teeth and dashed even faster.

    Stomping his feet to the ground, his body shot forward like a bullet, and within a few seconds, Tristan zoomed and halted right in the middle of the ongoing fight. His abrupt and unexpected arrival immediately made the fighting stop.

    "Tristan!" shouted Serene when her eyesnded on his figure.

    Instead of Serene, Tristan''s eyes locked at the body thaty on the ground. Even though it was disturbing, he was still d it was the body of the Arcadian envoy, Agoon, not the two girls.

    Now that he was done making sure the girls were alright, his attention shifted over to the enemies ahead.

    At the moment, Tristan faced the three elves and finally understood why the three could catch up to Serene and Astrid so fast. The two elves were a figure that felt even stronger than the elven noble he fought; an elder. However, the most troublesome was the one standing behind them, the figure who had Agoon''s head in his head, was none other than Prince Jonus himself.

    The said prince threw the bleeding head, stare at Tristan and said

    "Tristan..? Hmm.. I see. You are the new Caerleon Town''s mayor, I was reckless not to see you before. But, this is excellent!"

    Prince Jonus looked at Tristan with a wicked smile on his face.

    Tristan brought his mithril sword out and said, "And you must be Anus! The ass who dared hit my wife."

    The Forlorn Prince certainly understood that he was being mocked as Tristan could see him briefly getting angry before quickly returning to his evil smile.

    "Your woman is too wild. She didn''t listen well, so it''s my obligation to teach her manners in your ce!"

    The Forlorn Prince''s attempt to get back at Tristan didn''t even faze thetter.

    "Big mistake you made there!! No one hits my family!"

    Before Prince Janus could reply, Tristan turned to the two girls and said, "You two take care of the small asses, while I''ll take care of the big ass!"

    However, just as Tristan was about to start, blood suddenly spurted out of Astrid''s mouth and she fell to her knees. It was clear that she was already seriously injured and was no longer fit to fight.

    "Dammit!"

 Chapter 221 - Undefined

    Seeing the grievous state Astrid had got herself in, Serene quickly approached her and casted healing magic on the wounds. A lustrous mist gradually materialized around the wounds, which slowly healed them - [Soothing Mist]. Even though the effect wasn''t much, it was still enough to keep her alive.

    Now that Astrid had effectively been gotten rid of, the situation turned into a one against three battle. Tristan had to be more careful now, especially as he already saw the ''undefined'' stats of the Forlorn Prince.

    With his upgrade to stage 4 of Blood Monarch, his urge for blood had also tempted him to just unleash his power. However, Tristan knew sumbing to this urge of his would decisively spell the death of him. Therefore, he had to restrain it.

    Prince Janus was about to order the elders to attack when Tristan startled him by speaking abruptly.

    "Who dares to fight me first!?"

    The words that Tristan uttered were aimed to manipte and make a one-on-one fight, as it turned out, his opponent bought it.

    "Hahaha! You like to y games, aren''t you?" asked Prince Janus with an amused smile on his face. "Alright, you know what? I will let you choose who you want to fight against."

    When in doubt, use your head. This way, Tristan could first get one of them off the equation before moving to another. This situation is certainly much better than fighting against all three at once.

    However, though Tristan had escaped from the worst possible scenario, what he got ahead was certainly still an ordeal. Hence, he quickly scanned the two elves standing beside the Forlorn Prince to get an estimate of their strength.

    The first one, the elf standing on the left side of Prince Janus was introduced as Dulos. The man was quiet-looking, but with a body slightly bigger and more muscr than a normal elf. The contrast between his atmosphere and appearance certainly caught Tristan off guard.

    [Wood elf - Male]

    [Battle power undefined]

    [Spirit force 210]

    Tristan inwardly shook his head when he saw the word undefined pasted on his battle power. It was clear that these two elves were on a different level than the elder he fought at the mine.

    He subconsciously held his breath when the result of the other elder came out. It was a very slender and pale-skinned female elf with long, braided green hair.

    [Wood elf - Female]

    [Battle power 125]

    [Spirit force undefined]

    "So, which one will you choose? Caerleon Mayor?" asked Prince Janus when Tristan just stood there without saying anything.

    Meanwhile, Tristan ignored the Forlorn Prince as he contemted which one he should pick. Based on their stats, he could infer that one was a great fighter while the other was a great magician. Both were strong opponents, but their specialization waspletely in contrast to another.

    Tristan was so annoyed that he wished to just break the scanner apart as it became more and more unreliable with each passing day.

    Even though his inner was in turmoil, outwardly Tristan showed a confident smile as he said,

    "Alright! I will choose the big guy!"

    For him personally, a physical-based duel would be more predictable and manageable than a magic-based one. After all, one could count the amount of magic spells in his repertoire with hands. In addition, fighting physically could definitely push and test the limit of his current strength.

    The male elder named Dulos quickly stepped forward when he heard Tristan''s words. The two longswords he brought out and firmly gripped in his hands were reflecting the sunlight as his figure dashed at Tristan.

    nk!

    Tristan, who already took his stance the moment he opened his mouth, weed Dulos. The mithril sword in his hand had precisely epted the downward sh Dulos sent, but caught unprepared by the force in it.

    The ground around his feet seemed to sink in, as Tristan''s body received the entire momentum of the strike. He felt his hands going numb from receiving the full force. The man certainly had a battle power of more than 200.

    After the first strike was parried, Dulos was certainly not done yet as the second longsword quickly came for Tristan''s life.

    nk!

    Fortunately, Tristan managed to shift his sword at thest moment and sessfully blocked the attack. Dulos appeared unfazed by his continuous failure as he utilized agile footwork to change his position and the direction of his swing.

    nkk!! nk!!

    As Tristan blocked two shes that came nearly at the same time from two different directions, he was being reminded of the elf master who taught him de dancing. The man in front of him should be on the same level, or probably even more as Dulos used two longswords instead of two daggers.

    nkk!!

    Tristan received Dulos'' double sweep attack and his body was pushed back several meters. This attack was stronger than the previous ones, but he could still handle it.

    This elf had high battle power, but what mesmerized Tristan was the technique that he utilized. Not only was it top notch, Dulos hadbined and incorporated it into his fighting style that it felt natural like breathing.

    If it wasn''t because of Tristan''s previous experience with the same technique, he was certain he wouldn''t be able to keep up and could only be helplessly beaten up.

    In the meantime, Prince Janus who was watching the fight looked excited when he saw how Tristan fared against Dulos. "Amazing! You are very strong!"

    Tristan had to admit that even though his battle power was higher than Dulos, the elf had a much better technique and its application than him. He could infer from what he was seeing and experiencing so far that the one he was fighting must be a stage 4 Katra fighter - a level that the elven masters in Vanyar had reached.

    It was at this moment that Chieng arrived as his figure jumped out of the dense woods.

    His arrival attracted attention, including Prince Janus whose gaze immediately locked on the figure on his back, the crippled Prince Elroth.

    "Ha! Wee to the party, dearest brother. d you can join us."

    Tristan didn''t lose focus and kept attacking Dulos. He had the advantage of strength and speed over the other party and also still had a few hidden cards in his sleeve. However, he knew the elf must be the same as well.

    Hence, Tristan decided to enjoy himself as it was a rare chance for him to have such a fine sparring partner in swordsmanship. After a few dozen exchanges, like every other fight he went through, his body began to adapt to Ludos''s technique.

    Due to the gradual familiarity, Tristan instinctively spotted an opening in Ludos and immediately took said opportunity.

    After his sessful strike to deflect Dulos'' attack, He sent a swing at Dulos'' head as thetter lost his bnce. Unfortunately, just a centimeter before the dended and pierced through, Dulos'' body suddenly turned into stone. As a result, Tristan''s sword was stopped and the golden opportunity went like smoke.

    "nk"

    [Greater stone skin- Tier 4 earth spell.]

    One of the best individual defensive spells was casted, and Dulos'' body which had turned into stone was suddenly covered andyered by even more stones, turning him into some kind of stone man.

    While transforming, Dulos seemed unable to do anything. Therefore, Tristan would not let go of such an opportunity as he sent two more deadly attacks at the elf.

    nk!! nk!!

    The attacks were able to push and hurt Dulos as Tristan could see the pained expression on his face, but there was no blood spilled. Even his mithril tier 3 weapon was only able to put a scratch on him,

    Dulos stood up and drew his swords once again. This time, he was dded inyers of stone armor.

    "Shit!!" cursed Tristan loudly, as his eyes looked at the monstrosity.

    If he knew the man had such troublesome magic as well, he would''ve chosen the female.

 Chapter 222 - Unarmed

    The male elf elder named Dulos; not only did he have exceptional status of battle power, he also had superb aplishment inbat technique. Then, as if those weren''t enough, he now even had an extraordinary magic spell that basically made him a walking monstrosity of destruction with nigh-imprable defense.

    The sight of the elf, who waspletely covered andyered by rocks at the moment, wielding two longswords that looked incongruous to his figure certainly gave off an eerie feel to those who saw him.

    The crippled Elroth who kept his attention on the fight was seen shouting at Tristan, telling him an important piece of information.

    "Unless you have a Tier 4 artifact weapon, the spell that Dulos casted essentially made him impervious to any attack. There''s no chance you would be able to injure him with your current weapon. Do you have a better one? Because if you don''t.." Elroth''s words trailed at the end, as both he and Tristan knew what would ur if that exact thing happened.

    Upon hearing Elroth''s words, Tristan immediately decided to put his mithril sword back to the interspatial ring. Then, contrary to all expectations, he began taking his orthodox stance. He nned to show his hand-to-hand battle art.

    Even though blind, Prince Elroth still knew what Tristan was doing when he ''saw'' what he did. He turned to Serene who was next to him and said, "Is he an idiot? No, I mean, is his brain alright?"

    "Yes, he is. He''s a helpless idiot." replied Serene, but in a concerned tone. Meanwhile, Astrid was also able to stand up thanks to the healing spell Serene had given her. However, she was still unfit for another fight, as her wounds only healed superficially.

    Tristan, who was in his stance, raised his two hands and shouted, "Round Two! Let''s go!"

    As if the bell had been hit, the ground trembled as Dulos swiftly charged at Tristan. The target also didn''t remain still as he also began to move and dodge the iing diagonal sh by leaning his body to the right. The sword barely went past Tristan''s nose as it sliced through the air.

    After sessfully dodging the lethal strike, Tristan focused his entire weight on his left foot before delivering a fully-cocked left hook where Dulos'' stomach should be.

    BAM! Faint cracks appeared and kes of rock fell from Dulos as his body was pushed back by the blow.

    "Nice!! One hit!!"

    It seemed the failure began to get into him as Dulos went in again and this time attacked with even more ferocity.

    The two longswords danced in the air, slicing through without exhibition like huge scissors as Dulos'' killing intent exploded and could be faintly perceivable by those observing. But Tristan managed to dodge every attack thanks to his slightly superior speed

    It was apparent that Dulos'' ster defense and massive figure was not without cost as the elf had lost quite a bit of his flexibility and mobility. His actions had be slightly rigid and much easier to follow. Hence, Tristan was bing increasingly confident as the fight went on.

    From a long time ago, Tristan always preferred his bare hands as the means when fighting. However, being thrown into an unknown world shook his psyche, especially when the first thing he did was forced to massacre living beings.

    Moreover, the ymore was the weapon that he wielded at that time. Thus subconsciously, Tristan thought using weapons, or rather, swords were better for his and his sister''s survival in this dangerous world.

    Now with the opponent that has a body that resist sharp objects, it was time to return to his old way. He believed the impact from his punches would be effective against opponent such as this

    Combining the refined footwork he learned in Vanyar with street boxing, Tristan felt he was finally able to maximize the true potential of his newfound battle power.

    BAM! BAM! BAM!

    Blow after blownded on Dulos'' figure over and over. Unfortunately, the figure swinging his swords in front of him was just really a hard nut to crack, literally. Even after sessfully bestowing over a dozen punches that could easily break a boulder, the man was still standing tall.

    On the other hand, the things Tristan showcased at the moment actually brought an inexplicable sense of awe to Serene and Elroth, who watched the fight intently.

    The two could swear that Tristan wasn''t and shouldn''t be this fast and strong. Naturally, they were oblivious to the upgrade that his body just went through.

    BAM!

    Tristan managed tond a nice, square hit to Dulos'' face, and he could clearly see the elf spit out blood and became angry.

    "Hahaha, you like that?!" said Tristan, provoking the already provoked elf.

    At the moment, he truly felt like a professional boxer who used gloves to attack his opponent in a life and death battle. It might even take him a hundred punches to actually make any real internal bleeding on his opponent.

    How amusing it may feel, but Tristan got bored after sessfully connecting another dozen punches. Therefore, he decided to finally end this fight.

    The moment he made up his mind, Tristan swiftly got into action. At one moment where Dulos sent a sideway sh at him, he ducked to dodge the attack and then circled around the massive figure before jumping to the former''s wide open back. Without further ado, he stretched his hand over Dulos'' head and grabbed the man''s face with his fingers.

    Tristan held on tightly while his fingers crawled over to Dulos'' eyes before digging into them. At the same time, he casted [Heat Touch]. Immediately, Dulos screamed into the point of howling as the pain was too much for him.

    One could imagine the sensation Dulos felt when me materialized and zed his eyes. It was certainly painful, and something that shouldn''t be wanted.

    He began iling around, turning and twisting his body to get Tristan off his back, but thetter certainly wouldn''t let it happen. He only needed a few more seconds before the mepletely destroyed the elf''s inner brain.

    However, Tristan was forced to bail out when he suddenly perceived a tingling from his senses and Serene''s shout warning him resounded in the air.

    In the split second after he got away, dozens of thorn roots were seen swirling on Dulos'' body before pulling him back to safety. Tristan threw his gaze to the source of the roots.

    It was the other elder, the slender and pale-looking female, who saved Dulos from his imminent death. Tristan could see arge number of simr roots moving all around her.

    Knowing that he had just lost the chance to kill Dulos, Tristan immediately did the one thing he could only do now. Protesting.

    "Hey!!! That''s cheating!"

    Tristan''s words definitely irked Prince Janus as he immediately showed an annoyed look.

    "You already won the fight. I will not let you kill my elder."

    Seeing that the other party was annoyed being called on his cheating, Tristan decided to not stop there.

    "Huh! I feel cheated. This is supposed to be an honorable duel between two individuals! I wantpensation for this!"

    The Forlorn Prince stared dagger at him, his face basically telling everyone that he was mad.

    "Alright, fine! I will give youpensation! You all together can fight me, while my elder here will only watch. I''ll let you go if you win the fight!"

    Inwardly, Tristan was smiling. His n seemed to be working.

    "All? There are 5 of us here. Are you sure?" asked Tristan with a faint smile on his face.

    But his smile instantly went away when a piercing light emerged from the Forlorn Prince''s hand and a bolt of lightning streaked past him. The next thing they realized, the body of Astrid fell on the ground with an oxidized hole on her body.

    "It''s only four now"

 Chapter 223 - Tier 5

    The attackunched by Prince Janus was so fast that neither Tristan nor Serene managed to react before it had already done its job. The lightning bolt literally streaked through the air in the blink of an eye. It instantly hit and pierced through Astrid''s chest. Blood sttered all around her before her body once again fell to the ground.

    Serene, who was standing next to her, was dumbfounded by the unexpected development. She quickly regained her bearing and crouched down, trying her best to hold Astrid''s life with his healing spell. Seeing thetter''s paleplexion, she could tell that Astrid''s life was gradually slipping away every second.

    Meanwhile, Tristan looked pissed at the Forlorn Prince''s action, extremely so. Having to see one of the reliable subordinates injured and on the verge of death would definitely upset someone who was patient, let alone Tristan with his temper.

    Knowing he would be courting death if he fought the Forlorn Prince alone, Tristan stared at the crippled Elroth and said, "You! It''s time to pay your due!"

    The blind prince, who was still hanging on Chieng''s back, calmly replied, "I will help, but don''t expect much from a blind and cripple like me."

    Hearing Elroth''s words truly made Tristan wanted to throw the crippled man one more time, sending him flying to the horizon. Even in this situation where they were in peril, the elf still had the intention to joke around.

    Tristan had nned the whole rescue operation, and executed it carefully. From the decision to burn the entire forest for distraction purposes, releasing and scheming against the other prisoners back at Forlorn City, the explosive traps that sessfully cleared most of the chasers, to the n of extracting the deceased elves'' body to greatly increase his strength.

    Throughout the entire endeavor, Tristan''s main concern was the possibility of fighting this unfathomable Forlorn Prince, Janus. The man still showed a nonchnt attitude despite Tristan''s advantage in numbers, and coupled with the undefined stats he had; it certainly meant something.

    Luckily, he had one card for the man; The blind elf who said to be on the same level as the prince himself.

    With just one lightning spell, Tristan could catch a glimpse of the Forlorn Prince''s strength. Hence, he couldn''t be too careful.

    Prince Janus seemed to be impatient as he stared right at Tristan and said loudly, "Are we going to fight, or what?!"

    Hearing the Forlorn Prince''s words, Tristan knew they couldn''t stall this any longer. He quickly gave a signal to Chieng and the space knight immediately got into action. He charged toward the Forlorn Prince, with Elroth on his back.

    As expected, it seemed that Elroth could indeed handle the Forlorn Prince. The moment Prince Janus decided to use his lightning bolt again, the blind elf would already be a step ahead and created a crystalline ice barrier to protect himself and Chieng.

    While his charge was obstructed thanks to the protection that Elroth provided, Chieng brought out two identical firearms, one on each hand, known as the Storm Rifle. The rifles were immediately fired and sma beams travelled through the air toward the Forlorn Prince.

    In the meantime, Tristan stood unmoving as he analyzed the two Forlorn Princes'' real strengths. This was because in case his opponent was much stronger than he thought and they stood no chance to fight him, he would immediately grab Serene and run away, leaving everyone else.

    Ideally, Tristan would bring the space knight and the female barbarian in his escape, but in the case of fighting an undefeated enemy, asking for an ideal solution was too much.

    Returning his thought back to the ongoing fight, Tristan slightly frowned at what he watched. Due to the two''s decision to fight a long-range battle, he couldn''t really see the true extent of Janus'' strength. After all, thetter not only had undefined stats in spirit force, but also battle power.

    At the moment, Elroth was seen attacking Janus by sending numerous ice shards - a result of Tier 3 spell, [Ice Shard]. The sharp-looking ice shot through the air from all directions and swiftly neared the Forlorn Prince, intending to make thetter into a pin cushion.

    Unfortunately, the ice shards were quickly obliterated by the lightning spell the Forlorn Prince unleashed. The spells brought no results, but Elroth didn''t give up as he sent more attacks.

    Finally, after seeing several exchanges between the two figures, Tristan could conclude that the Forlorn Prince was certainly stronger than the opponents he fought before, much more so.

    Throughout their fight, the two princes didn''t use ordinary spells, not even once. One utilized lightning element spells that brought untold destruction upon its descend, while the other had ice element spells that were extremely versatile in his repertoire. The two elements were also supposed to be in the High Elves'' list of element affinity.

    It looked like the two were brothers have the High Elf gene in them. Moreover, it was seen that both of them had reached a very high level of attunement in their respective elements.

    Prince Janus chose the [Lightning Bolt] spell for his offensive approach, while as for the defensive, he was seen using the spell [Stone Wall] that made the ground rise and block all the sma beams shot by Chieng.

    The blind Prince Elroth, on the other hand, depended on Chieng for his mobility. the space knight has decent speed and experience in dodging under fire. But avoiding the lighting spell was not easy at all. Tristan saw a couple of moments where the two almost got punctured by the Forlorn Prince''s lightning bolt.

    Thankfully, the spell that Elroth casted, [Crystal Barrier], seemed to be effective to stop the spells the Forlorn Prince sent over. Every bolt thatnded on the barrier was ineffective as it deflected them away.

    For the offensive, Elroth was using his trademark [Ice Shard] spell, which was supported by Chieng''s sma beam. The space knight kept running and dodging while continuing their assault on the Forlorn Prince, as thetter appeared to be suppressed under the heavy fire of the two.

    However, the two Forlorn Princes were certainly still holding back as they only used Tier 3 and Tier 4 spells in the fight.

    His conjecture cemented stronger when Tristan saw the two brothers smiling wickedly at each other. He could certainly see the brotherhood resemnce from their nearly identical look.

    "After so many lost. you still wish to fight me, brother!"

    "Huh! You will see who will win this time!"

    "With that ruined body of yours? In your dreams!"

    Gradually their warm-up finally came to an end as the Forlorn Prince finally made the big move. He crouched and touched the ground, casting a Tier 5 spell, [Earthquake].

    The next instant, the ground shook violently and arge area in front of him fell down, reced by a pit filled with sharp stones. This furthermore limits the space knight''s mobility. At this moment the blind prince pushed Chieng away while he himself uses [Aqua st] water element spell to propel them two high into the air.

    It was basic logic that being in the air made one vulnerable. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Forlorn Prince swiftly conjured multiple thunderbolts and sent them at the duo. The sight of the bolts speeding through the air wasparable to fireworks.

    The crystal barrier, which Elroth conquered in the air, was hit continuously by the thunderbolts until it could no longer take them anymore and broke into pieces.

    However, Tristan was startled by the sight of the broken crystal pieces suddenly swirling in the air and created some kind of cloud mid-air.

    [Frozen Rain - Tier 5 Ice Spell]

    Elroth''s figure was seen falling from the sky and being surrounded by hundreds of ice shards.

    All shot toward the Forlorn Prince.

    Surprisingly, Prince Janus didn''t even budge at the rming sight. He just stood there,pletely unfazed as he casted another high-tier spell.

    In the blink of an eye, countless streams of erratic lightning currents appeared and churned around his figure before coalescing into one and rushed the blind elf.

    [Lightning Wave - Tier 5 Lightning Spell]

    The two high-tier, destructive spells connected with each other, creating an enormous burst of energy. Tristan could see that the two brothers were still enjoying the fight.

    "Still with the same old ice spell Elroth! Don''t you have anything new!?"

    This is the first time Tristan saw the tier 5 magic battle, it was an impressive disy. Now with the two havingunched their strongest spell, Tristan felt it was the cue for him to make a move. He immediately brought out his mithril sword and cast his hidden spell to further increase his chances of sess.

    [Fire Aura - tier 3 fire spell]

    In an instant, Tristan''s body glowed with mes as he charged at the Forlorn Prince.

    "Charge!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 224 - Charge

    Revealing and dealing the best card in hand at the best opportunity was something that one should do when faced with someone who was thought to be superior, and that was exactly what Tristan nned to do.

    At the moment, it was apparent that this was the opportune moment for him, one that could possibly deliver the decisive blow and put an end to this fight.

    A st of magnificent magnitude urred when the two Tier 5 spells hit and canceled each other out, which was then followed by a shower of ice shards and lightning current. The explosion also covered the surrounding area with overcast fog due to the sudden change in humidity.

    It was exactly at this moment that Tristan used his card.

    [Fire Aura]

    [You have gained substantial boost in speed]

    [You have gained substantial boost in strength]

    [Your body have gained a high resistance to Fire attribute spells]

    [Battle power have increased by 25 points]

    [Current battle power: 275]

    As the spell took effect, Tristan could clearly feel the enhancement his body received. His speed and strength had just been boosted to another level at once. Without further ado and hesitation, he dashed toward the Forlorn Prince, his figure like a missile heading directly towards thetter.

    It looked like the Forlorn Prince had prepared for Tristan''s sneak attack as a stone wall rose on his side, facing the direction he came from. However, there was something that Janus didn''t count in the equation - Tristan''s speed was faster than his estimation as the [Fire Aura] spell enhanced his prowess.

    Tristan''s figure was seen crashing into the iplete stone wall and smashed it into pieces with his free hand, while the other one that held onto the mithril sword swung over to its intended target. Seeing the iing de that could easily decapitate him, the Forlorn Prince swiftlymenced evasive maneuver as his body leaned away from the sh trajectory. Unfortunately, he wasn''t fast enough.

    Swiiissshhh!!! St!!

    A long streak of red could be seen on the Forlorn Prince''s chest and blood sttered over his noble attire. Seeing the conspicuous result of his sneak attack seen on the Forlorn Prince''s chest certainly pumped Tristan up, and in such a favorable development, he surely would not let the other party go. Therefore, he quickly jerked his legs against the ground as his hand went in for another strike.

    Swiisshhhh!!!

    Another shot of blood flew to the air as Tristan managed tond another sh onto the Forlorn Prince. But this time, it wasn''t as severe as the first one.

    He then looked up to see the Forlorn Prince''s expression, only to be stunned by it.

    Janus'' frowning expression turned to a smiling one as he casted a spell on himself, [Energize]. Yellowish glow swiftly enveloped his body and It was when his next attack was evaded that he realized his opponent''s speed had matched his.

    Subsequently, Prince Janus took a spear out of his interspatial ring. It wasn''t an ordinary kind of spear as it had two des positioned next to each other, looking almost like arge fork. With just one nce, Tristan immediately knew it had to be a high-grade magical weapon. The spear emanated a faint glow and intricate runes were seen on its surface.

    nk!!

    His sword was parried by the spear and Janus quicklyunched his counterattack as he retreated away, taking his distance from Tristan. Spear thrusts wereing at Tristan, and due to its number, he had a hard time continuing his assault.

    Tristan couldn''t help but click his tongue as he parried another thrust. It was apparent that the man used battle arts as there was no way he couldunch this many attacks with such speed in normal situations.

    Spatt!!

    One attack managed to slip through his defense andnd on his shoulder, directly tearing a piece of his flesh.

    "Arrgh!" Tristan reflexively screamed from the pain.

    Still, Tristan wasn''t going to stop his assault over such a superficial wound. He quickly brought out his second Tier 3 sword, the one he took from the Caerleon ''Hero'', Connor. Afterwards, he once again charged forward, with even more momentum and ferocity than before.

    nk!! nk!!

    Tristan''s outburst wasn''t in vain, as his attacks were able to match the fierce hastilude showcased by the Forlorn Prince.

    "Who are you really?!" said the Forlorn Prince curiously. Naturally, his hand didn''t stop parrying Tristan''s ferocious attacks.

    "I am the one who is going to kick your ass!!" shouted Tristan harshly while keeping the momentum of his swords, delivering shes from different directions and intervals. But despite being shouted at, the Forlorn Prince seemed to be even more interested in him.

    nk!! nk!!

    While parrying another strike Tristan sent, the Forlorn Prince opened his mouth as he began casually in a nonchnt attitude

    "You speak the tongue of humans, have the body of High Elves, and strangely, a fire element affinity."

    Tristan became more irritated with every passing second he heard the other party''s ramblings. As if that wasn''t enough, the relentless barrage of attacks that should have been able to kill dozens of Orc Grunts didn''t seem to have any significance to the Forlorn Prince. Even though he had used his maximum strength, the elf in front of him still looked extremely calm.

    "You also have such high physical power. However, it''s a shame you dont have the skill to match it."

    Couldn''t hold it anymore, Tristan finallyshed out the irritation inside him.

    "Argh!! And you have a special talent for speaking too much!"

    nk!! nk!!

    It was at this moment that Tristan noticed his sword began showing cracks. Even though they were faint, they existed. It meant the spear that the Forlorn Prince used must be at least a Tier 4 Artifact.

    "You will never defeat me," said Prince Janus in a mocking tone.

    Suddenly, the Forlorn Prince casted a spell onto his spear, [Lightning Infusion].

    Loud crackling sounds were heard as purplish lightning currents materialized over the spear and essentially enveloped its entirety.

    Tristan, who saw the live view of the spell, immediately assumed the spell to be the kind that enhanced the weapons. In the next second, he saw the brightly lit spearing at him from above.

    His eyes could catch its arrival, but he couldn''t move his body because the spear was approaching him too fast. Therefore, Tristan swiftly unleashed his full strength to swing the swords in his hand at the spear trajectory, wanting to deflect it away.

    CRAACCKKK!!!

    Tristan could only watch in astonishment as the two Tier 3 swords shattered into pieces and the spear went into his right shoulder without a hitch. In an instant, he screamed in pain as blood covered his neck and body, dyeing him in red. His body fell, kneeling on the ground.

    "I already told you. You will never win." said Prince Janus in a calm voice, while looking down at Tristan.

    Just as the Forlorn Prince was about to draw his spear, Tristan suddenly grabbed the spear in one of his hands and held it as if his life depended on it. The raw strength of 275 battle power showcased itself as Janus couldn''t shake off Tristan''s grip no matter what he did.

    While the Forlorn Prince was busy trying to get his spear back, unbeknownst to him, Tristan''s other hand started glowing with mes as he casted the [Fireball] spell.

    [100 Blood Essence have been spent]

    "Yes to the max!"

    Tristan threw the Blood Essence-enhanced fireball at the Forlorn Prince. Due to how close he was with Tristan, Prince Janus couldn''t dodge it. In fact, the Forlorn Prince at first thought nothing of Tristan''s actions as he didn''t find any threat in a mere Tier 3 spell.

    However, his thoughts were forced to change when the spell had finished forming and was thrown at him. Even though the spell hadn''t hit him yet, he could roughly sense its prowess, and was thus quite surprised by the amount of power it had.

    KABBOOOMMM!!!

    The fireballnded on its target and an explosion immediately ured. It was quite a huge explosion and the Forlorn Prince was seen flying away, his body covered in mes.

    Not only did Tristan manage to injure the Forlorn Prince, he also managed to disarm the spear from thetter. As for the injury to his shoulder, it was not a big deal for him and his body. The only pain he felt right now was the two Tier 3 swords that had shattered to pieces.

    Tristan quickly stood up, grabbed the spear thaty on the ground, and then took his fighting stance as he prepared for another round. He was sure the battle was far from over, but it still didn''t stop him from feeling annoyed when the smoke dissipated and the Forlorn Prince didn''t seem to be in much harm at all.

    "You can not defeat him alone!" said the blind prince Elroth, who was once again already on Chieng''s back.

 Chapter 225 - Barrage

    It was apparent that this fight would be the finale that decided the decisive oue.

    At the moment, Tristan secretly and carefully scanned his surroundings while his mind quickly calcted their chances of winning.

    It seemed that despite being badly injured earlier, the Chieng was still able to fight. The space knights did have a much more resilient bodypared to that of a normal human.

    On the other side, Tristan could see that Serene was also ready to join the fight. Only the barbarian girl Astrid who was left unconscious on the ground.

    Understanding what Elroth said was true, Tristan quickly gave Serene a Tier 3 bow that he took from one of the elven nobles they fought earlier.

    Currently, they might have more numbers, but he understood that number alone wasn''t enough to clutch the victory. Not including the Forlorn Prince who was formidable by himself, there were still the two elders that stood behind him. He couldn''t just ignore them and believe they wouldn''t help the former if all of them ganged up on the Forlorn Prince at once, despite the man''s words that stated he would be fighting by himself.

    The main problem they had right now was the fact that Tristan was still unable to guess the full extent of the Forlorn Prince''s strength. The previous battle against Dulos had given him confidence that he could handle and defeat an elder who was a stage 4 Katra practitioner.

    However, the magnitude of strength and speed that the Forlorn Prince disyed, who was clearly much superior than the elder, made Tristan wonder if the young man was really just a stage 4 Katra practitioner.

    It was particrly at times like this that Tristan really hoped he had a better scanner. After all, knowing the strength of one''s enemy was extremely important because those who charged blindly toward unknown dangers would not know how they even died.

    As for now, Tristan had only one method to further test the Forlorn Prince''s strength.

    He reached for the earpiece in his ear and said, "Go, push on the attack, Chieng!"

    The next second came the reply. (Affirmative, Master)

    The space knight quickly took action as he rushed at the Forlorn Prince. This time, he didn''t take out the rifles and brought a different one. It was arge-sized firearm that looked simr to a handgun back on Earth. This firearm was known as the Bolt Gun.

    Instead of shooting out sma beams that easily melt down surfaces, the gun shot explosive cartridges that caused immediate explosion on impact. It had a shorter range than the Storm Rifle, but itpensated for its shorings with its higher offensive output. This was the perfect type of weapon for what Tristan wanted him to do.

    Tristan, through the earpiece, gave Chieng a detailed order of what thetter should do. The main purpose of this action was to distract the Forlorn Prince as well as force Elroth the blind elf to involve more in the assault. In the meantime, he and Serene would be attacking from a safer distance. Hence he can see the prince''s strength at a safer distance.

    Bang! Bang!

    Chieng''s figure was seen rushing in while firing multiple shots at the Forlorn Prince. As expected, with thetter''s speed that was on par with Tristan''s, none of the shots managed to hit him. The amused prince once again utilized his bread-and-butter [Thunderbolt] spell to retaliate, but whenever one was on the brink of hitting the space knight, Elroth would conjure the familiar crystal barrier to protect thetter.

    As the Forlorn Prince ced his attention to deal with the duo, Tristan secretly prepared another shot of [Fireball] spell, while Serene started doing what she did best. With the dozen arrows in her quiver, she pulled one and nocked it on the bow while also enchanting it.

    She aimed at the Forlorn Prince, who was busy maneuvering the Bolt Gun''s bullets, and used her battle art technique, [Spinning Shot]. The next second, the arrow left its nest. As it flew through the air, the battle art technique Serene utilized had increased its speed and added unpredictability to its motion. In addition to the enchantment, the arrow also packed quite a lot of momentum.

    Swish!! The arrow rapidly closed the distance between Serene and the Forlorn Prince, and it managed to injure thetter. Even though it was only a scrape, it was a wound nheless.

    To add onto the effectiveness of their assault, Tristan and Serene started moving around, attacking from many different directions to further confuse Prince Janus.

    The fireball that Tristan threw almost hit the Forlorn Prince, but the man managed to react at thest moment and dodged the full brunt with a slight burn.

    Knowing full well the strength of his fireball, Prince Janus was about to charge at Tristan, but the blind prince Elroth took the opportunity of the former being distracted to send numerous ice shards at him. The iing ice shards immediately prevented Janus from doing what he intended.

    Serene followed up the sequence, as she used another battle art technique in her repertoire, [Multiple Shot]. Three enchanted arrows sped through the terrain, in three different trajectories, all of them headed toward Prince Janus like homing missiles.

    This barrage of attacks eventually created an opportunity for Tristan as he jumped to the air, away from the Forlorn Prince''s sight, and threw several fireballs he had conjured.

    [100 Blood Essence have been spent]

    [100 Blood Essence have been spent]

    [100 Blood Essence have been spent]

    He had cast half a dozen fireballs continuously and threw them at once. They descended from the sky and exploded like rockets sting the ground. He missed the first one, but the second one was a hit followed by the rest of it. The explosion they made was massive enough to cause violent gusts and thick smoke.

    When the smoke dissipates, Tristan can see Janus'' burning body. Almost all parts were burned, he even lost one of his arms and a few chunks of his body, shoulder, thigh, and waist. The prince seemed to be in critical condition as his whole body trembled.

    The sight surely made Tristan and the other cheer.

    But a short after, Tristan suddenly thought something was amiss, the two elders did not react at all. He once more saw the burned standing corpse only to see the eyes open and the elf starts tough maniacally

    "How could this be fucking possible?!"

    Tristan''s uneasiness rose to a whole another level when he saw Elroth''s face was filled with anxiety.

    "Immortal Body?! You have reached stage five Katra!!? How could it be possible?!"

    The Forlorn Prince was standing in the middle of the caved ground, his body was starting to rebuild in a rapid manner.

 Chapter 226 - Magus

    Immortal Body was the main perk that any humans and elves alike would receive the moment they managed to break through to the illustrious Rank 6 magician. However, the prerequisite that individuals from each race needed in order to be established as a Rank 6 powerhouse was differentpared to the other.

    As for the Elves, they had the prerequisite of sessfully breaking into the stage 5 of Katra.

    Breaking through the said stage meant individuals had sessfully converted their spirit core, where it had be the home to their soul. It also meant that their body had turned into a mere vessel for their soul, an ageless artifact that was continuously tempered by their spirit core.

    With thepletion of this achievement, the said individual could be considered as immortal among their peers - a figure that stood above others.

    The individual who managed to reach such an exemry and phenomenal achievement would be known as wizards, or their ancient established title, the Magus.

    At the moment, the blind elf Elroth was seen standing still, his mouth wide open. His brother''s feat of breakthrough to stage 5 Katra should not be possible. After all, the efforts and difficulty one had to go through to break into stage 5 was hundred times harder than stage 4.

    Within the entire 7 elven kingdoms, individuals who reached stage 4 were in hundreds, while those of stage 5 could be counted with two hands as they were only dozens in existence. Therefore, it undoubtedly made Janus'' achievement extraordinary.

    Momentster, Elroth finally awakened from his shock. But the words that came out of his mouth certainly told everyone that he was still shaken by the unexpected revtion.

    "How could you have reached Katra stage 5 so fast.. how is it possible?!"

    While his body was still in the midst of reforming itself, the Forlorn Prince burst outughing when he heard the disbelieving tone in Elroth''s words.

    "Dear brother. If I didn''t have at least this level of power, why do you think I would dare to make trouble with Vanyar and Arcadian? How silly of you, hahaha." He then looked Elroth straight in the eye and with a wicked smile stered in his reforming face, he said, "Don''t worry, my dear brother. I will make Forlorn great again."

    Stage 5 Katra; a stage one can dream of, but may never reach. This aplishment undeniably and immediately ced the Forlorn Prince in the same level as Queen Leena of Vanyar.

    As things had turned for the worst, Tristan realized they might have hit the dead end and lost their lives here.

    Elroth, fully understanding what kind of being his brother had be, quickly jumped off Chieng''s back as he rushed towards the figure whose body almost finished reforming. While in the air, he sped both his hands together and the surrounding area instantly dropped in temperature with the area around him being affected the most.

    [Ice Prison - Tier 5 Ice Spell]

    Tristan swore his eyes could see snowkes manifesting in the area as the spell took effect. Violent yet frigid deluge of energy materialized and rapidly approached the Forlorn Prince. In the blink of an eye, it quickly enveloped Prince Janus and turned the young man into an ice sculpture.

    Elroth, who was hovering in the air and maintaining the spell, shouted to Tristan who was shocked by the stunt the former had just disyed. "Quickly leave this ce! You will not win against him!"

    Tristan could certainly hear the urgency in Elroth''s words, and his eyes couldn''t help but narrow when he saw the blind elf''s facial expression. His body immediately reached for Serene.

    This was exactly the reason why Tristan had been sending attacks from the backline. The tactic he set, with the space knight directly fighting the Forlorn Prince while he and Sereneunching attacks at the back, was arranged for this exact purpose.

    Without slightest shred of hesitation, Tristan immediately rushed at Serene at breakneck speed to grab her before escaping into the woods.

    The initial n was to leave the space knight and barbarian woman behind, ordering them to hold the enemy at the expense of their life.

    However, Tristan himself couldn''t believe what he was thinking as at thest moment, he decided to grab Astrid.

    It was then that suddenly, multiplerge thorny nts emerged in front of him. With his hand full with the two women, Tristan could only choose to dodge to the side. However, it was apparent his reaction was insufficient as more nts grew from the ground and quickly tangled his feet.

    Without even looking around, Tristan immediately knew this was definitely the work of the female elder, trying to stop them from running away. Unfortunately, it seemed he wouldn''t be able to easily get away as these nts were much stronger than the [Entangle] spell normal magician used.

    Completely understanding that the situation had turned for the worst, Tristan decided to throw Serene and Astrid over the thorny nts that gradually surrounded them.

    "RUN SERENE!! RUN!!"

    With his hands freed of their burden, Tristan quickly grabbed the nts that had entangled his legs and splintered them into two with his raw strength. Scorching mes started appearing on his hand as [Heat Touch] was casted, destroying the thorny nts with every passing second.

    However, the number of nts around were simply too much that Tristan slowly found himself getting overwhelmed by them. It was clear his two hands weren''t enough to handle the dozens of thorny nts. It was at that moment that Chieng, who took out a methrower, came to the rescue and burned all the nts.

    "Good work, Chieng!!"

    But at the same time he was free from the nts'' entanglement, Tristan saw a yellowser-like beam flew through the air and pierced the hovering Elroth like a skewer. Elroth who was shot rapidly fell to the ground.

    [Lightning Ray - Tier 6 Lightning Spell]

    Another simrser-like beam sliced open the ice sculpture, revealing the uscatched figure of Prince Janus who currently had his wicked smile on.

    "You can''t leave yet!!"

    Seeing the Forlorn Princee out of his restraint, Tristan quickly casted multiple [Fireball] and threw them at him.

    The notifications of his Blood Essence being spent surged in his mind, but he couldn''t care less about it because his survival was at stake at the moment.

    ''Did I get him?!'' Tristan asked himself as the ce where the Forlorn Prince was shrouded by thick smoke.

    s, his hope quickly shattered as he saw Prince Janus walk out of the smoke with a nonchnt attitude and sent theser-like beam at Chieng. The beam moved so fast that it prated Chieng''s chest right in the heart and he couldn''t do anything about it.

    "Chieng!!"

 Chapter 227 - Powerless

    It should have proceeded as per n. Tristan was supposed to leave the space knight, sacrificing the man''s life to contain the enemy while he ran to safety.

    But the sight of his reliable subordinate being pierced through by theser-like beam caused an incalcble measure of anger blooming inside him.

    Without him realizing it, Tristan had found himself casting [Blood Synthesis].

    In matters of seconds, spear-like constructs made of blood were materializing around him and brandished their tip at the Forlorn Prince. He created as many spears as he possibly could beforeunching all of them toward the approaching Prince Janus.

    Seeing the iing attacks that looked like impregnable barrage, the Forlorn Prince swiftly dismissed the spell he casted on Chieng and directed it to the spears, intending to smash all of them to smithereens.

    Out of the numerous blood spears flying at him, a few managed to pass and hit their target but they were only able to leave a mere scratch on the elf''s body as they couldn''t really pierce his skin.

    He was once more disappointed in how his blood synthesis skill had been unreliable for him.

    There was one skill under his belt that he hasn''t used or tried.

    [Blood Legacy] his new third skill after the [blood seal] and [blood synthesis]. He had high hope that this could be the solution to his current situation. Unfortunately, his hope was crushed with a notification that came to mind

    [Unable to use skill - prerequisite not fulfilled]

    He wonders if he neededrge an insane amount of blood essence for it, or anything else.

    When he saw how the Forlorn Prince dashed towards him at such speed that it could almost be described as flying, Tristan decided to stand his ground. He had no n to be hit on the back while running away.

    His two hands were ced in front of him and enveloped by scorching mes. Tristan was ready for another fight, one that literally determined his fate.

    But then, both to their surprise, an arm suddenly appeared and grabbed the foot of the running Forlorn Prince. Prince Janus, who was caught off guard, was stopped in his tracks before his body fell to the ground as he felt something pull him.

    It was the space knight, Chieng. Apparently, the man hadn''t died yet!

    Tristan then remembered that Chieng as a space knight had two functional hearts. Prince Janus had only destroyed one of them, and thus, Chieng managed to catch the other party. After all, no one expected their enemy not to die after having their hearts broken.

    Chieng, whose hand on the Forlorn Prince''s ankle exerted all of his strength and hugged thetter, immobilizing him. The huge Asian man, blood covering his body, still has the strength to hold down the elf.

    While Tristan was trying to process what was happening, a voice came from his earpiece waking him up.

    (Run, Master! I will hold him down!)

    Tristan immediately turned his body and dashed as fast as he could. To his surprise, his heart felt a pang as his ears heard the sound of broken bones and torn bodying from behind him. He didn''t need to use his eyes to know that Chieng had sacrificed himself for him.

    The space knight had always been under the influence of [Blood Seal]. Therefore, Tristan wouldn''t believe it if others said he was loyal to him. However, thepanionship between them was real and the sacrifice he made surprisingly affected him.

    Tristan hated it. He hated the reality that despite his strength, he still had to run like this. The fact that he was still not powerful enough to hold his own fate, even after his upgrade; he hated it.

    Even so, Tristan couldn''t just turn back and fight the Forlorn Prince. If he did that, it meant Chieng''s sacrifice was in vain.

    Therefore, he kept running forward. Utilizing the speed his battle power provided, Tristan''s figure sped through the forest as his eyes looked for Serene and Astrid.

    After a minute of running, he finally caught sight of them. Once again, he gritted his teeth when he saw both Serene and Astrid were already entangled by dozens of thorny nts.

    Serene, who saw Tristan standing between the trees, shouted, "Just leave me!"

    On the corner of the forest, he saw the pale-looking female elder behind all of this, and as he saw Serene struggling out of the nts that surrounded her, he screamed out the frustration bottled inside him as things were really going out of his hand.

    It''s quite easy for him to decide not to leave Serene behind, but as he was about to st all the thorny nts with his [Fireball] spell when Tristan suddenly sensed something wasing at him from behind.

    He quickly moved out of the way and the thing went past him. As his body recollected its bnce, his eyes darted around and saw it was the Forlorn Prince. The man had already caught up to him.

    As soon as the Prince arrived, once again he disyed theser-like beam as it rapidly came at Tristan. Knowing entirely well he couldn''t dodge it with his current condition, the only defensive measure he could think of right now was the [Blood Synthesis].

    In the blink of an eye, Tristan had created a thick circr shield out of blood. However, the Forlorn Prince''s [Lightning Ray] easily went through it and his chest was sessfully pierced by it.

    Blood spilled out of Tristan''s chest, and as if that wasn''t bad enough, the beam actually not only injured him, but also electrocuted him. Hence at this time, Tristan couldn''t move his body due to numbness.

    Now, he understood why Elroth and Chieng were easily incapitated by the beam. After all, it wasn''t normal for a fighter of their caliber to be taken down with just one hit. The hidden impact of the beam was painful as hell, and it made his body unable to help but kneel down.

    At the moment, Tristan could only grit his teeth violently as he tried to resist the pain.

    The destructive lightning energy was still in Tristan''s body as he felt a burning sensation all around his body. Tristan could see his life was slipping away when a notification suddenly popped into his mind.

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host needs immediate treatment]

    [Restore health for 500 Blood Essence]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes!" said Tristan, while still resisting the pain.

 Chapter 228 - Leave Me!

    In a matter of seconds, Tristan had regained his strength, which certainly surprised the Forlorn Prince greatly.

    Tristan used both of his hands to grab the beam that was piercing his chest. It felt as though he was touching a burning chainsaw; as he touched it, his hand began to feel numb from the electrocution. But Tristan refused to give in. Immediately deciding to cast his [Heat Touch], within seconds, the beam had started to melt under his palms.

    With theser-like beam finally removed from his body, Tristan quickly stood up and cauterized the wound on his chest using his still burning hand. He winced as the gaping wound began to close.

    Prince Janus was stupefied as he watched the scene that was unraveling before his eyes. Despite his utter shock, he began to smirk.

    "You really are unique. What are you, really?"

    Tristan ignored the prince''s words and checked his remaining Blood Essence.

    [Blood Essence - 6950]

    The earlier fight had cost him more than 3000 Blood Essence points, but Tristan was confident he still had enough left in store to fight. He would see which wouldst longer; his undying body or the other elf''s immortal body.

    Tristan''s hand started to glow red with fire, showing his opponent that he was preparing the [Fireball] spell once again.

    Seeing this, the expression on the other elf grew amused. He began to scoff at Tristan, a condescending sneer stered on his face. "Hahaha! Useless attempt."

    Surprisingly, though, Tristan didn''t throw the fireball at all. Instead, he dashed in closer, charging towards the elf. The elf confidently dodged him, thinking that Tristan will throw the fireball in his direction. But unexpectedly, he sted the fireball not towards the elf, but to the ground beneath him.

    Kabbbooommm!!!

    Tristan used the momentum of the st to quickly fling himself even faster towards the elf, and his aim was none other than to use his [Heat Touch] on one of the elf''s vital points, such as his head or neck, or another body part that would ensure an effective blow.

    Unfortunately, just as soon as he touched the elf''s neck, he was met with a mocking smile. Apparently, the elf had already predicted his move; he had already casted a [Thunder Wave] charge on his palm in preparation for his attack. Tristan quickly let the prince go and dodge away, barely being able to escape from the sheer force of it.

    "Hahah!" The princeughed triumphantly. "Your first move was indeed surprising, but this one is the same one you used against my men. What a shame. I thought you would have been more creative."

    Once again, he was unable to outsmart the elf. The opponent had a very strong offensive spell and a literal immortal body. Tristan knew his chance of winning had dropped almost to zero, and he was forced into a corner.

    At this moment, Serene, who was still constrained in the tight grip of the thorny vines, suddenly began to shout desperately in his direction.

    "Tristan, just leave me already!" She screamed. "Go!"

    Tristan looked at the girl and merely shook his head in response. She had just inadvertently reminded their enemy that they were holding his bait.

    Just like he was afraid of, the Forlorn Prince shifted his aim towards Serene. "You might not die easily, but I''m sure the same couldn''t be said for your princess."

    Seeing the hand that could easily end her life, Serene once again shouted, "Just leave me now, or you will die!"

    Tristan looked straight at her, a solemn expression on his face. "I told you already, wife... You are now my responsibility."

    She always thought of those words as a simple joke that Tristan brought up when he wanted to tease her. But this time, hearing him saying them in such precarious conditions, as his body was covered by blood, both moved her immensely and frustrated her to no end.

    In the current situation, fight or flight no longer seemed to be an option for him. There was only onest choice that he could turn to.

    "Wait!!" He held a hand up to the air, halting the prince in his tracks. "You win! Tell me what you want."

    Tristan''s sudden change seemed to intrigue the Forlorn prince as he began to put his hand down.

    Upon seeing that the prince had let his guard down, he began to speak rapidly. "Listen. I know that you are nning to fight that bastard, the Arcadian King!"

    He paused for a second before continuing.

    "You know what? It''s the same for me! In fact, he forced me to do this, and I couldn''t resist because he was holding onto someone dear to me."

    Thest solution, the option that Tristan was currently attempting, was to negotiate. Working with the mad elf was not ideal, but he was willing to do anything to survive.

    "I can help you!" Tristan quickly eximed when he saw that the Forlorn prince was actually contemting his words. "Do you want Caerleon Town? I can give it to you! As long as you don''t hurt my wife, we could work something out. So, what do you want?"

    Silence fell between them as Tristan waited for the other elf''s response. The answer he received stunned him.

    "I want to see what you are actually made of!"

    It turned out that there was no way to negotiate with a madman.

    The Forlorn prince cast his [Lightning Ray] spell, and with Serene as a hostage, Tristan couldn''t help but to ept this attack so that she would not be hurt by his actions. Twoser-like beams cut into his body, and thus, the pain he was feeling thus far had multiplied.

    But just like before, despite the fact that he was in a lot of pain, Tristan''s consciousness was notpletely lost. He could still hear the echoes of the elf''sughter as he continued to electrocute his body.

    Turning his head, Tristan could see Serene''s panic-stricken face with tears running down her cheeks.

    Momentster, he finally felt that he couldn''t take it anymore, and his vision gradually filled with darkness.

    Before his consciousnesspletely sank into the abyss, Tristan could hear a familiar voice. It was the blind elf, Elroth.

    "Don''t kill him, Janus! He''s the Blood Elf!"

    Thest thing Tristan heard before he lost consciousness was the evilugh of the Forlorn Prince.

    "Really?! That''s good news!! Hahaha!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Check out ess to link video/insta/discord from the website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 229 - Torture

    [The body''s condition has be critical. The host requires immediate treatment.]

    [Restore health using 500 Blood Essence]

    This was actually the sixth time that he had used this skill since he was captured. This time, his body automatically activated it without his consent.

    Each time he had been on the brink of death, it was always this skill that had managed to bring him back.

    There were times where the process had been quick, and there were other times where it had gone slower. On this day in particr, he had already passed out twice.

    Even still, the skill had always been able to bring him back.

    When he opened his bleary eyes, he realized he was slumped in what appeared to be the Forlorn City center. He was slowly regaining his vision; it was blurry, but he could see that at least a thousand Forlorn elves had gathered in front of the raised tform he was sitting on. He was being chained to a pole, unable to move even a single muscle.

    The expectant faces below him all looked up, keenly awaiting the next spectacle. Suddenly, something flew in his direction, whizzing past at an incredible speed.

    Thunk!!

    "Urgghh!!" Tristan groaned,menting the sudden burst of pain that had erupted in his already aching muscles.

    It was an arrow, and it had perched itself directly into his shoulder. The impact made blood spurt out everywhere as the audience before him roared. Gritting his teeth in immense pain, he quickly began to discern what the elves were doing to him.

    The archer who had shot the arrow was among one of the group of elves that were lined up a few meters away from him.

    Suddenly, a slightmotion could be heard as a figure approached him. It was the Forlorn prince, Janus Irethil.

    "Greetings, Tristan!" He eximed, his arms spread wide as a wicked grin split across his face. "This time, you stayed awake for much longer. I almost thought that you weren''t going toe back!"

    The prince walked closer until he was towering above the wounded elf, pulling the arrow that had pierced his shoulder. The sensation made him wince, and he gritted his teeth harder.

    "Amazing! Your wound haspletely healed. One might think you were immortal, but you are not, aren''t you?" He turned away from Tristan momentarily to gesture at the row of archers standing behind him. "Next!"

    Thunk!!

    Another arrow shot through Tristan''s body, and once more, blood began to soak through his clothes. While still resisting the pain, in the distance, he heard the sound of Serene''s voice reverberating across the square, ringing painfully in his ears. She was screaming loudly, begging the prince to stop.

    "You crazy bastard!! Stop it!!

    Looking to the side, he saw that she had been tied to another pole on his right. Meanwhile, on his left he saw Astrid, who seemed to be half dead from the number of beatings she had taken.

    Prince Janus then shouted in front of his men, "Dear elves of Forlorn City, this man was sent by the Arcadian king! He stands to be punished for killing more than a hundred of our kin!"

    This caused an uproar within the elf masses, who were now cursing at Tristan vehemently.

    "Next one!"

    With eachmand, another arrow pierced his body. He couldn''t tell what kind of chains they had used to hold him down, but he could not move in the slightest.

    Thunk!

    This time, the arrow sunk itself into his waist; it must have hit a joint in his hip. Tristan roared in agony, tears of pain brimming his eyes.

    As this was happening, the Forlorn prince continued to deliver his speech to the people.

    "Those human mongrels dared to attack us! They even worked together with the Asgardians to n our downfall!"

    This time, the prince pointed towards the still bound Astrid, and immediately an arrow whizzed in her direction. As it pierced her chest, she suddenly jolted awake, choking out spurts of blood from her mouth.

    At this moment, it had dawned on Tristan what purpose this spectacle served. The prince was using this chance to justify his ambitions toward the Forlorn elves.

    The crowd grew even wilder as they cheered louder and louder at the punishment that was taking ce. The prince added, "The sad part is, this was orchestrated by our own kind; the Vanyar elves."

    Incredulous shouts and jeers could be heard from the audience. The prince continued, spreading his arms widely. A terrifyingly gleeful look was spread across his face.

    "But we, the Forlorn, will not stay quiet!" He shouted manically. The sentence was immediately followed by a cheer from the elven citizens which echoed throughout the city center.

    Once more, he approached Tristan''s bleeding body. He pulled the arrow that was still sunk deep inside his abdomen, and in a swift, decisive move, the prince pierced it dab smack in the middle of his forehead.

    With that, everything turned dark. Suddenly...

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host requires immediate treatment.]

    [Restore health for 500 Blood Essence points]

    [Proceed?]

    When he awoke, he was instantly hit with the most intense headache. His head pulsated painfully as the prince''s mocking words rang ufortably in his ears.

    "Even with a blow to the head you still survive. Interesting."

    The prince turned towards the crowd.

    "It appears that it''s true! My brother, Prince Elroth himself, heard the man im to be the legendary Blood Elf!"

    This time, the crowd''s vehement curses had been reced with confused muttering.

    As Tristan slowly regained his consciousness, he could hear the blind Prince Elroth speak at length to the masses about the legend and the prophecy of the Blood Elf. Some appeared to have heard of it before, nodding intently at the prince''s words.

    The blind prince tried to convince the elven elders to keep Tristan alive, but his demands fell on deaf ears. Prince Janus, however, had another reason.

    "They say that the Blood elf cannot die. It appears they really are special!" He shouted as he waved his hand; a gesture that told his men to attack. But this time, it wasn''t an archer who shot into action, but a mask-d elf that towed arge, silver axe in one hand.

    Prince Janus took the axe, raised it high into the air, and began to shout yet again.

    "But it is I, Janus, who will be the one to break the prophecy!"

    "Stop it! Stop it!" Cried Serene.

    Turning to the side, Tristan was met with an anguished look on Serene''s tear-stricken face.

    This was it, Tristan thought. His downfall had finally arrived. Captured and tortured. If it wasn''t because of his self-healing body, he would have died about half a dozen times already. But this time, he was convinced that this was the real, final end.

    And it was all because of the new information that had just materialized in his mind.

    [Blood Seal: 935]

    He only had onest life yet, and from what he could see in front of him, the prince was moments away from severing his head. And although he was curious about the results, he believed that this time, his skill will not help him recover from such a devastating blow.

    Tristan mustered up all the energy he had left to shoot a smirk in Serene''s direction.

    "Haha, wife, don''t worry¡­ I will not¡­ die..."

    Above him, the prince''s axe glinted in the sunlight.

    "We shall see!" Janus roared, before swinging downwards to the nape of his neck.

    Splaatttttt!!!!

    A white-haired head dropped onto the ground, followed by Serene''s horrified, anguished screams.

    This was the end for him. How could it not be? His head was already gone. It rolled pathetically across the wooden tform, leaving a trail of blood behind it. But it seemed that his consciousness was still intact. It was dark, and he could not hear nor feel anything, but it was certainly there.

    Another notification appeared in his mind.

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host requires immediate treatment.]

    [Restore body for 500 Blood Essence points]

    [Blood Essence - 435 points]

    They still brought him back. He could hardly believe it. He could still be brought back to life. At the same time, all the Forlorn elves that had gathered before him screamed in horror at the sight of his decapitated body slowly reforming its lost head.

    "You really can''t die can''t you¡­?" Prince Janus muttered. " Well, let see if this would."

    Tristan''s head was not even fully formed yet, but the prince took it as an opportunity for onest move.

    From his ring, the prince took out a knife and stabbed him directly in the heart.

    nk!

    The sound suddenly made himugh hysterically.

    "This is it! Your heart is the secret!"

    The prince stabbed him one more time; not directly on the heart, but through the center of his chest. He used the de to tear his flesh apart, ripping it into shreds before he finally found what he was looking for. A shining, golden elven heart.

    He didn''t waste his time and forcefully tore it out of Tristan''s chest. He showed it to the crowd before him, the bloody heart still pulsating in his hand.

    "The blood elf is no more!"

    This time, there was no notification. No new information materialized in his mind. His vision dissolved into pitch ck, and all his senses were numbed.

    Tristan could feel his life gradually slip away from him, as if he was sinking into a deep, undisturbed slumber.

    Until the Blood Lake appeared in front of him.

 Chapter 230 - Blood Figure

    Tristan opened his eyes, and saw a pool of blood stretching far beyond the horizon. Skies of bright crimson shone above, the light of seven bright suns focused shining above theke.

    The smell of iron was familiar. It was his third timeing to this ce.

    The first time he came to this ce was when his head was smashed by the space knight captain. The second, he saw a sh of this ce when he upgraded his Blood Monarch body. But thest time he upgraded his body, the ce didn''te to him. Why did he appear here right now?

    As strange as this ce is, he could still feel everything, it doesn''t feel like a dream or an illusion at all. From the smell of iron in this ce, the sweltering heat, the distinct touch of his own finger, the texture of the ground. Everything felt real.

    Ripples formed on theke, apanied with the resounding noises of disturbed water. Just like before, a humanoid figure, full shape of a man made of blood, slowly emerged.

    It stared at Tristan and spoke to his mind.

    "Why are you so weak human! ...such a disappointment indeed"

    A sudden insult quickly ignited his rage, and with his fear forgotten, Tristan bravely approached the figure and said.

    "Well, it''s me against the whole elf fucking kingdom, how do you expect me to win, especially against that prince?!"

    "Silence!"

    The figure''s voice echoed and Tristan felt something in his head shatter. Pressure weighed all around his body, forcing him into a kneeling position. He realized the figure was not to be trifled with.

    "You are wasting my body, human! You are too weak!, you don''t deserve my legacy!"

    Hearing the blood figure words, he realized who the being is. As he expects, it must be the real owner of the blood elf body. He quickly changed his tone and tried to appeal to the figure''s most likely nonexistent conscience.

    "My apology... it''s just so many things that I still don''t understand if you could help me. Probably I can do better.."

    The figureughed in amusement.

    "Help? What kind of help? You have died! There is no hope for you, now your soul is stuck with me here inside this ce."

    Tristan recalled thest things that happened to him. From the decapitation, and to the fact that his heart forcefully ripped out of him. He had to wonder, did that really happen? Is this where his journey would end?"

    "This cannot be! No, I refuse to ept this end!"

    The figure continued speaking. "It is a pity, indeed. I had hoped for you... You had determination, and your hunger could bloom to devour all. Sadly, your soul was too weak."

    It appears being humble doesn''t work for this being. This is his cue to try yet another approach.

    "Excuse me! I was never given the proper manual for this body, and the enemy was too strong. If you are oh, so great and powerful, why don''t you get out and defeat him yourself?!" Tristan rolled his eyes.

    The figure red at him and spoke in an annoyed tone.

    "That Stage 5 Katra elf was like dust in my time of glory! I would take over the body if I could. Unfortunately, what you saw here was just the remnant of my soul."

    "But, there must be a way¡­is there nothing else??" Tristan started pleading once more.

    No response. The figure started to twist and separate into droplets, before disappearing into theke in ripples.

    Tristan could only stare at the bloodke anxiously, unsure of what the figure was nning to do. As he was about to speak again, he felt a cold, sticky liquid start to crawl onto his body.

    He looked down and saw the blood from theke was rising up quickly, threatening to drown his body. His feet were glued to the floor, ensuring he could only stare as the blood engulfed him.

    Finally, the blood reached his head, and he instinctively held his breath.

    The feeling of wet blood all around him onlysted for less than a few seconds, as he felt air on his skin again. Tristan opened his eyes and saw a massive room propped up with pirs made of blood. Above, the blood flickered and shifted, creating the illusion of a boundlesske.

    In the middle of the room, there was arge, ss-like shard hovering on a pedestal, casting a reddish glow to the blood pirs and walls.

    The blood figure appeared next to the shard and said.

    "This is one of my memory fragments. If you can sessfully absorb them, then I will help you."

    The words made him eager. His expression changed slightly, and he was about to rush to take the shard, but the figure scolded him. "You must know that if you failed, this time it wouldn''t be just your mortal body that was lost, but also the remainder of your soul."

    Tristan could only chuckle at the warning. What is the use of having a soul, without a body to live in and interact with the world atrge? If his soul wandered with neither purpose nor benefit, could he call himself alive? He would much rather die here than wander without a purpose.

    Without hesitation, he approached the ss-like shard. Within it, he saw the reflections of people jumbled together. It was like watching the snippets of someone else''s life.

    He outstretched his hand and grabbed the hovering shard as hard as he could, and his effort was rewarded with the most painful headache he ever felt. It was more painful than the time the prince stabbed his head with an arrow, and this time, the pain was not released all at once but as tiny pinpricks. It felt like a thousand knives were forcefully inserted to trigger the maximum pain response.

    Only a few seconds have passed, but he regretted his earlier decision, and he wished to let it go.

    Knowing his intentions, the figure barked, warning him again.

    "No matter what you feel, or what you saw, do not let it go, or it will spell the end for us both!"

    The warning strengthened his resolve, and he held on harder. There was no way he would let it all end. Moments passed, and he felt his soul was thrown somewhere.

    When he opened his eyes, he saw a different world with hundreds of young elves in sight.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 231 - Origin

    Tristan''s eyes snapped open and realized this time he was standing among a group of young elves.

    They started to move towards the forest in groups, while Tristan was still disoriented. He tried to make sense of the surroundings

    "Why are you standing around, Virtaz?" One of the kids shouted. "Get moving!"

    Not wanting to look suspicious, Tristan decided to walk through the crowds and followed them. It was already dark, the stars dotted the skies, and the silvery rays of the moon bathing the surface of the trees. Fireflies dance on the bushes and flit near the tips of his fingers, but Tristan had no mind to appreciate the beautiful ce.

    "Where am I¡­? Why am I here?" These questions filled his mind, and he tried to stop and collect himself, but his body kept on moving as if following a script set for him. Tristan''s presence was like the boy''s subconscious mind. He only has limited influence on the boy.

    Considering what that blood elf called the name of the shard ''memory fragments'', it was only reasonable to assume that he was now experiencing the memory of the blood elf himself. It was a reasonable guess to say that this was from the time when the blood elf was still young.

    He looked around, and without even counting, he could tell there were a thousand elves gathered here. All of them are high elves, but they''re all around 8 or 10 years old at most. They were all part of an elven academy, and from what Tristan could glean, they have trained for a few months and today was the day for some kind of final exam.

    A young girl ran towards him, breaking him from his reverie.

    "Brother Virtaz, I finally found you!"

    La was the name that first came to Tristan''s mind, and he almost said it out loud, but the memory seemed to y tricks on him, and when he looked at her again, the girl was a white-haired female elf, seemingly only slightly younger than him. The memories told him that this was Nisha, Virtaz'' younger sister.

    "Nisha. I told you not to stay too close to me. You need to do things on your own, otherwise you will never grow."

    "Yes, yes," the girl answered, but she proceeded to ignore him and stayed close to him. As the elf looked around the crowd, his memories told Tristan about a few familiar faces.

    After all, they had been fighting and training together for thest few months.

    The group consisting of hundreds of young elves finally arrived at the designated ce. In the middle of the forest, there was a sparklingke casting a silvery glow all around them.

    It was the n''s most sacred pce. The Moon Lake, named for its surface, looked like ss and glowed silver like the moon.

    In the middle of theke, one small tree stood, and a woman stood on the tallest branch. When everyone saw the figure, all the elves, be it the young, the old, or the warriors, all bowed their heads.

    "Our Queen, The goddess of the night. Our praise for Queen Azhara."

    The queen glowed brightly, like a beacon in the middle of the night.

    All the young elves flocked near the elders, and they were given a small vial of red liquid to drink before they were all told to enter theke.

    It was quite out of the ordinary, as from the memory, Tristan could tell that normally, elves were not allowed to touch theke.

    The massive, knee-deep moonke was quickly filled with one thousand young elves.

    Dozens of elf magus started to form a circle around theke. Before long, they chanted, their words apanying the rise of the moon. The moonke started to glow, and with it, a primal fear settled in Tristan''s heart.

    His body turned burning hot and damp, and sweat poured out all around his body. With the heat, came the wild, all-consuming rage that could only be quenched by hurting someone.

    At first, his thoughts turned towards his sister, but there was no controlling the urge. Everyone in theke started to turn on each other, and the ce descended into utter chaos. One kid took arge stone and bashed another kid''s head with it. A different kid took a beautiful carving knife and gutted his friend''s throat.

    The friendship, theughter they shared in the academy, were all quickly forgotten in the bloodbath.

    Slowly, Tristan felt his body be stronger, but at the same time, his consciousness started to fade.

    The ritualsted a few minutes, but out of the thousands who entered that day, only less than two dozen elves survived. The pristine moonke had turned into a bloodyke that smelled of iron and rot, but Tristan could not think about anything. He could only focus on wading through the bodies of former friends.

    On his way, he saw a familiar white hair, and pulled the figure out. His body trembling as he saw her sister was covered incerations from head to toe, and her throat was only hanging by a few sinewy flesh.

    The sister saw Tristan, gave ast cheerful smile, and breathed herst.

    It was the memory of the blood elf, but Tristan felt deep searing pain, like his heart was seared with a hot poker. Right as he thought about La, he once more returned to the room with the blood figure.

    [You have unlocked a memory fragment!]

    [You have reached third stage Katra]

    The blood figure twisted and turned, and slowly formed into a person. His height and built were the first to form, and his hair was thest, creating a mirror image of Tristan''s body.

    "I am Virtaz, thest surviving blood elf. Now, do you understand now why I chose your soul?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 232 - Legacy

    At that certain era, the blood elf was known as the greatest elven ingenuity.

    By the time the young elven children sessfully transformed into one, they would already have a level of strengthparable to that of an adult elven warrior.

    When they began showcasing their formidable innate ability, most eleven magus can''t stop them.

    The Elven Queen Azhara was greatly pleased; despite the fact that hundreds of other young elven children were sacrificed in order to allow the birth of a dozen blood elves.

    Yearster, when they had deemed as ready, one blood elf was all needed to take over one world.

    The blood elf then would wage war with the neighboring world, which would result in the total destruction of both worlds. In the end, the said blood elf would be left as thest one standing and sessfully advancing its realm. The more war they involve the stronger a blood elf bes.

    Billions of lives were carved and sacrificed for the bloodbath path, in the creation of the legend that resounded through the generations, one that was remembered for eons.

    Unfortunately, the legend was slowly dwindling until they finally disappeared from existence, causing no more blood elf to be found within the nine realms for very long times

    These were the memories that suddenly came into Tristan''s mind the moment after he seeded to unlock the memory fragments.

    It took him quite some time to process andprehend all of them, and when he did so, he realized he was back in the room.

    Tristan looked around the room with the blood pirs and he noticed the ss shards were no longer there. He didn''t even spot the slightest trace of them. On the other hand, the blood figure had somehow managed to transform into a figure that looked strikingly simr with his current elf body.

    "You have seeded as requested." said the blood figure, who Tristan now knew as Virtaz, the said owner of the body he currently upied.

    At the same time, Tristan could clearly feel the room they were in right now starting to shake and it gradually grew violent. The ground was violently vibrating, causing Tristan to feel as if the floor was raised from the ground.

    Then as he wondered if the room he was in would crumble and sent him to his death, Tristan started to see the walls opening up rapidly, creating several window-like holes on them. The sudden change caught him off guard that he didn''t know what to do.

    Momentster, he turned his gaze outside of the room and he was greeted by the view of the bloodke once again, which seemed to be slowly surrounding the room. The sight of theke of blood gradually approaching him subconsciously sent chills down his spine.

    Lastly, the middle of the room where the memory fragments previously were suddenly opened up and revealed what appeared to be a stairs going down. However, the sight of its entrance covered in chains had sessfully stopped Tristan in his curiosity.

    Looking at such constructs being created directly in front of him, Tristan became confused and asked the figure who was staring at him all this time.

    "What is the meaning of this?! What''s exactly going on?!"

    Facing the frantic questions from Tristan, the blood figure, Virtaz, opened his mouth and began to calmly speak, "Just calm down and listen. I''ll exin and you can ask questions when it''s over."

    Apparently, the wholeke was a miniature world created by him and it could only be entered via the soul. This wasn''t something extraordinary as others also had simr capability to achieve this. However, there were differences.

    Some magus or any cultivator would choose to create such a domain in their spirit core, but for a blood elf who had no spirit core, they were forced as well as naturally chose their heart as the space to create this domain.

    "The heart is known to be the vessel that pumps and circtes blood; it''s extremely appropriate, don''t you think?" Virtaz asked with a smile.

    As for the construct that existed before Tristan''s eyes: the room with blood walls and the stairs that headed downwards, Virtaz told him they were created to explore and unravel the deep, inner secret of the blood elf.

    "When you have strengthened your soul to a certain level, you will be able to break the chains. You then will be able to go deeper and find the next memory fragments."

    "More fragments?!"

    Tristan showed a shocked expression when he heard the fact that there were more fragments and there was still a very long road ahead of him to fully explore the secrets of the blood elf.

    "Can you tell me how many more there?" asked Tristan while pointing his finger to the chained stairs.

    "3¡­" replied Virtaz, which was received with a sigh of relief. However, Tristan immediately turned to the former when he heard the figure''s muttering. "That I know of.."

    Looking at the unsure expression on the blood figure''s face, an exasperated look appeared on Tristan''s face.

    "What do you mean that you know of? Weren''t you the one who created them?!"

    Virtaz was seen nodding at Tristan''s inquiry. "Indeed. I''m the one who created the constructs. But you must know that the blood elf was created by elven magicbined with the blood of something else."

    "What is it? Whose blood?" asked Tristan quickly, curious.

    Unexpectedly, Virtaz didn''t immediately answer the question. Instead, a contemtive look appeared on his face for a few moments before he shook his head dejectedly.

    "I don''t remember.. After all, I am but a remnant of a dying soul. However, I''m sure you should be able to find them within my memory, or rather, memory fragments."

    Turning his eyes to the enigmatic stairs again, Tristan strangely felt an urge to break the chains open, to head down and see what hid beneath. He got an intense feeling as if it was his own memory that was being locked inside.

    If one needed a vivid depiction, it was exactly like the sensation of suddenly forgetting something that seemed very important, and the mind couldn''t help but think about it all the time. That was how Tristan felt when he looked at the stairs.

    Quickly, Tristan steered his focus away from the stairs lest he be tempted to do anything that he would regretter. Afterwards, he recollected his thoughts and looked at Virtaz.

    "I have absorbed the memory fragment as you requested. Now, let''s get back to the previous topic. You said you will help me. How do you n to do that?"

    Thest thing Tristan remembered before he arrived here was his heart being basically ripped out of his body. And with the figure before him saying that the heart was an important vessel for the blood elf, wouldn''t this be a problem?

    As if he had expected Tristan''s question, Virtaz calmly said, "I have one drop of my blood''s essence that I have been keeping all this time. But I believe that thisst remnant of my soul would be destroyed as soon as I used it."

    Hearing this made Tristan both surprised and a little suspicious.

    "Why would you do this?"

    Virtaz stared at Tristan, causing him to sweat profusely, before looking up at the sky.

    "I have lived too long and now myplete soul has long gone. This is the only way to maintain my legacy. At least, now that my memory is absorbed by you, it will mean I will still be living through you."

    Tristan then understood Virtaz''s demand to absorb the memory fragments before agreeing to help him when he heard his reply.

    Virtaz took his gaze off the sky and looked directly at Tristan. "I almost forgot about her.. My sister Nisha" Virtaz then return to stare at him "Thank you. Thank you for making me remember her again."

    Before Tristan could reply, he saw the other party started to glow brightly before slowly dissipated into motes of light. But before he waspletely gone, Virtaz said,

    "This is my gift for you, Tristan. Now Give them hells"

    [1 High God blood cell was found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cell]

    [Your soul was greatly enhanced]

    [You have reached Katra stage 4]

    [Blood Legacy skill''s prerequisite condition met]

    [10.000 Blood Essence gained]

    [The host''s body has been destroyed. The host requirespleted reconstruction.]

    [Body reconstruction cost 5000 Blood Essence]

    Immediately, Tristan could feel his soul being pulled as his consciousness faded into darkness.

    ----------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Check out video and other link through my new website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 233 - Scream

    "Arrgghhh!!"

    It appeared that no amount of screaming could really express the extent of the emotions she was feeling at the moment.

    It started with just simple scouting of human mines. Nothing should have gone wrong, no flukes should have ured. Especially not for a Valkyrie such as herself, a title she valiantly earned by being the strongest female warrior in all of Vanyar.

    She managed to follow a suspicious group of men into the abandoned mines, only to find that Forlorn elf among them.

    The elf had been experimenting on the orcs, something that was forbidden by the wood elves. The discussion of whether or not such practices were considered taboo or not was a staunchly debated topic among the elven race. It was because of such matters that the wood elves and the dark elves were always in dispute.

    As for the Forlorn elves doing this behind their backs, one had to wonder what exactly they were nning to do. This was a conspiracy that definitely went beyond the Caerleon mayor''s death.

    Serene was so troubled by the vition that was uring before her, she decided to follow them without reporting it beforehand to that new husband of hers, as was previously instructed.

    "He''s too busy ying with that purple haired bitch, after all," she thought violently to herself, furrowing her brows.

    Being both a specialist in nt element elves as well as a fully skilled ranger, she was confident that she could follow the group in front of her without being found.

    "Why are they taking those orcs?" She thought, disgusted at what she was seeing. The battered, limp bodies of the orcs were being dragged off one by one. "A sample of their recent experiments, maybe... The Forlorn really have lost their way."

    As Serene closely tailed the group, she was surprised to see they were meeting a Forlorn elder, and out of all the other elves, a certain individual stood out from among the crowd. It was Riata, the famous Forlorn priestess of Thorn.

    Despite herself, she let out a slight gasp which she quickly stifled by mping her hand tightly over her mouth. What was such a prominent religious figure doing in such a sacreligious, violent ceremony?

    Unfortunately, just a small slight move that trembled the nt was enough to alert the keen ears of the famous Forlorn elders.

    "Someone is watching!" One of them eximed when he saw her figure peeking out from behind the stone wall she was using as cover.

    When she was found, she quickly ran as fast as she could towards the exit, only to be met with Prince Janus suddenly towering above her as she was knocked off her feet.

    "Ah, Serene!" He smiled coyly, his voice dripping with false politeness. "To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?"

    She tried to get back on her feet, but it was toote. Several elven warriors had already restrained her from behind. She was captured and thrown into a room of the Forlorn pce.

    She quickly ran at the first chance she got only to be caught again, and finally, she was confined in the dungeon. To the same ce where the worst criminal offenders were sent.

    And every day, without fail, that bastard prince dared toe and flirt with her, continuously attempting to involve her in his crazy n.

    Each day she refused, the more violent he behaved towards her.

    "You dare!!" "I am the Vanyar princess!"

    "Huh!" He scoffed, as though unable to believe what he had just heard. "Serene, don''t you think I don''t know that your queen has gone insane, selling you to aplete nobody based on a useless prophecy?"

    During another one of his visits, Serene could immediately tell that there was something different about him that day.

    Sure enough, when the cell door clicked open, he immediately tried to force himself upon her. The moment she resisted, he hurt her already weakened body.

    The only reason he never truly forced her to do the deed was because he still liked to y games with her. But she feared that one of these days, he would finally get bored and force her into submission.

    For an elf, being forced upon would mean losing her honor, and she would rather die than live in such shame. When that crazy prince came next time, she would be ready; these were the thoughts that lingered in her mind as she watched him leave through the door, bruised and battered.

    Towards the end, when she thought that she was already down to her final days, his face came to mind. The face of a certain brash, foolish, and shameless elf.

    Unconsciously, she was hoping for him to save her from the misery that she was in.

    "You promised that you would take care of me¡­" She choked out, tears brimming her eyes. "You damn liar!!"

    As if her prayers were suddenly received by the gods, a figure emerged from the shadows, looking at her through the bars of the cell door.

    "Serene, wifey¡­ It''s me, your lovely husband."

    Those were the most annoying words anyone could ever utter, but at the moment they gave her so much happiness and hope that she thought she was going to burst.

    The fool was so attentive. Upon realizing that her body was riddled with bruises, the anger that had emanated from him was so strong that it was palpable. Despite such a minuscule chance, insanely enough, he broke her out of the prison.

    At that moment she realizes, even if they were to die fleeing, she would die happy, as long as it was the two of them on the run.

    Unfortunately, that prince stops them. The cowards used her as a hostage, and her fool husband had fallen for it. Finally, now both of them were captured.

    She was prepared to die with him. But not like this. Not through torture!

    No matter how much she screamed, those Forlorn elves were animals and they refused to stop inflicting pain on him.

    This is not our way, she thought. Why were these elves so corrupted?

    It was as though they foundfort in torture. This can''t be what had be of us, her mind echoed through the pain. It can''t be.

    Thuckkk!!

    An arrow passed through his body, and blood spilled through the gaping wound.

    There was nothing she could do but to shout. To cry.

    The executioner came, hauling the sword before that crazy prince finally swung it down and cut off his head. And at that moment, the roars of the crowd that had made her head pound dissolved into nothing in her ears. Her vision tunneled, and despite the thousands of people that had to have been there, all she could see was his... limp, decapitated body.

    Her heart stopped. Tears fell from her eyes, blurring her vision.

    The bastard didn''t stop, even going so far as to desecrate his corpse. Serene could only grit her teeth in pain as she saw that her husband''s heart ripped out of his chest, the prince raising it high in front of the masses.

    She couldn''t believe it. The only thing that was left of him was the golden heart that was still beating in the prince''s hand.

    Suddenly, the strangest thing happened.

    The golden heart started to pour out blood¡­ Initially, it had only squirted out a little bit at first, but soon enough, it was as though a wave of blood was overflowing the prince''s hand.

    The prince and every single one of the elves were stunned.

    Especially when the blood began to form into a figure. A male elf with long, flowing white hair.

    "Tristan!!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 234 - Warm Up

    It was the strangest feeling.

    Forck of a better word, Tristan felt like he was plucked away from nothingness, turned into a point of light in an otherwise deste void. Deep in his core, something was thrumming, he then started to sense his surroundings, just like the feeling when he used his Katra.

    From what he could feel, he knew that he had returned to the center of Forlorn City, right in the middle of the crowds. He could sense his surroundings better than before. His range has improved, and his sensitivity has also been heightened.

    He quickly realized that this happened due to his Katra improvement. After all, since the destruction of his body and absorbing the fragment of the blood elf''s memory, he has advanced into stage four Katra.

    A feeling simr to being cocooned was crawling all over his body. His mangled body, slowly but surely, is being reconstructed.

    While his body took shape, it dawned on him that he had been reborn from a near-death experience a dozen times by now, and every time he rose from death, a piece of him was torn apart, to be reced by something new. Especially this time when his whole body was reced.

    [Body Reconstructionpleted]

    He opened his eyes, and saw every pair of eyes were trained at him. Many were staring with a shocked expression, but others had to look away in disgust. Only one of them looked at him with pure amusement all over his face.

    "Hahaha, amazing! You really are a worthy opponent, blood elf!"

    Tristan decided to ignore him. He turned around and saw both Serene, who had the same shocked expression, and the half-dead Astrid. Afterwards, he stared at the center of the room, where a headless body with a dissected chestid.

    He stared in amazement as his own body, which was hanging on the pole, appeared to start melting slowly into chunks of flesh. He has a lot of questions in mind, but that can wait for now, as he has some people he needs to tend to. He turned back towards the prince, and the arrogant prince smirked.

    "Did you enjoy that? Because I really want to see if it could be repeated again¡­" The prince said with a wicked smile.

    At this moment, Tristan was free from any chains, and his body felt much more refreshed. Some of his muscles felt a little bit sore, but otherwise, every inch of his body trembled with excitement to fight.

    Tristan started to raise his hand and moved his fingers, and the prince realized that Tristan currently was warming up for a fight

    "Then, first things first, let''s see whether your body has diminished or improved."

    He called for two of his elder elves and asked them to initiate the fight. One was Dulos, the huge elven guy Tristan fought before, and the other was a very thin-looking elf with a lithe body and lean muscles. Even with a nce, Tristan knew that they were both de dance specialists.

    "Attack! Kill him!"

    The prince ordered gleefully. For him, this was nothing but a game.

    Meanwhile, Serene who witnessed it all could only shout in anger. "You fucking animal! The least you could do is give him a weapon!"

    "No, no, no weapon."

    The two elves charged at him. The other elf''s movements were much faster than Dulos'', but surprisingly, Tristan could still see and predict his next moves.

    Swish!

    The des shed empty air as Tristan dodged the strike with a series of simple side steps.

    This time, it was Dulos, the huge elf, who decided to attack. The lumbering elf shed horizontally with his long sword, each striking a wild and fast one despite his size. Again, just like fluttering feathers in the wind, Tristan dodged it with his nimble movements.

    "You''ve improved, it is amazing!" Jonus shouted on the sidelines.

    Tristan was honestly not too sure. Other than the improved senses from his Katra, he felt that he has the same physical strength as before. Curious, he decided to use his system to look at his current strength, only to see.

    [Battle power: Undefined]

    More questions, and no answers, but at this moment, he couldn''t afford to do anything but focus on the two elves currently attacking him.

    Swish!

    Once more, he dodged their attacks easily, but dodges wouldn''t be enough to win this fight. All of a sudden, he thought of something. It felt like a memory that has long been tucked into his mind rising in response to his distress.

    Tristan lifted his hand up, and used his [Blood Synthetic]

    A Pile of blood starts to form, hovering above his hand and slowly turns into the shape of a massive sword. It was a huge, sword-like ymore simr to the one he had before.

    But, as soon as the weapon was formed, the two elves took a swing at him. The newly made weapon from his blood quickly disintegrated upon contact, separating into drops of blood and red mist that disappeared within a few seconds.

    He jumped back, creating some distance between him and the two fighters, and concentrated again. Another huge 2-meters tall ymore made of blood appeared on his hand.

    Knowing the two elves would attempt to jump at him again, Tristan focused on his weapon, trying to will it to appear faster. In response, the weapon trembled, before its dpressed and turning into a smaller size de no more than one meter in length.

    It turns into a simple long sword, with branch-like veins filled with glowing red liquid near its handle and an oddly soft but sturdy grip. Before Tristan could think of anything else, the enemy''s de came near to strike.

    nk!

    The sound of the two weapons colliding echoed in the area, and everyone there was shocked, unable to believe that a newly-made weapon from his [Blood Synthesis] would be strong enough to hold against a tier-3 weapon.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 235 - Blood Elf Body

    nk! nk!! nk!!

    Sounds of weapons shing with one other reverberated in the air as Tristan fought against the elders. He was surprised and exhrated by the fact that the Blood Synthesis sword he created was as reliable as a Tier 3 weapon.

    However, he was still baffled as to why he was able to use this unique technique. This technique which could be dubbed as a trick had just entered his mind, and he immediately knew how to do them by instinct.

    After brooding over the matter, Tristan could only think of one possible exnation. They were part of the memory fragments that he had absorbed.

    He now knew for a fact that the higher the level of Katra he achieved, the stronger his soul would be. And the improvements on his soul would definitely affect and enhance his ability to control the [Blood Synthesis] ability, as per the memory fragment.

    Facing the two fast-moving opponents that had attacked ferociously and gave him endless trouble, Tristan decided to create another sword to lessen the burden on himself.

    nk! nk!! nk!

    After fighting for a while, Tristan realized that having to wield the Blood Synthesis weapons had actually increased the strength behind his attacks as he did not have to use his mind to control anything. Instead, all that was needed was his pure strength, something which he had an abundance of. Nevertheless, this was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

    Just like every fight that Tristan went through, as the battle went on and the longer he fought, his body would slowly get used to his opponent''s movements, which would result in the gradual changing of situations into his favor.

    It wasn''t that these two elders were not strong. In fact, Tristan could clearly feel that their strength and speed was on par with his de master in Vanyar, a level that he couldn''t even imagine fighting against months ago.

    Both of them even had reached the same Fourth Stage of Katra as the de master, but it was just unfortunate that the current version of Tristan was simply too much for them.

    Previously, Tristan already had a very strong body - one that wasparable to a Stage 5 Katra practitioner like Janus. It was only after he met Virtaz that he knew his soul was simply too weak topletely control and unleash the full potential of his body.

    Simply put, Tristan''s current situation was simr to that of a child being given control over a supercar. Even though one couldn''t deny that a supercar could easily topple over a normal car, the finesse of its controller also had to be taken into consideration.

    Within just 2 minutes, Tristan felt as if he finally had full control of his body, which was swiftly followed by more changes as the fight became more one-sided with him on the winning end. The two elders who previously suppressed Tristan''s strength now had a taste of their own medicine, as thetter''s attacks wereing at them like an unstoppable flood.

    Eventually, Dulos, who was the slower one of the two, couldn''t handle Tristan''s relentless attacks anymore and decided to cast his Tier 4 earth spell, [Greater Stone Skin].

    In a matter of seconds, rocks covered his entire body as the man turned into a familiar-looking being. Though the spell caused his speed to be even slower, it gave him a chance of respite as he now had protection to stop Tristan''s attacks.

    Now, Dulos had the option to use his body as a shield to fight Tristan, and it didn''t take him long to do exactly that.

    nk!!

    Tristan''sbo was abruptly stopped as one of his swords had lodged itself into Dulos. Fortunately, he had moved fast enough to take the sword away as well as dodging the dagger that came for his neck.

    Afterwards, Tristan retreated a few steps back as he needed to reassess the situation and how to proceed. However, it was apparent that his opponents had no intention of letting him do so as they immediately went for him again.

    With Dulos dly putting himself as the shield, the dagger user elder chose to cast [Slipstream] on himself. The spell had increased thetter''s speed so that it was on par with Tristan. Hence, without further ado, the two elders continued on their assault.

    The fight quickly resumed, and one would be surprised to find that their strategy actually worked. As the two now had their own respective roles, instead of getting weaker, they became even stronger.

    Tristan, who knew the dagger-wielding elder was a threat, naturally chose to focus his attention to thetter. However, every time he tried to end the other party''s life, Dulos would appear in front of him and thwart his attempt by weing his attacks with his body, literally.

    Then, as Tristan''s blood synthetic swords were busy with Dulos'' body, the dagger-wielding elder would immediately dash in and send a deadly strike at him. The battle eventually became an exchange of strikes as Tristan tried to decisively end the dagger-wielding elder, while the two were also trying their best to kill him.

    ¡­

    [Battle Art - Cross sh]

    The dagger-wielding sped over to Tristan as the dual daggers in his hand gleamed with brutality. Faint glimmers of light could be seen as the daggers inched closer to Tristan''s body.

    St!!

    Caught off guard by the battle art, Tristan had sessfully received a pretty big wound on his chest.

    The sight made the two who fought Tristan smile while all the other elves watching began to cheer.

    It was apparent that the situation was not as easy as Tristan thought. These elves were, after all, two out of the dozen stage 4 elves of the Forlorn Kingdom. Even though they had a hard time handling him, it didn''t erase the fact that they were the kingdom''s strongest fighters.

    "Ahh,e on! Don''t disappoint me, Blood Elf! There''s no way you can only do this much, considering how legendary the prophecy is."

    The Forlorn Prince seemed to start getting bored of the fight, and he quickly gave a signal to another elder, ordering the man to join the battle. This time, it looked like the elder was a de expert as Tristan could see the ck sword hanging on his waist.

    nk!! nk!! nk!!

    Simr sounds of shing weapons sounded once again, but this time louder and more frequent as Tristan fought three formidable opponents. Now, the situation was Dulos acting as the meat shield, while the two elders would attack him from two different directions.

    With this, Tristan quickly found himself gradually being overwhelmed by the three. This fact was further reinforced by wounds that swiftly appeared on his body as the fight went on.

    Fortunately, the body that the blood elf had had two extraordinary capabilities.

    One of them is Undying Flesh, which allowed him to maintain his strength and speed regardless of the number and severity of injuries his body received. However, that didn''t make Tristan immune from the pain as he still felt the sensations of the wound entirely

    The second one was Muscle Memory, which gave him the capability of abnormal adaptation toward his opponent. This was exactly what allowed and made the blood elf thrive in a prolonged fight.

    Soon enough, the spectating crowds came into awe as they watched firsthand how fast Tristan''s improvement was in a fight. He was barely able to fight two elders minutes ago, and now, the man was able to handle three elders, albeit strugglingly.

    However, Tristan himself knew he still needed a decisive move to finish the fight before that bored prince decided he was still bored and sent more people to fight him. After all, even though his body could still continue to fight, the mental exhaustion from the unrelenting battle would eventually lead to his downfall.

    After a period of deep brainstorming, Tristan finally thought of a way.

    He stomped his foot to the ground with all his strength, causing his body to shoot upwards and crash onto Dulos'' figure. His center of bnce abruptly shifted because of that, and as a result, Dulos was sessfully brought down to the ground.

    Somersaulting in the air to disperse the remaining momentum, Tristan quickly focused all his attacks toward the dagger-wielding elder whilepletely ignoring the attacksing from the sword-wielding elder.

    The dagger-wielding elder was immediately overwhelmed by Tristan''s attack because not only was his shield missing and he was weaker than thetter, the move thetter used was a suicidal type, ignoring all obstructions and focusing on the target.

    Stt!!

    In the end, the dagger-wielding elder was taken out by Tristan. The man''s head was cut off at the neck, but Tristan himself did note out unscathed, either. Havingpletely ignored the sword-wielding elder, his arm had been severed without him noticing.

    However, despite losing an arm, Tristan smiled wickedly regardless, a sight that brought chills down the elder''s spine. s, he was toote.

    Tristan spun around and pierced the elf''s heart with the sword grasped in his other hand. Blood sttered on the ground, but the smile on Tristan''s face didn''t fade, it just got wider.

    With one move, two elven elders had lost their lives. Although the move was certainly suicidal, it was also decisive.

    But Tristan did not waste his hand, as he still had another trick up his sleeve.

 Chapter 236 - Synthesize

    Two elders elves died with the blood synthetic sword. While at it more memories on how to use his body to fight and use his skill had started to emerge.

    This time, with the blood sword still residing inside of the elf''s body, he quickly tried to use one of those tricks. This time with his first innate ability.

    [Blood Extraction]

    With the sword as the medium, Tristan instantly felt the Blood Essence flowing through him at a much faster rate than if he were to draw it from the mist.

    [A mix of 650 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Now extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [2750 Blood Essence points gained]

    This Stage 4 Katra elder had the highest number of Blood Essence points that he could extract from to date. It merely took Tristan a few seconds to suck out such arge amount of Blood Essence from the lifeless body.

    With a grin on his face, Tristan drops the body and casually walks to the other corpse, stabbing the headless body violently with his Blood Sword as well.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 590 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Now extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [2450 Blood Essence points gained]

    Met with the sight of Tristan so casually murdering the two elders, especially in such a gruesome and violent way, made all the elves in the audience break into a frenzy. Their screams echoed throughout the city square, and in their attempts to flee, they caused a brutal and unrelenting stampede.

    The prince''s previously amused expression instantly turned sour, he didn''t realize such an oue would be able to happen so quickly, especially when considering the brutal state Tristan''s body had been in only minutes prior. With two fewer elders in his flock, it would be much harder toplete his n to control the southern regions of Arcadia.

    "Huh!" The prince scoffed in an attempt to mask his apprehension. "You are going to pay for their lives!"

    Tristan slowly pulled the Blood Sword out of the corpse, and as he pulled it, a string of blood still connected the tip of the sword to the victim''s body. Crimson droplets spattered on the ground.

    Tristan stared at Prince Janus with rage glinting in his eyes. "I am sorry, I think you better hold on the tap, there are still moreing!"

    Hearing this, once more, the fearless Dulos jumped in his direction. His prideful attitude refused to ept defeat from Tristan twice, especially during a fight where it had been three against one. In contrast, Tristan stayed calm and quickly dodged while checking his Blood Essence status yet again.

    [Blood Essence - 10495]

    Half of that number came from the two elders he just killed, and another half came from the one drop of Hig God essence from Virtaz. Calcting the possibilities of what could happen next, as well as the fact that he would be facing an elf magus after this, he decided to use his essence to gain another boost.

    [Upgrade blood synthesis to Stage 2 - 10000 Blood Essence]

    "Yes."

    [Blood synthesis upgraded to Stage 2]

    [Increasing Synthesis quality]

    [Unlock Blood Synthetic Secondary Power - Organic Synthesis]

    There were no surprises for him this time as the memory that had resurfaced told him exactly what this following upgrade would entail.

    When Dulos was only a mere two steps away from him, Tristan synthesized a new sword, dpressing it in order to make the material harder and sharper.

    The huge elf did not see iting when the sword was swinging at him.

    Saattt!!!

    The huge elf was left in disbelief as the simple sword swing was able to cut through his thick armor, cutting his stomach open and spilling out all his insides. He dropped to the ground with a thud, kneeling in front of Tristan with his eyes still open.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [2550 Blood Essence points gained]

    With more blood essence received, Tristan was quickly prepared for another fight.

    Tristan stood up, facing the raging prince while he cast another [Blood Synthesis].

    This time the blood gathered into the stump of his cut off arm, and slowly, a new arm emerged, flesh, bone, blood, and nerves all twisting together to materialize one out of thin air. And there it was; all new just like before.

    This was the new, secondary power he had received from his blood synthesis. Not only was it able to create an inanimate object, but it was also able to create organic matter.

    With this, all three elders died, with himself leaving the scenepletely unscathed.

    These fights proved that the blood elf had only improved after his death, and this realization suddenly cast a looming shadow of doubt in the prince''s mind.

    "What will it be, prince?" Tristan roared. "Come at me!"

    The crazy prince was so irritated that he instantly turned to his men, glowering at them as though they were to me for this massacre.

    "My dear Forlorn elves, did your heart cry to see our beloved elders dying at the hands of this man?" He shouted indignantly. "How can we, the Forlorn, be able to live with that shame?!"

    It was clear that Janus was attempting to anger the masses for one singr purpose. Upon hearing this, Serene and Elroth, both quickly yelled at them to stop such madness.

    But these proud elves didn''t listen. Hundreds of elven warriors and dozens of nobles charged with all their might towards Tristan.

    Seeing the iing horde of elves approaching, Tristan was surprisingly calm. He raised his two arms high, trying to concentrate and cast this new spell that he had not been able to use before, but now with his fourth stage Katra advancement, he believed that he could.

    Weing the charge of the hundreds of elves, Tristan''s two arms started to glow with mes, setting aze as he quickly cast the fire element 4th Rank spell, [Firewall].

    Shockingly enough, Tristan had created humongous mes that were soaring in lines like multiple pirs of me.

    Instantly dozens of Forlorn elves were incinerated, burnt to a crisp, while dozens more suffered burn wounds from the mes.

    The fire spells were effective to kill the iing elves, but the spell cost him a thousand blood essence to use. Fortunately for him, the spell''s main purpose was actually to divide his attackers.

    Two dozen elves were in front of the firewalls. Hence now these two dozens are the first wave that Tristan had to face. The elven warriors jump in and fight with Tristan himself, while the prince, the elders, and the hundreds of others were blocked until the wall of fire subsided.

    There were screams and shouts behind those firewalls, a few elders thought about charging in to fight, but reminded of how the three elders died horribly, he decided to wait.

    It took only a few seconds until the firewall spells were dissipates

    When it did, the scene they saw in front of them once again made them shocked.

    The stage where they used to execute their captives had turned into aplete bloodbath, with Tristan standing by himself among the piles and piles of elven corpses.

    Some of the elves were terrified, but most were enraged.

    Elders and noble elves all started casting their spells, took out their artifacts readily charged on this one white hair elf.

    "Run! Run you fool!" shout Seren once more from his side.

    From the look in their eyes, it was clear that they would definitely not let Tristan walk away from this.

    Looking at the view Tristan wasn''t scared, instead, he felt his urge to kill just stir wildly,

    When the second wave came this time, Tristan did not opt to use fire magic. He had something else in mind, something more appropriate.

    [Blood Legacy]

 Chapter 237 - Blood Legacy

    Multiple offensive spells are being charged towards his general direction like a rain of bullets, and just behind them, the elven warriors were ready to strike at any moment.

    As much as a part of him wanted tough at the ridiculousness in front of him, there was nothing to joke about. At this moment, this is literally a fight between one man against one whole city-, no, as a matter of fact, he is fighting against the full might of a kingdom.

    The first thing Tristan decided to do was create two widespread but thin constructs using his blood synthesis. He quickly threw the constructs towards Serene and Astrid.

    The construct whizzed close to them and expanded, covering them both like a big blob of bloody cocoon. He believed that the construct would be enough to block all tier 3 weapons, while tier 4 weapons would have quite a difficult time piercing them.

    It should be enough to give him some time and peace of mind while he had to fight against this unending wave of elves.

    With the aid of his upgraded Katra, he could sense there are around 500 elf warriors, fifty nobles, nine elders, andst but not least the bastard prince of Forlorn. Those are the opponents he needed to face for a shot at freedom.

    His train of thought was interrupted as the spells and arrows started to hit his body followed by the first batch of warriors behind them.

    It was at this moment seeing a wave of threatsing at him that instantaneously the urge for killing once more emerged from inside of him. It was as if the requirement for a certain skill has been met.

    The new skill that he once saw within the blood elf''s memory.

    [Blood Legacy]

    [1000 blood essence]

    1000 doesn''t seem that much of a requirement for a most likely powerful skill, but unfortunately, from what he could tell from the bits of memories he recalled, the skill was not that simple.

    [Blood Legacy activated]

    He could not stop himself from grimacing, as half a dozen elves stabbed him with their weapons. From spears, longswords, and even a greatsword, they all stick out from his body as if he was a macabre pincushion. Blood started to seep out from the wound.

    Seeing their attacks connect, the elven warriors were grinning, and the blood dripping along their des only stoked their excitement more. It was quite a lot of blood¡­

    In fact, more blood spilled than what they expected.

    Before they were able to realize what was going on, the blood gushed out like a small explosion from the wounds. The blood on each weapon hardened, before rushing forward and piercing all six elves'' bodies.

    They were stabbed almost all over his body, and some even had crystals of hardened blood piercing their eyes and mouth. One of the elder elf, who stood the closest to him, quickly cast [Oak Flesh], covering his body with a protectiveyer simr to tree bark.

    The elder sighed in relief as the explosion didn''t manage to hurt him.

    Unfortunately for him, the attack did not end there. The elder elf was stunned silent as he saw blood kept on spilling from Tristan''s wounds. It even seeped out from his unbroken skin and covered his body, creating a human figure fully made of blood.

    Tristan himself couldn''t evenprehend what was going on around him, as he was in a partial trance mode. Since he used the skill, the control over his body was not fully his, and a part of his mind was controlled by the urges that had been buried deep inside.

    It was a deep, primal urge that kept on repeating the same sentence, like a mad cultist trying to impart a mantra.

    "ughter, ughter, ughter them all."

    His body was bashing the red liquid intoyers which turned into a mass of red, pulsating muscles. Sharp delike ws reced his finger and toes, and his covered face started to gain a set of huge teeth crammed inside a jaw too wide to belong to anything but a monster.

    With the new, erged form, Tristan felt huge amounts of energy building up inside, and the monstrous strength of his new form started to overwhelm him. His mind was no longer truly in control, as he roared in bestial rage and grabbed the elven elder who was trying to escape.

    His erged body allowed him to just grab the elder like he was a ragdoll and twist the man''s body like a butcher would twist a chicken''s neck. The poor elf could only cry out in agony before he died with his guts squished out of him.

    Tristan wrung the elder''s body which dripping with blood and the satisfaction he felt served as a fuel to make him wanted to scream out all his rage

    ROOOOAAAARRR!

    He stepped forward without hesitation and faced the next iing elven noble. There were no thoughts, no tactics. He merely pulled back his hand and threw thergest punch he could muster.

    BAMMMMM!

    The punch smashed the elf''s face in and threw him back a few meters, before his corpse hit the wall with a sickening st. Blood dripped down the walls, and the elf''s corpse slid down with it. When he fell, the elf''s face waspletely unrecognizable.

    Such a scene quickly struck fear into the elves who were previously rushing toward him. Everything came to aplete stop, no one dared to take another step.

    "What are you doing?!" The Forlorn prince shouted, his rage evident on his twisted face. "Attack him!"

    Though he was enraged, his face became paler than before, for he was unable to ept the strength Tristan had shown him.

    But nothing could convince his forces. They were truly chained byplete hesitation, and hundreds of elves were rooted to the ground. They could only stare at the hulking monster who slowly walked towards them. Some even took a step back, a terrified expression clearly etched on their face.

    Tristan, on the other hand, was still conscious just enough to not let them have any chance to escape. He took a powerful leap andnded in the middle of the crowd of elven warriors.

    Even his steps managed to crush one of them right away into a fine paste of blood and useless guts.

    The elves all ran a few steps back, unsure what to do, avoiding him,

    Nothing but pure terror could be seen in their expressions.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 238 - Carnage

    The fearful screams of the Forlorn elves were swallowed by the roar of the red creature.

    An ''abomination'' would be an understatement to describe the horror lumbering in front of them. The creature was almost twice the size of a man, and it charged towards the crowds of elven warriors much faster than its size would suggest and seemingly without effort.

    Its strength was so terrifying, each kick and punch would kill a warrior. When it started to use its ws, the situation turned even direr.

    nk!

    The elves were proud of their weapons and the advancement of their spells, but none of that could scratch the monstrous creature.

    Helpless, the elven warriors started to create some distance between them and the creature, leaving around a dozen nobles and the elders who dared to surround him.

    One by one, they decided to cast their defensive spells. [Stone Skin], [Oak Flesh], and those without much defense in the first ce cast [Slipstream] to help them dodge the monster''s attacks.

    Right now, the monster was standing atop piles of fallen elven warriors, and it bathed on their blood while ying with their flesh like they were ragdolls.

    "This is utter madness!"

    One of the elders, an earth element specialist, put his hands together and mmed them on the ground, casting a high tier spell [Stone Golem]. With the help of his massive spirit force, he created three golems at the same time. The newly created golems quickly stood as close to each other as possible, bing a wall to protect them.

    Now that they have something to hide behind, the nobles gained a bit of courage and started to cast their offensive spells.

    [Leaves of Steel]

    [Steam Lance]

    [Earth Spikes]

    Powerful as the nobles may be, the three spells were merely low-tier ones, and everything crumbled before they could pierce through Tristan''s flesh. His red ''flesh'' was less actual muscles, and more like a shell made of the same blood as what he used for his [Blood Synthesis].

    In fact, the ineffective spells only stoked Tristan''s rage.

    With a massive, wed hand, he grabbed one of the golems and swung it around to attack the other two. All three golems were around the same size as him, making his rage-induced feat all the more impressive.

    He also used the golem''s body like a shield to deflect the spells and arrows rushing towards him.

    BAMM!!

    The golem finally crumbled apart under the force of the spells, and Tristan did not waste time to grab another one to smash it against the other. When the golem started to break under his relentless swinging, he threw the remains towards the retreating elven warriors.

    In his mind, everything felt like a fun pastime, each kill felt like squishing ants, but now ytime is over. He looked around, trying to search for the Forlorn prince, and found him standing right behind the crowds.

    When he roared at the direction of the prince, His courage seemed to have left him.

    "Stop him! Kill him!"

    The prince kept shouting, without regard for the lives of the terrified warriors and elders. With each second that passed, the prince became more unsure he could defeat this monster.

    There must be some limit to this atrocity! No creature with limitless strength could exist!

    Right as the prince thought so, his theory was proven true unbeknownst to him, as a notification appeared in Tristan''s mind.

    [Blood Essence consumption has increased drastically.]

    Usually, such a message would prompt him to stop, for without the blood essence, he literally would not be able to live. But this time, his new memories allowed him to anticipate what happened. The transformation would give him a massive boost of power, but with it,es high consumption of blood essence.

    Whenever he killed his prey, he made sure to extract their blood with his touch, but right now there were too many distractions and too many targets for him to kill, which means he could no longer keep up with the extraction.

    Taking a nce at his system was enough to tell him how his blood essence dropped by the dozens with the passing of seconds.

    Right as he was busy thinking, three elders decided it was time to join the fray. Their stances were straight and focused, an indication that they arebat specialists carrying what appears to be tier 4 weapons.

    The powerful weapons were what gave them confidence.

    St!

    Right as Tristan tried to extend his right hand to grab one of the elders'' swords, another moved quickly and stabbed him, creating arge wound on his waist. Before Tristan could fully process the throbbing pain, he felt another attack from his back piercing him on the left shoulder.

    Roarrrr!

    Thanks to his transformation, his strength and durability had massively increased, but when he bled due to attacks from a powerful weapon, the pain could still be felt no matter how dulled it is.

    Such simple wounds were far from enough to kill him, of course, but the fact that he could be wounded brought a massive relief to the elven warriors who could only watch from afar.

    However, thinking this would mark the victory of the Forlorn elves would be foolish, for Tristan had not revealed all his abilities yet.

    The three of them tried to jump and dash forward together again to unleash anotherbined attack, but when they were a few steps away from him, half a dozen of tentacle-like appendages made of blood emerged from his body.

    Each tentacle was made of throbbing flesh and blood, coupled with small, knife-like spikes at the end. In addition they are quite agile, giving Tristan more arms to fight the elves with.

    St!

    One of the elders decided to cast a sword battle art.

    [Spinning de]

    The tier 4 sword on his hand swung in a circr motion, enabling him to cut off all the tentacles that wereing at him.

    It was indeed a powerful sword art, but afterwards, as the elder took a breather; one blood tentacle had already moved around his body and grabbed him. The elder elf screamed in unbridled fear as Tristan tied him up, hung the warrior upside down, and brought him face to face with Tristan''s terrifying jaws.

    The red creature opened its mouth and bit the warrior''s neck off in one sickening crunch. As it chewed, the elder''s head rolled on the suddenly quiet ce.

    Like an omen of what woulde to pass, the dead elder''s expression was frozen in terror, with permanently bulged eyes serving as proof of the fear carved into him moments before death.

 Chapter 239 - Brothers

    The Wood elves were a naturally peaceful species that disliked conflict, as it was antithetical to their customs. But the thousand-year abandonment from the Elven Collective has left a few changes regarding how much of their culture and traditions they actually adhered to.

    Among those who made up the elven race included the 7 elf n who arrived at the 4000 years ago, one High elf n, two Dark elf ns, and 4 Wood elf ns.

    Out of all of them, the High elves were the strongest, possessing a more advanced physique and an abundance of magical talent at birth. Inparison, Wood Elves were known to be the weakest.

    The Forlorn elves used to be considered the strongest creed among the Wooden elves for one particr reason; the extensive research they have conducted on their own genes.

    Upon realizing the weakness of their own genealogy and being fed up with the way they were perceived, the Forlorn weremitted to bing the strongest of their species, to the point where they even started to experiment on their prince since his birth.

    As a result of this, 2 princes were born with High elf genes within them. Elroth, the older prince who was able to master ice element magic, as well as the young Janus with his lighting element magic.

    The two young princes were so talented that within only 20 years, both of them had reached Stage 4 Katra.

    At the time, the two were considered prodigies whose talents surpassed some of the best magicians in the kingdoms. Even the young rising star, the half-elf Vanyar prince, was not as talented as them, despite undergoing rigorous training himself.

    Being the strongets among the wood elf, the Forlorn always ask the question of why the other elven ns decided to give the position of the Arcadian king to the Vanyar elves.

    It was a question that had been debated for a long time among the Forlorn. Not only was such an important position given to a Vanyar elf, but to an impure half-elf boy, at that.

    But the Forlorn could do nothing but sulk in shame when the young half-elven prince Can managed to reach Stage 5 Katra before their own experimented princes did, despite their superior genes that have spent years altering.

    Things only took a turn for the worst when, 50 years ago, the elven kingdom decided to send some of their best and most trusted warriors to enter the Mist. Among these warriors was the King of Forlorn himself. Their leader went inside, never to return. Leaving the Forlorn absent of any stage 5 elf.

    Upon his absent, The king had given his oldest son the position of leadership.

    As opposed to humans, most elves valued loyalty and order above all. Hence, when the oldest was chosen, all the nobles and elders in Forlorn backed the decision without question.

    Unfortunately, the youngest brother was not one of those elves. The youngest had strong ambition and an unquenchable desire for power; as a result, he had been jealous of his brother for a long time since he would be the one to inherit their father''s titles instead.

    During theing years, the older brother Elroth liked to busy himself by continuing his father''s experiments behind closed doors, while the young Janus opted to focus on his cultivation and training instead.

    The younger brother became more active in terms of Arcadia''s affairs, be it trading or engaging in battle with the barbarians and the orcs. Thetter made his influence grow to its maximum potential, until eventually, it made him confident enough to challenge his brother and take the leadership position.

    Elroth, who did not have enough desire to be king in the first ce and was unwilling to fight his brother, never epted the challenge. This refusal was only perceived as a show of weakness by his people.

    This, in addition to the abundance of false information that was being spread about his older brother, more people were slowly swaying to Janus'' side. This support made him bold enough to trick his own brother and shove him in a dungeon, where he would never again see the light of day.

    But it wasn''t until they cut his legs and took his eyes did Elroth realize the true extent of his brother''s wickedness.

    Now it has been more than 10 years since he''s been locked in the Forlorn dungeon. He no longer cares to think about his kingdom nor his people anymore. That is, until today.

    When he saw how his people had changed under his brother''s rule, he was horrified. Not even once in the 4000 years of Forlorn''s history did they ever conduct a public execution, much less an exhibit of such gruesome torture.

    When the Blood elf of the prophecy had managed to break free, he had actually been enthralled, beaming with excitement. Not only was the Blood elf a huge part of the fairy tales he read as a child, but seeing how blood, the single most important essence of the body evolving and mutating in various ways excited him greatly as a scientist.

    When he saw that the Blood elf had crushed each one of the elves as easily as one might kill rats, Elroth''s excitement upon seeing the legendary figure slowly shifted from admiration to fear.

    He was reminded that what lied underneath the Blood elf''s feet were the corpses of his own brethren. Crushed and mutted, their own blood spilling everywhere.

    "Stop! Stop! This is madness!"

    But at this moment, none of them were willing to listen to him anymore, not even his trusted nobles and elders.

    More nobles came at the red monster only to be killed within a second. He really believed that if he didnt do something soon, all the elves in Forlorn would meet their doom.

    While everyone was fighting, the blind prince jumped towards the red, cocoon-like blob, and as he cast his [Frozen Touch] spell, it broke it apart.

    "Princess Serene ,you must help me convince them to stop."

    The girl who, up until now, had only been able to guess at what was happening outside, started to scan her surroundings with wide eyes.

    "Tristan¡­" She whispered. "What have you turned into...?"

    "Princess Serene, please, he dide here for you, after all. He will listen to you."

    Serene walked out of the blood construct seeing at the red monster fighting and said

    "Why? Let him kill as many as he wants! The Forlorn deserve it!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 240 - Restrain

    Tristan was in a half-conscious state, barely discerning his surroundings, when he had found himself chomping at the elder''s neck and spat it out like a tiger finishing its meal of a venison. Moreover, he felt such a sensation of fulfillment as the blood spilled into his mouth and flowed through his throat.

    At this moment, his mind began to wonder if this legacy transformation was influenced by the beast mentioned by Virtaz. As he had no clear recollection of it throughout his previous journey down the memoryne, Tristan eventually concluded this must be part of the next memory fragment.

    One dead elven elder gave him another 2000 Blood Essence, a joyful matter. But from what he had seen so far, this amount of Blood Essence would probably only allow him to maintain this transformation for one minute or two minutes at most.

    At the moment, Tristan had already killed five out of the twelve elders of the Forlorn Kingdom. That meant there were seven of them left, and added with that hateful Forlorn Prince; there were a total of eight people who could endanger his life in this ce.

    Attentionpletely ced at his opponents, Tristan''s brain started to work rapidly, thinking of many different scenarios on how he would deal with these Forlorn elves. His main objective certainly hadn''t deviated from the initial, which was the Forlorn Prince.

    However, the said prince, who was a stage 5 Katra practitioner was currently hiding among those 7 elders of his.

    Even though he was sure the current him could handle everything that the other party threw at him, he still wanted to think of different approaches.

    Sure, he could continue on with this overpowered legacy form of his, and he might even be able to kill them all. But to what extent? Massacre the whole elf city would definitely only bring more trouble toward his future in this ce.

    If he really went ahead with that headstrong-kind of n, Tristan was sure all the Blood Essence he earned from this would probably bepletely spent, for the Legacy transformation.

    He had to think of a better way to deal with these people, one that allowed him to reap the maximum amount of benefit.

    With his hand still holding the headless elven elder, Tristan stopped and looked toward the spectacting crowd - the hundreds of Forlorn elves who were clearly terrified by him. As his gazended on them, the bloodthirsty urge he had kept echoing inside and gnawing at his willpower, but he still gave his best to rein it in.

    Unfortunately, he soon discovered that this urge of his was extremely difficult to resist while he was in this transformation. Thoughts, intents, and whispers telling him to ughter kept filling and repeating in his mind.

    It couldn''t be that he had to empty his Blood Essence before the transformation stopped?

    Tristan was dumbfounded when he realized he really didn''t know how to stop this transformation of his. He was annoyed to know that the memory fragments were ying a trick at him by not giving out all the information.

    Despite his mind clearly wanting to stop this, his body was still drawn to see more blood shed.

    Eventually, Tristan unleashed a loud roar again and dashed toward the trembling elders and prince at breakneck speed. However, a powerful spell was suddenly casted at him from behind and he soon discovered that he had slowed down and his body was gradually encased in ice.

    [Ice Prison]

    Tristan knew right away it was that blind prince Elroth who stopped him as he had seen the other party use this spell on the Forlorn Prince. The tier 5 spell was strong enough to stop his advance, but it took him only a second to break through the constraint restraining him.

    The moment he broke out of the ice, Tristan immediately turned around and searched for Elroth with a piercing re. He was tempted to kill the ungrateful elf after receiving the unexpected ''kindness''.

    But then, before he could contemte further about the matter, Tristan was surprised when he saw how Elroth approached him. He got off Serene''s back, dropped to the ground, crawled over to him, and put his head down to the ground before saying,

    "Please, Lord Monarch. Please stop this. Please no more killing."

    Upon seeing and hearing Elroth''s words, Janus the Forlorn Prince became enraged.

    "What are you doing, brother?! You are shaming the name of Forlorn elves!"

    Elroth clearly heard his brother''s words, but hepletely ignored them. With his head still touching the ground, he once again spoke.

    "Please spare my people, My Lord. They don''t know what they are doing."

    Tristan''s hand that was decorated with sharp ws grabbed the blind, legless Elroth''s shoulders and pulled him up close to his face. When everyone thought he was going to kill thetter, they were surprised to find nothing happened.

    On the other hand, Tristan inwardly felt surprised. He didn''t know if it was because of the ice spell or the sincere yet pitiful plea, but he could feel his bloodthirsty urges calming down a bit.

    The next thing that happened was, Tristan felt like he could finally contain the rage inside of him by force. Soon, he discovered his transformation gradually dispelling.

    In a matter of seconds, Tristan''s figure changed as the blood that sttered across his entire body started transforming into mist. Red-colored smoke diffused out of his body and enveloped him entirely, blocking everyone from seeing what happened. The moment the smoke receded, Tristan had returned to normal.

    Just as he had returned to normal, Tristan then suddenly did something that shocked everyone on the spot. He brought his hand up, and immediately, blood mist gathered upon him and inched toward Elroth.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Under everyone''s eyes, Elroth''s missing legs and eyes were slowly but surely reforming. And before anyone could realize what had happened, he had returned to his old self.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 241 - Fear

    At the moment, Tristan felt extremely ted; why wouldn''t he?

    The moment he was stuck in a dilemma, an opportunity hade and presented itself to him.

    He had been carrying the limbless, blind elf around and using the other party for quite some time, and now, it was a good time for him to pay thetter back.

    To make the best out of the current situation, Tristan decided to use his new upgraded skill on Elroth.

    After going through an upgrade, the new [Blood Synthetic] skill of his had the capabilities of forming organic beings, unlike its previous state where it could only form into inorganic matter.

    Of course, this didn''t mean the innate skill was able to form a new life. Instead, one could say it was only able to form the extension of it. In Elroth''s case, it was his eyes and limbs that were lost. Hence, the reason for the miraculous sight of Elroth''s missing parts of body returning back to their owner.

    There was actually some top-level magician in Arcadia who could do simr things to him. However, he never have imagined that he would be granted and witness the restoration of his broken body right at this moment, and of the legendary blood elf himself at that!

    Therefore, with his newlyplete body, Elroth once again went bowed his head to the said legendary being and spoke with immense gratitude in his voice.

    "Thank you, my Lord Monarch!" said Elroth before he went back to ask mercy for his people.

    The prince request was actually in line with his n, with this he hope there are some who would listen to the prince, so he wouldn''t need to massacre the whole town.

    Tristan, whose attention had returned to the Forlorn elves, quickly shifted his gaze to the anxious elf in front of him and said,

    "Give me your prince, and I will let everyone else live."

    Tristan had spoken loud enough for everyone in the ce to hear, and it was no surprise that everyone''s faces changed when they heard what he wanted.

    Elroth knew that Tristan was serious with his words when he heard the apparent firm tone. Unfortunately, he didn''t manage to say anything before Janus beat him to it, shouting at Tristan with the loudest he could ever possibly produce.

    "NO!! My men will not listen to you OR my stupid brother!" Janus turned to the Forlorn elders at his side and said, "My elders, I beseech you to give my shameless brother a lesson he will not forget his entire life!"

    "DO IT NOW!" added Janus when he noticed the elders didn''t immediately make a move.

    The Forlorn elders, who hesitated at first, quickly prepared their weapons and were ready to fight after hearing Janus'' emphasis. But the moment they received a nce from Tristan, they immediately returned to doubt.

    Tristan who is currently looking at them with a calm gaze said,

    "My problem is with him, but if you truly wish to die, you can indeed join him"

    The wordsing out of Tristan''s mouth did sound really arrogant, but none of the elves dared to rebuke him after they were presented with the sight of carnage earlier. It was obvious that they were really scared of losing their lives.

    Prince Elroth, who now could stand and see clearly, stood up and went behind Tristan as he spoke,

    "The people of Forlorn Kingdom, it was my brother who first offended the esteemed blood elf. He had taken his wife, the princess of Vanyar Kingdom, hostage and hurt her in the process. Therefore, I advise you to stand down."

    Janus went mad as he watched the elven elder none would listen to hismand. Obviously, they were looking for an excuse to justify their actions and Elroth had just given them one in the most appropriate way.

    "I am your prince, your master!! You have the obligation to follow whatever I told you!! I-"

    Unfortunately, his rant was cut off by Elroth.

    "No, brother. I AM the master of Forlorn. It was you who unjustly took it from me." said Elroth calmly, but Tristan could detect the unspeakable anger hidden in his words.

    Tristan could now see how things would be going more smoothly than he thought. Apparently, there was some dispute over the throne''s inheritance between them, and the fact that many people were disgruntled at Janus.

    But in the end, Tristan knew what would seal the deal was fear - something that he just inflicted upon them.

    While the two brothers were arguing fiercely under the watchful eyes of the Forlorn Kingdom''s elves, Tristan continued with his n.

    He opened both of his hands wide and casted [Blood Extraction]. Immediately, familiar red mists began appearing from all the corpses he had missed during the fight and the sight of them heading toward him like a train honestly looked a bit eerie.

    [1000..]

    [2000..]

    [3000..]

    [A mix of 2850 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [13200 Blood Essence points gained]

    Like how melodious music could be drugs for the ears, Tristan felt an immense joy as he watched his Essence Blood reserves fill up once again.

    This is the first time he cast a skill like this after his rebirth. He can feel that his range and speed of collecting the essence were faster than before. This was something he hopes to improve in the future to make his future battle more exciting.

    With the amount he just extracted, Tristan now no longer had to be afraid of the Forlorn if he had to eradicate the whole city, as this amount of Blood Essence would surely allow him to do so.

    The elves whose attention was ced on the two brothers'' argument were immediately distracted when they clearly saw the train of blood mist floating to Tristan. Added with the absolute act of domination he disyed earlier, some of the elfs started to believe the figure to be the legendary blood elf told in the story and prophecy.

    After all the mists entered his body, Tristan casually grabbed a cape from one of theying corpses to cover his naked body and approached prince Janus with a blood-synthesized de already formed in hand. Funny enough, the Forlorn elves who were on the way slowly moved to the side, opening up a way for him like how Moses split the sea.

    For the Forlorn prince, the situation had turned from bad to nightmare real fast. He knew things had really gone out of his control.

    "No! Stop him! STOP HIM! ANYONE!"

 Chapter 242 - Chased

    The prince''s previous unbridled arrogance was nowhere to be seen as it was washed away by pure fear, especially now that he knew none of his men would protect him. Heck, he would be grateful if they didn''t stab him in the back.

    Then, to everyone''s surprise, Janus decided to run away. He quickly dashed towards the forest, in the hope of escaping alive.

    Of course, Tristan would not let that happen.

    [Fire Aura]

    With his hand covered with zing fire, Tristan quickly gave chase to Janus, trailing behind thetter like a homing missile.

    The Forlorn Prince was a stage 5 Katra practitioner, which meant he had something known as Immortal Body. Not only was this Immortal Body a nigh-indestructible body, it also came with an ability to distort gravity on some level, allowing one to fly in the air at great speed. However, Tristan''s blood elf body was able to catch up to Janus before thetter managed to reach the forest.

    mming his hand onto the back of the frantically running Janus, Tristan sent the other party into one of the buildings in the city, creating a massive hole and copsing the whole building altogether.

    Dust flew violently in the air and Tristan couldn''t see the fate of the Forlorn Prince. While he was wondering if the other party was dead by his one attack, loud sounds of rumbling could be heard which was followed by streaks of lightning seen within the cloud of dust.

    [Thunder Wave - Tier 5 Lightning Spell]

    Janus was seen pushing his two hands in the direction of Tristan, and a wave of crackling lightning immediately rushed at thetter, sending him hurtling backwards and crashing into a building.

    Seeing that the only one who could stop him was gone, Janus nned to start his escape again. But then, his steps came to a halt, when he heard Tristan''s voiceing as if he was right behind him.

    "You want to continue running? What would that make you then? A trash prince?"

    The Forlorn Prince, who was already in the air, turned his body around. His gaze hardened. While floating, he watched as a figure came out of the smoke of the now destroyed building.

    Meanwhile, Tristan was thinking of another way to hold the Forlorn Prince back as he knew the provocative words he said earlier weren''t enough.. The fact that stage 5 Katra allowed the other party to fly was really a problem for him. He needed to somehow induce Janus to fight, or make him mad altogether.

    "You know what? Forget it. Go! Just go! Run, nobody here wants you anymore."

    Looking at the anger on Janus'' face brought a smile to Tristan''s face. Of course, it was a faint one as Tristan couldn''t afford his prey to notice his intention.

    "Run to your momma, you little chikenshit!"

    It seemed Tristan''s insult had sessfully washed away Janus'' fear and turned them into anger.

    "I''ll make you regret saying that to me!!" roared Janus angrily.

    The Forlorn Prince brought his hands up to the air, and Tristan wondered what the other party was trying to do when he noticed an abrupt change in the weather. The bright, sunny sky was suddenly covered by dark clouds. It was just as if a storm was imminent, which was weird.

    In the blink of an eye, a lightning bolt swiftly descended from the sky and struck the Forlorn Prince. However, unlike what Tristan expected, it looked like there was no harm done to Janus, and instead, he somehow turned into the literal personification of a living lightbulb with lightning bolts streaking around his body.

    While Tristan was wondering what the other party was doing, a spell name suddenly appeared in his mind. Apparently, the memory fragment provided him with a massive trove of knowledge regarding magic spells. This one was definitely something that Tristan never saw, but he knew what it was.

    [Call of Thunder - tier 6 lightning element magic]

    [umting the power of lightning within one''s body, greatly enhancing the effect of lightning-based magic for certain duration]

    The lightning bolt that descended had destroyed all the clothes Janus wore, and beneath them, Tristan could see a ck armor that brightly gleamed. That armor must be a high grade treasure, as it managed to stay intact after being hit by a literal lightning bolt.

    Janus quickly took out his tier 4 spear once again, and started buffing himself with spells. [Energized] took effect as a faintyer of energy enveloped his body, while his spear was shrouded with lightning currents - proof that [Lightning Infusion] had taken effect. The Forlorn was set to fight.

    He rapidly descended towards Tristan like a lightning god, with his spear brandished in front of him.

    Seeing the uing attack, Tristan swiftly created thergest sword he could possibly construct at the moment with his [Blood Synthesis], andpressed it until it became arge sword with simr build to his previous ymore.

    For a moment, he felt a small sense of aplishment from the sessful result. Next, he stomped the ground and leapt to the sky, meeting the Forlorn Prince head on.

    CLANKKK!!!!

    The sound of the tier 4 spear and blood ymore shing at each other was so loud that they echoed throughout the city and caused every citizen to turn their head in the direction of their fight. The resulting impact force of the two weapons was so strong that both Tristan and Janus were thrown back violently.

    Stabilizing their own respective bodies, Tristan and Janus once again shed.

    The Forlorn Prince had no problem fighting in the air as he could fly, but Tristan had to jump for each strike which was really annoying for him

    nkk!!! nkk!!!

    The buildings around the area where Tristan and Janus fought were in a miserable state as they were gradually destroyed by the aftermath of their shes. The two were fighting on an entirely different level that Elroth, Serene, the elders, as well as all the Forlorn elves could only watch and gasp from distance away.

    As Tristan swatted another stab from him, he couldn''t help but think the other party seemed to be faster than theyst fought; this must be because of his [Call of Thunder] spell.

    Fortunately, Tristan had received an improvement to his Katra, elevating it straight to stage four. Hence, even though the other party was slightly faster than him, he could read the attacks much easier than before.

    Tristan''s blood-synthesizedrge sword was seen smashing its entire weight at the spear in Janus'' hand, which caused thetter to be repeatedly pushed back. Several exchangester, the Forlorn Prince finally found an opening and took it immediately by thrusting his spear forward.

    Even though Tristan clearly saw the spearing for his body, he wasn''t even the slightest bit afraid. He let the spear pass his defense and pierced his shoulder, with a smile. Seeing the smile on his face, Janus felt a bad premonition and he was proven right momentster.

    A shadow appeared above him, and the Forlorn Prince brought his head to be weed by the sight of a massive sword swiftly descending at him. Its target: to split Janus'' head, and his body preferably, into two.

    nkk!!!

    Unexpectedly, instead of the sound of flesh being torn, a loud sound of metal shing was heard as the sword was not able to hit Janus'' head. It was just somehow being repelled, as if there was a shield.

    Tristan''s memory quickly recalled a certain armor in his memory, one that had a defensive capability of an energy shield. Apparently, the armor the Sad Prince was wearing was of that type.

    Inwardly, he shook his head.

    "The benefit of being a prince, huh¡­"

    Unlike what one expected, Tristan wasn''t worried that his attack wouldn''tnd. He was just wondering if he would look good wearing that armor after this fight.

 Chapter 243 - Blades

    The armor which the Forlorn Prince wore at the moment was certainly not from this world as Tristan hadn''t seen anything that was simr to it. The armor gave its user a kind of special energy-based protection by creating ayer of transparent energy that was able to block any kind of attack.

    Unfortunately, like everything that existed in reality, it had its limit.

    BAMMMM!!

    Loud sound was heard as Tristan once again was able tond a hit at the Forlorn Prince, and just like before, his blood-synthesizedrge sword was deflected by the formless shield and no harm was dealt to the other party.

    The battle between the two powerhouses swiftly became an exchange of hits, where Tristan gave his all to break the armor''s energy shield, while Janus tried his best to end the battle before his only means of protection disappeared.

    Any other people who saw Tristan being continuously stabbed by Janus'' spear and countless bleeding wounds on his body would think that the former was at the losing side. But in reality, after dozens of exchanges, the Forlorn Prince''s body and face began showing signs of exhaustion.

    This was because thanks to his blood elf body, Tristan''s strength wouldn''t diminish no matter how many wounds were inflicted onto him. On the other hand, the Forlorn Prince knew his precious artifact was almost reaching its limit as Tristan''s attacks had be more fierce with each second passed.

    CRAACCKK!!

    Eventually, like how ss broke when thrown into the ground, Tristan could vaguely see the shield that enveloped Janus'' body shattered apart.

    When this happened, the Forlorn Prince swiftly retreated back and threw the spear in his hand at Tristan. Tristan shifted his body to evade the spear and was about to give chase when he was greeted by a piercing light.

    St!!

    As Tristan''s attention was upied by the spear, a beam-like de managed tond and went through his waist, chunking a good amount of it. Apparently, the reason Janus threw his weapon was because he didn''t have the guts to fight Tristan in closebat without his armor, and therefore, resorted back to his long-range fighting style using the tier 6 spell [Ray of Lightning].

    Same as before, Tristan quickly felt the after effect of the spell as a numbing sensation spreaded from his waist.

    Another [Ray of Lighting] wasing at him, but this time, Tristan was prepared as he immediately smashed it apart with his sword and dashed towards Janus. Now that the Forlorn Prince had lost his annoying, nigh-invisible protection, the man began distancing himself from Tristan and opted to throw his spells from afar.

    As his opponent had changed his approach, Tristan had to do the same.

    Within seconds, therge sword in Tristan''s hand had broken down into its initial form of blood before forming into bullet-like projectiles. Then, he threw all of them toward the Cowardly Prince. The bullets rapidly flew through the air, heading toward their intended target.

    At the moment, Tristan was exerting his newfound stage 4 of Katra. If he had previously only been able to control a dozen at most, now he was able to control at least three dozen of those projectiles. Moreover, the power behind these bullets was much stronger after the upgrade.

    [Thunder Wave]

    Wave of lightning current swept through the sky, obliterating the bullets before they could reach their victim. From this, Tristan discovered that tier 5 spells were enough to destroy his blood bullets, and he couldn''t help but feel annoyed by it.

    Even so, there were still more bullets floating around him and he immediately created more before sending them to Janus again. This time, he controlled the bullets to attack from different directions. After all, even though the [Thunder Wave] spell the other party used was able to destroy his bullets, it was only able to clear in one direction.

    The bullets floating around Tristan swiftly advanced, flying through various trajectories in different intervals and directions as they made their way to Janus.

    [Thunder Wave]

    Another wave of lightning wasunched by the Forlorn Prince, destroying the blood bullets mercilessly.

    It was clear that their fight had turned into a contest of offensive magic; to see which one of them had better spells than the other. The situation continued at a stalemate for a while, but one could see the Forlorn Prince slowly being overwhelmed by Tristan as he gradually became ustomed to what he was currently doing.

    Now that Tristan had be progressively morefortable in controlling the blood-synthesized bullets with his thoughts, he started to experiment and create a more effective form for this offensive method of his.

    Images and figures of different kinds of de he ever saw during his life on Earth beganing back at him like a raging wave, and through his [Blood Synthesis] ability, Tristan decided to take boomerang as the basis of his new projectiles.

    It was a failure at first, as the des were easily disintegrated - even more so than the bullets. However, it didn''t stop Tristan as he had time to spare. Eventually, several attemptster, he managed to form half a dozen des allpressed to reach its maximum hardness and sharpness.

    With this, Janus quickly found himself attacked with 6 razor-sharp, v-shaped, double-edged des that came back at him even though he was sure he had dodged them. It appears the shape of the de helped it fly easier and faster than the bullets.

    Those des ferociously attacked him as they flew in a circle revolving around his body.

    St! St! SPLAT!

    The Forlorn Prince swiftly umted wounds all over his body thanks to the des'' erratic trajectory and bizarre motion. Annoyed that he wasn''t able to physically dodge the des, Janus eventually resorted to destroying them even though his mana reserve was reaching a dangerous level.

    [Thunder Wave]

    s, the unpredictable movement of the des confused him, and thus, the spell missed its targets. Janus was about to send another one at them, this time focused, when he realized the des were flying in circr motion, moving together in a formation.

    St!!

    One of the des had sessfully cut one of his legs. His Immortal Body''s regenerative trait quickly kicked in, forming a new leg from the severed part. Even so, he still felt the full sensation of pain and it caused him to be distracted.

    Not wanting to throw away this precious opportunity, Tristan immediately forced himself to make the des fly even faster, and numerous deep gashes began appearing on the Forlorn Prince''s body. As a result, Janus didn''t even have the energy to fight back anymore as his body focused its attention on dodging and recovering itself.

    "Why are you so silent, prince? How strange. You used to be very talkative!" Tristan said to Janus in a mocking tone.

 Chapter 244 - Punishment

    Being surrounded by flying des that cut off a piece of flesh off him with each second certainly caused the Forlorn Prince to fall into madness. Thanks to his outrage, Tristan had sessfully made him lose another of his limbs.

    St!!

    Janus didn''t have time to say anything or even scream in pain because Tristan had made a deep cut on his face that injured one of his eyes, destroying it. His Immortal Body''s trait kept activating, healing and recovering the wounds he suffered. But, its rate of regeneration couldn''t catch up to how fast Tristan injured his body.

    At this point, Janus finally realized that he couldn''t beat Tristan no matter what, and thus, his survival instinct kicked in as his mind fell into deep thought, trying to find a viable method to escape.

    The first chance he got, Janus decided to fly and continue his previous escape n.

    But how could Tristan not expect this?

    When he was about to fly up through the roof of the building, the Forlorn Prince was stunned to see string-like blood already recing the roof of the building where they fought,pletely sealing his path to the sky.

    Tristan showed an evil grin when he saw the dumbfounded expression on Janus'' face.

    "Sorry, but no more flights today!"

    Not left without wits, Janus swiftly turned to the side and mmed his body against the wall of the building. He broke through and found himself back in the streets of Forlorn City as his body rolled on the ground to dissipate the momentum.

    Bloodstained and terrified, Janus quickly stood up and rushed into the sky again. As he flew up and felt the wind blow against his body, he involuntarily heaved a sigh of relief. However, it was at this moment that his face drastically changed and horror returned to his eyes.

    Janus was terrified when he realized a thin red-colored rope was tied around his feet, and even more so when he felt something pulling him back to the ground. He was so terrified and desperate that he immediately decided to cut off his leg in order to escape.

    Unfortunately, the moment he turned around, he could be shocked because Tristan was already standing in front of him. Incidentally, thetter was in the air which shouldn''t be possible.

    Apparently, Tristan had utilized his [Blood Synthesis] to create a tform as a foothold. Another trick on how to utilize the skill that could be very effective in certain situations, like this one.

    "How can you leave without saying goodbye? That is very rude,!!" said Tristan with a smile.

    Without waiting for a reply, he immediately jumped at the dumbfounded prince and dealt a heavy punch to thetter''s face, sending him crashing to the ground like a fallinget.

    The blood-synthesized tform beneath his feet crumbled down as Tristan leapt off to follow andnded right where Janus had fallen.

    BOOM!!

    Loud sound resounded through the city as the ground shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck. The impact was so strong that those who were observing from a distance could even feel the effect.

    A few secondster, Tristan was seen walking out of therge crater he inadvertently created while dragging the half-unconscious Janus who had been bound by his blood-synthesized rope.

    He towed the Forlorn Prince along as he made his way towards the center of the city. Once again, all the Forlorn elves, warriors and nobles alike, quickly moved to the side and opened up a clear path for him.

    These people had been watching the fight from afar, and they could clearly see the blood elf was stronger than their prince, a stage 5 Katra practitioner. And if that wasn''t enough, the former didn''t take advantage of his monstrous transformation for the entire fight.

    As they let Tristan pass them unhindered, they too could see their prince being dragged to the ground throughout the journey. Most of them watched with mixed feelings, but no one dared to move.

    The elves, generally, were in control of their emotions. Hence, the majority of them managed to hold out their response. At the moment, they were waiting for prince Elroth and the elders to decide on how to handle this matter.

    Elroth, on the other hand, was actually very hesitant as he was not sure what Tristan wanted to do with his brother. Naturally, he couldn''t just ask the former to release Janus as he knew his own position.

    Hence, when Tristan finally reached the center of this city where a massive za was situated, Elroth carefully inquired, "What do you have nned for him, Lord Monarch?"

    With a nonchnt expression on his face, he said, "I want to kill him for sure.."

    Tristan''s words gaveplicated expressions on the faces of Elroth and the elders, but they were surprised when they heard what he said next.

    "But I walked here to ask for my dear wife''s opinion."

    Serene, who had been gasping the entire fight, was startled when she heard Tristan mention her name. She was even more shocked when her brain finallyprehended what thetter said. She would be the one deciding Janus'' fate.

    Confused look on her face, Serene stutteringly asked, "Why¡­ Why me..??

    "Why, you ask? Can''t you see that all the fighting was for you?" replied Tristan nonchntly, with a warm smile on his face.

    In the meantime, Elroth who stood at the side found the situation slightly difficult toprehend. It was a fact that he hated his brother, but all in all, Janus still had the Forlorn Kingdom''s royal blood run through him. And as one would expect, the matter of killing a royalty was not something simple.

    "So what do you say, wife?" Tristan asked again when he saw Serene not replying. At the same time, he yanked the rope in his hand making Janus'' bound body rise and stand on the ground.

    It looked like Tristan''s action had awakened Janus as thetter could be seen opening his eyes slowly. It took some time for him to process his surroundings, and as he recalled the situation, he immediately tried to struggle free. Seeing that, Tristan obviously created more blood synthesized ropes and strengthened them before restraining Janus again.

    Several secondster, Janus finally realized he wouldn''t be able to break free. Thus, he red at Tristan and said, "ARGHH! What.. What do you want to do to me?! Let me go right now!"

    Tristan turned his attention to Janus and said, "We are here busy deciding your fate. So please be patient."

    Janus became even more panicked when he heard that and immediately tried to break free. Annoyed by the other party''s behavior, Tristan red and said, "Stand still or I will kill you right now !!"

    As if sshed with a bucket of cold water, Janus immediately calmed down when he realized the killing intent of Tristan''s words. Nodding in satisfaction, Tristan returned his attention back to Serene.

    "Alright. So, wife, what do you have in mind?"

    Serene turned to look at the pale Janus and anger immediately filled her as she recalled how the other party had tried to force himself on her. Subconsciously, she blurted out. "Kill.."

    "No, wait.. I don''t know¡­" added Serene quickly as a thoughtful look appeared on her face.

    Realizing the situation, Janus quickly tried to talk himself out of the punishment.

    "Serene.. No, Princess Serene. We are practically cousins. Please spare me. I really regret what I have done, really.."

    Deciding the fate and execution of a prince of a kingdom did make Serene hesitate because she knew very well what kind of problems would arise if this matter was handled wrongly.

    She turned to Elroth and her expression told thetter that she wanted to ask his opinion. However, Elroth didn''t dare to say anything, not even the elders as they avoided her gaze. It seemed that they had beenpletely intimidated by Tristan.

    Janus could also see the others'' reaction and their reluctance to help him.

    "Please, Princess.. Please.." Turning his attention to Tristan, Janus continued, "Lord Monarch.. I.. I can be useful for you! You said you hate the Arcadian King, didn''t you? I believe I will be of great help to your cause. So, please, spare me."

    Upon hearing that, Tristan only shook his head in disgust. This man who had previously acted so mighty turned out to be a coward. How pathetic.

    "Last call, Serene." said Tristan, jolting her out of contemtion.

    Serene appeared to be hesitating before saying, "Punish him¡­ but don''t kill him...."

    Tristan nodded his head as if he had expected her answer. "Alright."

    "Prince Janus, you should thank my wife for her generous mercy."

    A relieved expression appeared on Janus'' face as he was happy by the fact he just escaped death. However, Tristan wasn''t finished yet.

    "Prince Janus, for your offense of hurting my family, you shall be punished in this way. One spell, you shall ept one of my spell."

    Janus was worried for a second, but when he recalled his Immortal Body, a rxed expression adorned his face again. Looking at the other party''s relieved look, Tristan released Janus from his restraint.

    "Alright, people of Forlorn. You have all taken witness to this. Prince Janus has wronged my wife, Princess of Vanyar, and he has decided to willingly ept his punishment."

    In the next moment, Tristan used his [Blood Synthesis] ability and created arge amount of blood in front of him.

    Janus became even more reassured when he saw what Tristan was doing because he had tasted all kinds of attacks with that skill. However, he wasn''t so sure anymore when Tristan''s wicked smile graced upon him.

    "Let''s see if your immortal body can withstand this!"

    Just like a wave, Tristan pushed the blood construct which hadn''t been formed close to the prince. Everyone watched in bewilderment as to what Tristan was trying to do, but their expressions immediately changed when they saw the blood forcing its way through the Prince of mouth, ears and nose.

    "No!...No.. Arrrghhh"

    Within seconds, most of the blood had entered Janus'' body which began to expand like an inted balloon. The next thing everyone knew, it exploded into dozens of pieces.

    Just like that their prince has died, Tristan gave a look at his wife with a smile "upps"

    The entire crowd fell silent while the blood construct was still flying in the air and slowly moved towards Tristan.

    [Blood extraction]

 Chapter 245 - Spirit Soul

    After blowing up Prince Janus'' body, Tristan''s Blood Synthesis seeped out all the blood from the corpse in order to prepare for the extraction process.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 7000 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [2850 Blood Essence points gained]

    With a grimace, to his surprise Tristan realized that the Level 5 Katra elf prince provided the same amount of blood essence as the Katra 4 elders. This was a somewhat disappointing number, especially considering the amount of work it took to beat the wicked bastard.

    While Tristan was still pondering on this number, he realized after he had extracted all the blood, there was something moving inside his Blood Synthetic Construct.

    He quickly dispersed the floating pool of blood to find a glowing wisp that was about the size of a pearl shaking chaotically in the air.

    From his memories, Tristan recognized it as the spirit soul of the elf prince. Thest remaining bit of his life.

    It was known that each Katra 5 elf possessed a spirit soul that resided within their immortal bodies, a life force that would remain forever as long as it stayed intact. With this, there was always going to be a possibility of bringing them back to life.

    When Tristan approached the prince''s spirit soul, which was still hovering restlessly in the air, it began to dart around in an attempt to escape. But of course, Tristan wouldn''t let it go; he quickly synthesized a cage that instantly trapped the soul in its confines, before floating it back in his direction.

    Tristan then reached his arm out, grabbing the small orb and holding it tightly in his palm. As his skin touched it, he suddenly realized that a new notification had materialized in his mind.

    [Soul Extraction]

    [One elven Rank 1 soul found]

    [Proceed in extracting the soul?]

    Extracting soul? This definitely a new skill he never heard before, this spirit soul must be what makes the Katra 4 eleves to be different

    Tristan could feel that everyone crowded around him was watching him intently,pletely perplexed. He was smart enough to know that extracting the soul would mean the total death of the price, but at the moment, he would not let this opportunity for advancement go to waste.

    "Yes!" He eximed, a slight grin on his face.

    He began the process of extraction, and as it urred, he swore that he could hear the prince''s screams echo in his mind. But he didn''t care; in fact, he found joy in the anguished and pained groans that he was hearing. He found the noise to be a bonus reward after such a fight.

    It was at this moment that Tristan felt his stomach drop, and that something deep inside him was calling his name. Before he knew it, once again, he found himself standing in the middle of the Blood Lake, the scene materializing out of thin air around him.

    Just like how he left itst time, there was a house-like structure situated right in the middle of theke, as if emerging from the dark water. And the way he felt about the ce had changed as well. He no longer felt strangely about the ce; instead, it all felt very familiar to him, as if he was returning home.

    In the back of his mind, he could easily tell that this ce was the domain that resided within the Monarch Heart.

    After scanning the environment around him for more changes, Tristan started to walk forward in the direction of the house. All of a sudden, a single glowing droplet descended from the sky, approaching him rapidly.

    When he touched the droplet, he suddenly felt the presence of someone familiar, like a jolt that sent shivers down his spine. It was the prince he had just killed. He felt as though a ghost just walked through him.

    Right away, Tristan realized that the thing he was holding tightly in his grasp was the soul of the prince himself; the one that he had just extracted only moments prior.

    He started to walk towards the house yet again, he could feel the prince''s soul darting around in his fist, but he kept his grip intact.

    As he entered the building, his mind wandered a bit; he thought about whether or not he would see Vitraz the blood elf again, but in his heart he knew that he wouldn''t. So by the time he stepped foot inside the house, he immediately knew what to do with the glowing pearl in his hand.

    He walked towards a staircase, and as soon as he got closer,he could see that chains were twisted around it. He opened his palm, and immediately, the glowing pearl floated towards the chains and was absorbed by them. As soon as the spirit orb was absorbed by the chains, they gradually loosened before eventually dissipating. The staircase had finally opened up.

    Tristan''s heart was beating fast as he walked down the hundred steps, it felt as if something exciting was waiting for him.

    Finally, the stairs ended with an open space, he walks inside and sees himself in a circr room with an aquarium-like wall that is filled with blood. The room suddenly glowed and showed something that was standing in the center.

    It was a stone statue of a woman, half-human and half something else, there was a horn on her forehead and a wing on her back. As soon as he gets closer, the statue trembles, and inside a beat of heart can be heard.

    Tristan quickly remembers what was in front of him, as he smiles the statue starts to crack and all over, revealing the reddish skin of the woman.

    Her body starts to move, walking out of the statue and her eyes open, she looked toward him with respect and said.

    "My Lord Monarch, has the time finallye?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 246 - Throne

    Ten people walked towards a majestic hall surrounded by walls made of clear, beautiful crystals that reflected the colors of the rainbow. The walls were clear and free of blemish, and the ceiling was filled with what seems like naturally urring crystalline stctites glowing with white-ish light.

    It was a long hall filled with beautiful treasures on the sides.. As they walked towards the end of the hall, they saw a throne made of the same finely cut crystal, with a cushion made of velvety fabric to ensure whoever sat there would befortable.

    Two of the ten people separated themselves and approached the throne. They were two male elves, one with blue hair and the other with white hair.

    The blue-haired elf looked at the other one in reverence before he bowed deeply and said.

    "My Lord Monarch, I present to you, the seat befitting the ruler of Forlorn."

    Of course, the white-haired elf was no other than Tristan. After the massacre he did in the Forlorn city center and the murder of their prince, he was now being escorted to the hall of Forlorn Kingdom, where the older prince Elroth offered him the seat to rule all of Forlorn

    Tristan looked at the seat tentatively, but he did not directly ept it. He turned towards one of the seven surviving Forlorn elders, along with his wife, Serene.

    "No, this is not right," Tristan shook his head. "This seat had always belonged to the Forlorn Royal bloodline, and there is no way I could just ept this."

    He turned away from the throne, looked at Elroth, and said.

    "You are the master of Forlorn, and the throne should belong to you."

    Upon hearing what Tristan said, Elroth kneeled down without hesitation. With his head almost touching the floor, he said. "Lord Monarch, there is no way I would dare to take the throne, especially not with you standing in front of me. Please, the throne is yours."

    Tristan gave a small smile for the prince''s response and walked casually towards the crystal throne before sitting on it. He took a moment to observe the others'' reactions, before turning to look towards Serene with a sincere smile.

    "So, what do you think, my wife? Does this seem appropriate?"

    Serene looked at her husband with mixed feelings evident from her gaze. On one hand, she was grateful for him rescuing her, but on the other hand, there was no way for her to forget what she had seen. The massive massacre and merciless killing of the Forlorn prince were burned deep into her mind, and there was no way to rid herself of that image any time soon. But she dismissed her own thoughts, looked towards the man, and nodded.

    "Do you really think so?! wow!" Tristanughed, and strangely, there was a sense offort from sitting atop a symbol of power. Before all this, Tristan never thought of himself as someone who cared for power.

    Then, he nced at Elroth. His first question towards the prince was nothing more than a test to see whether the prince would dare to take the seat from him. He had to acknowledge that ruling is annoying, but in the long run, being someone in charge would always be better for him.

    "Elroth, I will ept the honor, but only as long as I am here. Whenever that is not the case, you shall still be the master of Forlorn."

    Prince Elroth kneeled once more to express his gratitude.

    Even an ordinary person would know, this ''test'' was nowhere near enough to prove the elf''s loyalty. No matter howposed he is, Tristan needed to still make sure that the elf would not interfere with his affairs, and taking the throne would not be enough.

    In other words, he needed to seal their loyalty.

    "Elroth, then let me ask you this," Tristan stared at him, as if trying to find a trace of falsehood. "By giving the throne to me, you are swearing your allegiance to me, right?"

    "Of course, my Lord Monarch," The prince looked down and answered. "Ites without saying."

    "Then, let me ask you this, how far would you go to follow my orders?"

    A small, momentary shudder went down the prince''s spine, but he quicklyposed himself. He had seen the affairs of the royal court in his life, and he was smart enough to realize Tristan was attempting to trick him. He decided to answer without sounding like he hesitated, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Lord Monarch, I will follow your everymand, even if it would cost me my life."

    Well, that would be good enough for now. Tristan nodded andplimented him before asking again.

    "Alright then, but what about these elders in front of me¡­?" Tristan looked up and scanned their expressions one by one. They all looked stoic and unmoved by what was happening in front of them. "Will you all follow any order I gave you?"

    The question has been thrown in their direction, and out of the seven elders, some hesitated to answer, but the smart ones quickly kneeled, and realizing there was no way to defy him, the others quickly followed suit.

    Surely, Tristan did not think their words and expressions would be enough of a guarantee.

    "Then, tell me this, what if I ask you all to risk your lives to attack any of the other kingdoms? Would you still pull your weapons against them?"

    This time, he asked a more specific question, and the ones who previously agreed hesitated for a moment. Tristan could understand their reluctance, for such an order would mean constant risk to their lives due to the war it would bring.

    But, when his next question was spoken, he would know the difference between whether they truly pledged loyalty or whether they merely spoke empty words to appease him.

    "Prince Elroth, if it was true that they were all willing to die for me, then I am going to give my first order."

    Elroth merely stared at him without saying anything, but the slight twitch of his fingers betrayed his true feelings.

    Tristan stood from the throne confidently, looked at each of the elders, and said.

    "Elves of Forlorn, for all your vitions and your gall to go against me and my family, I hereby sentence one of evey five of you to die."

    No one expected such an order, and they gasped in shock before they were able to control their expressions.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 247 - Punishment

    "One¡­ two¡­ three¡­ seven elders. I will need two of you to ept the punishment."

    Their new ruler had just asked for two lives, in exchange for the freedom of the rest. In all honesty, the request was uncanny. It was an outrageous order, one that they wouldn''t easily ept.

    Tristan could clearly tell tension had suddenly risen, as everyone in the hall was pressured by his dictator-like decision. The hall was enshrouded with eerie silence and no one wanted to open their mouth lest the repercussion would be called upon them.

    In the end, it was Tristan who broke the gradually chilly atmosphere.

    "So.. how do you all want to do this? I''m up to anything, honestly." said Tristan nonchntly, while folding his leg over the other.

    "If you don''t have any ideas, I can suggest some. You all can vote, or someone can volunteer themself. Oh, what about my personal favorite, a lottery. Anyway, any of these three will be fine for me."

    Looking at how Tristan said those words so casually while he sat high on the throne somehow made these top-level fighters the Forlorn Kingdom had to sweat buckets.

    An eerie silence epassed the hall for another period of time, until someone decided it was time to deliver their thoughts.

    "Tristan.. Why are you doing this!?"

    Tristan''s head turned to the source of the voice, and saw Serene. Apparently, only his wife dared to ask those questions.

    With a warm and affectionate smile on his face, he looked at the beautiful blonde and said, "This needs to be done, Serene." a hint of doubt appeared on her face, to which he immediately responded. "Just trust me."

    Even though she indeed hadn''t known Tristan for long, this time looking at his actions to his current decision somehow made Serene feel she didn''t really know what kind of person her supposedly husband was.

    The new Forlorn Prince, due to the death of the other one, Elroth, wasn''t able to hold himself back anymore as he finally said his mind.

    "My Lord Monarch, I can personally vouch for these people. They will definitely be loyal and offer their services to you wholeheartedly. So, please reconsider."

    Tristan, only chuckled hearing such word

    "Hahaha, Prince Elroth, that was exactly the kind of behavior that got you betrayed. Anyway, you probably know those seven people and could vouch for them, but what about the others? Can you guarantee that all of them will be loyal?" asked Tristan with a smile, that unknowingly brought shivers down Elroth''s spine.

    "The others.. My lord?"

    "Yes, of course. The others." said Tristan casually. "I want this punishment to be applied to everyone, each and every elf in the Forlorn Kingdom."

    Elroth''s face became pale when he heard what Tristan was trying to do, and the others couldn''t help but follow him as color drained off their faces. He was about to say more when Tristan added, "Oh, My mistake, we should take those who are under 15 out of the equation."

    Even though Tristan had ''reduced'' the severity of the impact, Elroth was still troubled by the matter.

    "But my lord.. That''s still more than 700 elves."

    "700? Alright! Is that going to be a problem, Elroth?" asked Tristan, this time without his prince affix. He did that intentionally, and it seemed to be working as Elroth appeared to be pressured and unable to say a word.

    Tristan was about to dismiss them because the matter was done in his eyes when one of the elders suddenly stood up and shouted, "I cannot stand this anymore!"

    He quickly tried to convince the others to not listen,belling the punishment as nonsensical and preposterous. Tristan, on the other hand, justzily sat on his throne and watched the scene

    Apparently, the others were smart enough to stay quiet and not respond, making the expression of the elder that stood up pale. Especially so, when thetter found out familiar blood constructs had surrounded him. Extreme fear shed in his eyes, as his mind recalled the fate of those who faced it.

    "How is it, my elders? Would you all like to vote for this one? He''s already volunteered himself, after all."

    No one answered, and the situation became even more tense. Prince Elroth asked Tristan to consider the punishment one more time.

    "Please, my lord, reconsider the punishment. If you really didn''t want to do so, at least please enlighten us on your decision. Why must you do this?"

    Tristan looked at Elroth and said, "It''s about consequences of action, taking responsibility of fault, and listen to fucking order!"

    "What else do you need?" Tristan said so calmly that it gave everyone the chills.

    Elroth fell silent, and Tristan ignored him as he turned to the elders once again. "I will only ask you one more time. Would you vote for this one to take the punishment?"

    One by one, the elders began to nod their heads. The moment some of them had given their consent, the blood construction immediately prated the chosen elder from all directions, turning the other party into a honeb.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [A mix of 6200 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [2150 Blood Essence points gained]

    Of course for Tristan, there was actually one real reason for deciding on such cruel and barbaric punishment. It was no other than his need for blood. After all, his entire existence depended on whether he still had Blood Essence or not.

    The idea for this punishment Tristan took from one of the books he read back on Earth. It was the story of a certain renowned empire that dominates the world 2000 years ago. And it was mentioned that the empire used this method to discipline their soldiers whenever they lost a war.

    By adopting this method, not only Tristan would be able to know who among them was not following the orders, he could also make sure these elves remember how their new ruler has a strict rule about punishment. And hopefully, afterward, they would not be dumb enough to betray him.

    Most of the elders should be smart and astute enough toprehend his intention. After killing the one elder he added another reason to convince them all.

    "I am the Blood Monarch, and you all should know this by now. Your sacrifice will pave the way for your ruler to be stronger, to be your greatest protector! Receive my punishment willingly, and you the Forlorn will be my people"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 248 - Sacrifice

    The new ruler has said his mind, "ept your punishment and be my people".

    All the six elders went to their knees and showed their respect when they heard Tristan''s words. They have all agreed to ept the punishment.

    To prove theirpliance, one of the elders prepared a simple lottery. A leather pouch was taken out and six gold coins were ced inside, with one of them marked with a scratch.

    Immediately after, the elders took turns to reach their hand inside the pouch and grabbed one coin. At this point, they all realized that their life and death would be decided by their luck and a single gold coin.

    The elders opened their hands and looked at the coin lying quietly in their palm. Those who saw their coin unmarked quickly turned their heads around, to see who was the unlucky one among them.

    A momentter, five pairs of eyes had locked onto someone''s palm. They looked up and saw the one who got the marked coin was Riata, the pale-skinned slender female elder who fought with Tristan previously. The one was known as the priestess of the thorn.

    Tristan expected the other party should be afraid, but when he saw her stand up and walk toward him, albeit slowly the female elf was prepared to ept the punishment.

    "Are you not afraid of death?" Tristan asked Riata while looking at her intently. Although a stern expression was evident on her face, he could see her body trembling slightly.

    Riata raised her face and said, "I am afraid, my lord. Very. Even so, I will still receive the punishment for the others."

    At her reply, Tristan nodded his head and prepared the punishment. "Alright, Elder Riata. You have my respect."

    As if it was a predator that had smelt another prey, the blood construct swiftly flew away from the previous elder''s body and surrounded Riata, ready to decide thetter''s end.

    But when he was about to do the deed, Elroth once again stopped him and told how Riata was one of the well known elders, as she had been helping the previous king with all the experiments the Forlorn Kingdom did.

    "Please, Lord, reconsider your decision. She is invaluable, not only to the people, but also to you and your cause. We will have much need for her in the future."

    Tristan stood up from his throne and walked a few steps. If this was any other asion and what Elroth said was true, he would definitely agree with his words and spare Riata''s life.

    However, he couldn''t easily retract his orders, much less now, as this was the first time he''d tried to enforce the rules he had made himself.

    Therefore, Tristan stopped in his tracks and looked at Riata while saying, "You will receive the punishment, as I have decided."

    In the blink of an eye, the blood construct pierced her chest and she quickly fell to the ground, kneeling and bleeding all over. Everyone in the hall could only watch as Tristany the punishment.

    But much to their surprise, before Riata sumbed to her death, Tristan created a new blood construct and directed it into the piercing wound on her chest. The blood construct filled her chest and healed it, making it as if nothing ever happened and everything was just an illusion.

    Riata slowly got to her feet and quickly examined her body, checking the ce where her chest was stabbed. Happiness showed on her face when she realized that he was still alive, which was then followed by bewilderment as her head turned to Tristan.

    Faced with the confused looksing from her and everyone else, Tristan smiled and said, "You have received the punishment, and also my mercy, for now you will be loyal to my cause."

    Realization struck Riata''s mind and she swiftly went to her knees. "Thank you for your generosity, Lord Monarch."

    Tristan turned and sat on the throne once more, his gaze overlooking the others who were stillprehending what had just happened.

    "Now that the matter here is over. My elders, I sincerely ask you to execute my order right away. Go." said Tristan calmly.

    Elroth, Riata, as well as the elders quickly made their way out of the hall. When they had all left, Serene approached the throne where Tristan was sitting.

    She was silent, making him wonder what she was trying to tell him.

    "Tristan, I really am grateful for you toe and save me¡­ and those elves! they deserve to be punished! they do.., but killing hundreds of them¡­ I wasn''t sure it was¡­ " Serene approach even much closer and appear to see his face closely and said "Tristan I am¡­ concerned¡­ you feel... different¡­ your face is also different"

    Hearing that, Tristan walked towards one of the walls and saw his own reflection on the crystal wall. He finally understood what Serene was talking about.

    After his reconstruction, his current appearance was that of a full-fledged elf. There was no longer any trace of human features remaining on him, His human eyes, part of his human face that was there were now gone.

    Serene words also made him realized half the thing he said just now was a little excessive.

    He once more stared at his own eyes and see his reflection in the crystal. Tristan fell into deep thought, the way he had acted earlier, his physical appearance, and the memory of the blood elf; he wondered how much of him was still human.

    ---

    On the very same day, Prince Elroth and the elders carried out Tristan''s order as they gathered all the Forlorn elves; nobles, warriors, and civilians alike. Except for those who were below 15 years, all of them took a lottery of sorts.

    In the end, a total of 712 elves were chosen to receive the punishment. When they found out what they had been selected for, chaos immediately ensued. Fortunately, the elders had expected this and managed to stop it before it spiraled out of control.

    The mass execution of more than 700 Forlorn elves was an utter horror, something that would never be forgotten in the history of the kingdom. This event could be written as the foolish massacre or the great inception, depending on Tristan''s sess as the new ruler of the Forlorn Kingdom from this point on.

    Tristan saw the pile of corpses, but his heart was cold. There was a little doubt, but it was quickly erased. It was as if deep in his mind he has experienced this many times before and this decision was right.

    Either way, when all of the selected elves were executed, Tristan floated into the sky using blood synthesized tforms and walked until he reached the center above all the corpses.

    "Elves of the Forlorn, I promise you that your sacrifice will not be in vain. Their life will empower me and help me to lead you, the Forlorn''s, to a new era."

    Tristan then raised his hands, and immediately, concentrated masses of blood mist diffused out of the corpses and flew toward him.

    This was certainly thergest amount of Blood Essence that he ever extracted and he couldn''t wait to see the final number. It took him more than 5 minutes to finish the extraction process.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [140.000...]

    [280.000...]

    [220.000...]

    The horrific sight of their new ruler, the Blood Monarch, absorbing the blood of their kin made the Forlorn elves both terrified and amazed at the same time.

    It was started by the elders, and quickly followed by the others; they all knelt on the ground and said, "All hail to the Blood Monarch."

    [240.000¡­]

    [A mix of 240.500 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [101.350 Blood Essence points gained]

    As for Tristan, he finally had enough Blood Essence to unlock the secret hidden within his body.

 Chapter 249 - Bloodgem

    After extracting the Blood Essence of the 700 plus Forlorn elves, Tristan immediately retreated back to the royal pce and made his way to the royal chamber. The moment he entered it, he was surprised by the grand scale of this supposedly bedroom of his.

    Eventually, he went back to his initial goal ofing here.

    Tristan ordered the elven warriors who stood guard outside of the chamber to not let others disturbed him, not even his wife Serene. Of course, he instructed them to ask Serene to leave politely lest they would suffer his wrath.

    Immediately, the chamber door was closed and everyone was barred from entering. Right after that, Tristan checked his total reserve of Blood Essence.

    [Blood Essence: 126.350]

    A silly smile crept its way into Tristan''s face as his eyes transmitted the six-digit number of his Blood Essence to his brain. This time, instead of rushing to upgrade his body to the next level, Tristan sat on the floor in lotus position and let his soul enter his domain, the Heart of Monarch.

    Tristan once again found himself arriving at the familiar bloodke. He immediately walked to the construct and headed down the stairs, to the room where he previously saw the red-skinned woman with horn and wings on her.

    As soon as he arrived, Tristan immediately saw the other party and vice versa. The moment she saw him, she immediately bowed her body.

    "My Lord Monarch, have youe to release me?" the woman asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

    Faced with the inquiry, Tristan only replied with three simple words. "Yes, I have."

    The half woman half creature standing in front of Tristan seemed and acted so familiar to him, even though they had just met. The woman was apparently one of Virtaz''s most loyal subjects.

    Thest instance they encountered each other, he didn''t have enough Blood Essence to release her. Now that he had enough, the thought of freeing her was the first thing that came into his mind.

    Tristan quickly approached the woman and touched the chains that bound her.

    [Release the Mythical Beast - Bloodgem Dragon]

    [25.000 Blood Essence required]

    Even though it took a whooping 25.000 Blood Essence to release the other party, the name this woman had - which clearly told him her origin - was more than enough for Tristan to spend more Blood Essence, let alone that amount.

    "Yes"

    In the instant he confirmed the option, the chains that bound her hand and feet immediately shattered apart before disappearing into motes of.. Blood. The eerie sight slightly caught Tristan off guard, but his attention immediately attracted by the sight of the woman transforming.

    Scales began to appear on her skin, while her fingers and canine teeth grew into sharp ws and fangs. Long, simrly-scaled tail was seen on her rear, while her body grewrger rapidly until she almost filled the entire room.

    Looking at the monstrosity standing before him, Tristan was not afraid, instead he was bedazzled. It was a beautiful dragon with red scales and a streak of silver on her back.

    In the meantime, the room they were currently in shook violently and just likest time, Tristan could feel as if the entire floor was sent to the air. After the tremor ended, the room he was in at the moment was already level with the bloodke.

    Tristan turned his head to where the dragon should be and was immediately greeted by a violent gust of wind. Keeping his eyes open with difficulty, he saw the red dragon take off to the sky and flew around for a while before returning right in front of him and transforming into a woman again.

    "My Lord, thank you for releasing me. I will forever assist you, just like i always have"

    Upon hearing her words, Tristan didn''t immediately acknowledge her and instead questioned,

    "You haven''t told me your name"

    "My Lord Monarch, you usually called me Nara."

    The answer this woman called Nara gave him brought more questions. Hence, he asked,

    "Tell me, Nara. Who am I?"

    A confused expression was seen on Nara''s face, but it didn''tst long as she immediately answered Tristan''s question.

    "My Lord, you are Virtaz the Blood Monarch." Tristan was about to ask more when he noticed hesitation on her. "What is it? Say it."

    "Actually, My Lord.. I can see changes in you, But I can tell you are indeed our monarch."

    Hearing this, Tristan could now confirm that when Virtaz disappeared, it was just as he had suspected. A part of him really did go and merged into him. It could also be because of the memory fragments. Either way, he was d that at least he was in control.

    Tristan''s mind swiftly got caught by something. He could see the floor opened up again and another stairs leading downward once again appeared, sealed with simr chains as its predecessor.

    While Tristan was contemting, Nara exined that he needed to upgrade his soul to reach deeper. Put it simply, the same thing as what Virtaz told him previously.

    Knowing that he wouldn''t be able to head down today, Tristan finally turned his attention to Nara who was looking at him the entire time.

    "So, what should I do with you, Nara?"

    "It''s up to you, Master. You can summon me any time you want."

    He looked at her, and saw nothing strange. "Do you wish to be summoned outside, Nara?"

    "Of course, Master." answered Nara with a calm tone, but Tristan could clearly see the expectation on her eyes.

    Nodding his head, Tristan exited his domain and returned to the real world, more precisely, to the royal chamber where his body was still sitting in lotus formation.

    The next thing he did was none other than improving himself.

    [Upgrade host''s body to stage five Blood Monarch?]

    [Cost 50.000 Blood Essence]

    Clenched his fist tightly, Tristan mentally replied, "Yes, upgrade!"

    [Upgrading to Stage Five Blood Monarch..]

    [50,000 Blood Essence used]

    [Advancing to Blood Monarch - The Fifth Stage¡­]

    The moment thest notification appeared in his mind, Tristan immediately felt changes happening in his body.

    He could feel the blood that was running through his veins stirred as it all flowed backward simultaneously, heading to his heart. The beating of his heart sped up, and came with it was a deluge-like sensation. New, stronger blood was pumped and circted throughout Tristan''s entire body.

    [Stage five advancementpleted]

    [Advancement affect host''s physical body]

    [Battle power increased significantly]

    [Battle power Undefined]

    [Stage Five Innate Skill has been unlocked]

    [You have learned a new skill Blood Summon]

    Finally, Tristan had reached stage five. The upgrade cost him a spectacr amount of 50.000 Blood Essence and a requirement to eradicate 20% of an elven kingdom''s entire poption. He could only imagine what kind of thing he needed to do, who he needed to kill for the next upgrade.

    Even though he couldn''t see it in definitive numbers, Tristan knew his physical strength had just increased into another level. As for the reason as to why he couldn''t see it, he had some idea in his mind.

    But those were matters that could be resolvedter, because now, Tristan had other things he wanted to do. Summoning the dragon that dwells within him.

    [Blood Summon]

    [Summon Mythical Beast Bloodgem Dragon]

    [5000 Blood Essence required]

    After recently spending tens of thousands worth of Blood Essence, Tristan couldn''t help but feel five thousand was such a low number especially for a dragon.

    "Yes, proceed."

    In the blink of an eye, masses of blood were diffusing out from his palm and coalescing into something. Its appearance was followed by an advent of strong force that rapidly gathered on his palm, making Tristan inwardly nervous.

    Slowly but surely, the masses of blood coalesced into the figure of the same red dragon he saw inside his domain. However, the previously majestic dragon had been reduced into a miniature scale, about half a meter in length.

    [Bloodgem Dragon]

    [Magical Beast Level 50]

    The Bloodgem Dragon, or rather, Nara swiftly flew around in the air before shended on his right shoulder. Before Tristan could say anything, he was surprised when he heard her voice inside his head. Apparently, she was able to speak directly to his mind.

    "Thank you for your grace, My Lord. unfortunately, with your current stage of Stage Five Blood Monarch, only so far have I been able to maintain myself."

    Tristan didn''t seem to mind her current appearance. After all, having a flying mount andpanion was an extraordinary matter, much less a dragon at that. He was sure that even at this size, a dragon couldn''t possibly be weak. Besides, his main purpose to release and summon Nara was to know more about the Blood Monarch''s past.

    With a dragon on his shoulder and another upgrade to his body, Tristan was ready.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 250 - Seal

    Today Tristan called after prince Elroth and the elders once again. When the two elves arrived at the Crystal Hall, they halted in their tracks as they were met with the unbelievable sight of Tristan sitting nonchntly on the throne, with a small dragon crawling from his shoulder to his hand.

    Although small in size, dragons were creatures that had only been seen in myth. Upon seeing that their new lord was keeping such a legendary creature as a pet only provided them more reason to give him their utmost respect.

    The six elders immediately kneeled in front of the throne as Tristan looked upon them with a cid expression upon his face. "My Lord Monarch, we are ready for yourmands."

    A momentter, two women joined them within the room. It was Serene and Astrid. Apparently, the female barbarian was half dead from the aftermath of yesterday''s fight. It was quite amazing that she could survive such devastating injuries.

    Tristan called Astrid toe forward. As she kneeled in front of him, upon closer inspection, he realized that the elves had healed her various wounds, but her current body was in very poor shape. Although conscious and able to stand on her feet, it was clear that she was still battered from the battle. Even part of her arm had also been lopped off, and what remained was wrapped in bandages.

    Tristan quickly used his Blood Synthesis to recover her body and return it to prime fighting condition.

    Everyone in the room was in a state of awe upon seeing the extent of Tristan''s powers. After he was finished synthesizing Astrid''s body, he did something that only surprised them, especially Serene, even more. He raised his hand towards the female barbarian, and suddenly, a cloud of blood mist began to emanate from her body.

    [Blood Seal has been removed]

    [Your Blood Essence has returned]

    [You have received 175 Blood Essence points]

    [Blood essence 50.350]

    And with that, Astrid''s expression suddenly changed. Herplexion paled rapidly and she immediately fell on her knees with a loud thud, kneeling on the ground in front of Tristan. She panted, gasping for air as if she had just finished running for miles. She looked up at the man sitting on the throne in utter disbelief.

    Tristan looked her in the eye. "Astrid, for your services, I have hereby decided to release you, you may go do whatever you wish now."

    Gritting her teeth, the female barbarian forced herself to stand upright. The girl had been under the control of the seal for a few months now, and Tristan could see the pain on her face as clear as day. It was known that even after the period in which a subject was under the influence of the seal, that they would remember everything they have done.

    Tristan was prepared for her to curse him out or cry for mercy, but shockingly enough, the girl bent over in a deep, respectful bow.

    "My Lord Monarch, I am unable to return to my home after what I have done," she started, voice quivering slightly from physical strain. "Please ept me to still be in your service."

    A moment of silence descended on the room. That was the least expected response toe from someone who was essentially in mental chains for months, unable to control their own actions. At this, Tristan chuckled for a second, but ultimately decided that he couldn''t trust her at all.

    "No, I don''t need you anymore!" He said with a smile on his face. "You can leave."

    The female barbarian was stunned for a moment, but she then regained herposure, standing tall before drawing the sword on her waist. Among everyone in the room, only Serene was panicked about what Astrid was going to do next, the others did not show much expression as they knew that there was nothing a human girl could do with that sword. Astrid''s response, though, was more unexpected than thest.

    "My Lord, then I have no purpose to live anymore."

    She then raised the sword and pierced it clean through her abdomen. This time around, her actions shocked everyone into a horrified stillness. That is, except for Tristan.

    Casually, he approached the dying Astrid and pulled the sword from her body, and surprisingly Tristan used his Blood Synthesis to cure her wounds.

    When she was once more awake to her sense, Tristan said

    "Alright, I believe you. You may now be my wife''s bodyguard, and you shall protect her with your life. In return, I will allow you to keep my augmented power."

    The girl once again kneeled gratefully. "Thank you, my Lord Monarch."

    This scene somehow brought a smile to Serene''s face; it appears those many annoying experiences he had with her husband, there were always surprises that she found herself respecting Tristan''s actions.

    As for Tristan himself, he wasn''t sure if it was the death of the space knight, Chieng, or if it was the memory fragments from the Virtaz, but the thought of having apanion that was forced to stay by his side through Blood Seal disgusted him.

    He might use the skill blood seal for tactical purposes but vowed from this day forth never to use them to force apanion with them.

    Now that one matter was solved, one of the elders went forward. He gave Tristan several items which included the following; two rings, bracelets, and chips of a shiny, metallic material. All four were his items that were scavenged from what was left of his previous corpses as well as the Space Knight.

    The bracelet was the one he took from piyo, the one item which could analyze a person''s strength while the chip was most likely the one installed in his head by the goblin. He currently had no n to install the chip inside his new body, not unless he knew more about it. Hence, he kept both items inside the rings.

    Tristan fitted the storage rings onto his fingers and looked at the elves straight in the eye.

    "Now, who''s going to exin to me what prince Janus'' n was?"

 Chapter 251 - The Plan

    The elves'' ancient texts had written everything about the orcs.

    Apparently, the green creatures were a product created by the elves as a way to fight against the human race. From what the elder exined to him, it was thebined gics of the elves and certain unique nts that were able to create thas new species called orcs.

    After thousands of years, the orcs'' gics had begun to improve, and they appeared to be able to evolve into a race that went beyond their creators'' intentions, with minds of their own and culture.

    The once perfect species for war have started to have their own civilization. And it was because of this that ultimately began a debate between the Dark Elves and the Wood Elves.

    While the Wood Elves had begun to ept their evolution as a new race with their own culture, the Dark Elves merely needed the orcs as pawns to enhance their powers, using them to their advantage. The orcs'' power was simply a means to an end, after all.

    Hence the reason why the Dark Elves created the new species called Uruk, to rece the original orcs.

    The grey skinned orcs called uruks were stronger and breed faster.It has its main qualities that the dark elves needed, and most importantly to obey anymand without question. They would stay the perfect warriors they were intended to be by their creation.

    However, by the time the Arcadian, human, and elf civilizations were created, as much as the humans hated the orcs, they had agreed to let the orcs reside within the Chaotic ins and begin their evolution as a race, allowing them to grow naturally and be the master of the ins.

    Of course much of this decision was made because of the mutual needs of humans and elves for the orcs to defend the Southern ins from the Barbarians.

    On the other hand, the Forlorn prince Janus had a much different n. Ever since he gained the power that he had attained within thest 10 years, he had worked with Raika, the priestess of the Throne, to recreate the form that created the Uruks in the first ce, which followed the ancient texts.

    After many trials, finally, the time hade. It was time to mass-produce the race whose origins he demanded to recreate. Hence the reason why within thest three years, the Forlorn had secretly been breeding the Uruks for themself, purposefully creating prototypes to the point where they took up the space of two dozen of those mines.

    But just within these past few weeks, right before Janus'' ns began to bear fruit, the Janus prince made one single mistake. Which was this; simply meeting the Blood Elf and seeing the full extent of his wrath

    Now all his hard work and preparation fall to Tristan''s hand

    "My Lord Monarch, there were 20 mines that had been prepared, with about hundred to three hundred Uruks per mine, 3000 Uruks were in total and all will be ready in two weeks."

    Another elder then added a solemn look on his face. "My Lord Monarch, unfortunately, all these Uruks were gically imprinted to only follow the Forlorn Elves." The elder had a serious look on his face, looking Tristan in the eye.

    "Hmm, does that mean that it will not follow my order?" said Tristan as he was not a Forlorn blood.

    Raika gave her some thoughts and then began to say, "That I can try my Lord,I will need a sample of your blood, I cannot guarantee as the uruks are already at itster stage. But if I fail, I ampletely sure the uruks would follow prince Elroth order"

    Tristan look at the prince stand next to him and say"I guess you will be following me around for a while Elroth"

    The prince nodded and say "yes my lord monarch I will be at your service"

    Tristan then said, "So what was his n? What does he want with the 3000? Surely that number won''t be enough to fight Arcadia!"

    It was again Raika who exined.The prince''s first step was to take over the whole chaotic ins. There are dozens of tribes of more than 10,000 orcs that he wished to conquer using the Uruks.

    His next target after the chaotic ins was the evergreen forest. With tens of thousand orcs he ns to force the other three wood elven kingdoms Vanyar, Mirkwood, and Ithilien. With their support, prince Janus believes king Can would even willingly let go of the Arcadian thrones without a fight for him.

    Hearing this exnation Tristan finds a little regret that he killed the prince as the n seems to be quite brilliant.

    "Ha! So that''s why he captured you my wife¡­ he was desperate for the Vanyar support" Tristan said as he smile toward his wife

    The situation with him is even better as he feels that he already has the Vanyar at hand, Tristan really just needed the manpower of the orcs to push the other two.

    The n was quite feasible to execute. With this, he can force that bastard king to let go of his sister and maybe some payback.

    Unconsciously Tristan smiles wickedly toward his wife and she seemed to understand what Tristan was thinking in his mind, she quickly said.

    "You are not seriously thinking about following Janus''s crazy n are you?"

    "Why not, wife? I think this is a good n."

    "No! I don''t think the Vanyar will agree"

    Tristan smile turns more wicked when he said

    "But Serene you are my wife, you really should follow your husband''s request and I am pretty sure the queen would also support me."

    Right after Tristan says the word, suddenly Nara the dragon makes a shrieking sound and is followed by a strong force charging through the Forlorn pce. Tristan could already guess who it was

    "Aaaaa we have a visitor" Tristan said

    ----------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 252 - Her Support

    In the middle of their meeting in the crystal hall, one figure suddenly came barging through the pce door like a raging gust determined to topple everything on its path.

    Throughout the entire world, there were only a few selected, renowned figures who dared to charge into an elven kingdom''s pce like that.

    The figure was a beautiful, golden-haired woman who exuded a very strong aura, detering every guard from stopping her.

    The woman was the mother of her wife, the Queen of Vanyar, Leena.

    When she arrived at the crystal hall, Queen Leena was surprised to see Tristan was the one sitting on the throne.

    In her position and her thousand years of life she really thought there was not any would surprise her anymore. It made this moment quite a special day for her.

    Realizing there were others in the scene, She quickly hid her surprise and smiled as she gradually walked toward the throne while maintaining her grace.

    "Well, well, well.. What in the world is happening here?"

    She looked at her daughter, Serene, and said, "I heard you are in trouble, daughter. So, I havee to help. But it seems that your husband has alreadye and solved it for you.. such a good husband isn''t he?"

    She continue walk towards the throne looking at the pce and the elders and said

    "As well as getting himself something extra, I see." With an emphasis on the word extra.

    When she got close to Tristan, she finally realized that his aura was much strongerpared to when theyst met. Moreover, there was a small dragon lying uncaringly beside him and the aura it faintly exuded made her put her guard up.

    Queen Leena instantly stopped in her steps, gave a slight bow, and said, "My greeting to you, Lord Monarch."

    She said the word with a teasing tone, it was the border of respect and mocking him for seating on the throne.

    For this, Tristan responded in an unexpected way. He stood up from the throne and approached her, grabbed her hand, and kissed its back.

    "Wee, my Queen." said Tristan with a smile.

    Tristan''s action caught Serene so off guard, so annoyed to the point she almost shouted her anger.

    The Vanyar Queen, on the other hand, was seen chuckling cheekly.

    "I didn''t see you for just a little over a month, but you have really grown, haven''t you?" Leena said in a stern tone, but he could clearly see the smile on her face.

    Even so, Tristan still yed along. "No, no, no.. Rather than grow, let''s just say that I have finally¡­ awakened and now can see things clearly." He said those words while giving a teasing smile toward the renowned Vanyar Queen.

    Leena then looked toward prince Elroth and recognize him as the Forlorn eldest prince

    "So does anyone like to exin what''s going on? What did I miss?"

    Tristan replied "good¡­ it''s good that you are here. Actually, we just talked about you."

    Queen Leena then was briefed by Prince Elroth about what had happened during thest few days and what exactly Janus'' n was as well as their n to proceed on it. Her expression gradually changed with every sentence she heard until it became indescribable.

    "Tristan¡­ 700 elves..?" Queen Leena muttered after Elroth finished his exnation.

    Seeing how Leena responded, Tristan told the elders as well as Elroth to leave. He walked back to the throne and satfortably before staring at her and saying what the reason he did that to thetter calmly.

    "It was necessary, really. Or else, I might be forced to kill them all"

    The words Tristan uttered as well as the attitude he currently showed somehow gave Leena chills. She realized the man in front of her was no longer the same as the one who came to visit Vanyarst time.

    He was different.

    There was something about him that changed, and it wasn''t just his newfound strength or the fact he was in the same position as her, a ruler of an elven kingdom.

    At this moment, Leena understood the seriousness of this matter. The man in front of her could very well be the hero of the continent or the destruction of all.

    She must take the other party seriously and give him her advice as clearly as possible, or things could go in the wrong direction.

    "Lord Monarch, the Forlorns may or may not deserve it; I can ignore this matter, really. But what you did will only turn the other elven kingdom to against you..there is also King Can, I believe he will stop you"

    It was such a sensitive name that she mentioned, but strangely Tristan didn''t react at all. The old him would already be irritated and let his emotion run wild. But this time, he only said a few words.

    "Please continue, my Queen.."

    Returning back from her own thoughts, Queen Leena told Tristan how the Arcadian King had always tried so hard to keep the bnce and maintain the peace. No matter how much coins or resources needed, he would be willing to spend them as long as he was able to avoid any form of confrontation.

    "And why is that?" asked Tristan while joining his hands together.

    "Can knows the fact that the elves are dying while Arcadia was flourishing, and he''s sure if the bnce broke, war between the elves and the Arcadians would be unavoidable. So he always strives to not let that happen."

    Tristan chuckled upon hearing her words, causing her to show a confused expression.

    "It was exactly that kind of attitude that gave birth to people like Janus, don''t you think?"

    Queen Leena realized what he meant and shook her head. "You don''t understand the burden he bears. He has been protecting us elves and we have been helping him; it always has been this way for hundreds of years. Therefore, I hate to see you not on his side."

    From her words, Tristan realized the Vanyar Queen''s rtionship with that bastard king was more close than he previously assumed. Hence, he needed to be decisive about this.

    "My Queen, what Can did was only dying the inevitable. The thing that happened in Forlorn was proof of it. If I don''t stop Janus, you will see that it would be him marching towards the Arcadian cities"

    "No¡­ There must be other way than blood." The queen replied

    Tristan once again smiled as he said, "I thought you were a believer, my Queen.. What was the prophecy again?" Turning his head to Serene, a realization appeared on his face. "Ah, my wife, would you be kind and remind the queen about it?

    "The leaves are falling, the seas are raging, and the forests are drowning. Blood will rise and the Monarch will lead through the mist." Serene cited the words as requested and the Vanyar Queen turned silent.

    Tristan continued to his words.

    "My Queen, the prophecy is already here. Can''t you see that one part of it has been fulfilled? The blood has risen. Therefore, you should hope that King Can is on my side, not the other way around."

    Hearing this the Vanyar Queen took a deep breath. "I am just hoping it wasn''t our blood nor our loved ones that were spilled." Queen Leena said as she took a nce at Serene.

    Looking at her worried expression, Tristan added.

    "My Queen Leena, you don''t have to worry about it. Unless King Can forces me to, I have no intention to battle against him. In fact, what I have been doing so far is following his order to take care of Caerleon City. I''ve been merely taking care of anything that can pose a threat to my task."

    The Vanyar Queen seemed unconvinced by his reason. Therefore, he marched on.

    "Please my Queen, if you don''t believe me you are very much wee to tag along and follow my daily activities. In fact, I will be happy to have a beautiful queen like you at my side."

    Eventually, the Vanyar Queen decided to let the matter go for now. Tristan asked Serene to apany her mother to her prepared room, as well as giving the mother-daughter duo some private time. Unfortunately, Tristan''sst words made Serene do whatever it took to push her mother to return to Vanyar.

    The moment she left, Tristan ordered the guards to summon Elroth.

    "We will proceed with the n. We shall start with the orcs. Make all the preparations."

    Tristan had no qualm in giving this order. After all, the orcs were also part of Caerleon City''s problem. Rather than defending the city from their irregr raid, why not just stop the whole orcs'' threats altogether? He then gave some tasks for Elroth to prepare for this objectives

    When everything had been set and he was left alone in the hall, Tristan finally remembered something. He opened his storage ring and looked for themunication stone he hadn''t touched in a long time. As expected, there was a messageing from his sister.

    [Tris, why have you not sent any message? Are you dead, or what?]

 Chapter 253 - Wizard Academy

    Prontea, the Arcadian capital city

    Wizard Academy

    Inside one of the academy''s training rooms, two groups of students were seen having a team battle, flinging various spells and enchantments at one another at an amazing speed.

    "Get back!!" A young man shouted in the crowd.

    A sudden bolt of lightning struck through the group of young students, but it was immediately deflected by ayer of energy that dispersed it into a million little sparks. The other students jumped out of the way, careful not to get electrocuted.

    [Bright Shield] Tier 2 Light Element Spell

    The sudden shield of energy had saved the group, and the man who was shouting before instantaneously felt gratitude towards the ck-haired girl who was able to cast the protection spell so quickly and urately. It was clear from her solid skills and quick decision making that she was a prodigy when it came to magic.

    Not only was she the youngest and the prettiest in her ss, she was also among one of the most talented. There was just one downside, and it became apparent as a dark re descended on her beautiful features.

    Immediately after casting the spell, the girl turned violently around to face her four ssmates.

    "You fucking cowards!" She screamed in a hair-raising tone, pointing in the direction of their opponents. "Go charge now! Or so help me god, I will kick your asses myself!!"

    The four young magicians quickly stood up straight, scrambled into formation, and began to cast their own spells.

    The young man from before cast [Stone Skin] and stayed at the forefront of the group, acting as an addedyer of defense for them. Meanwhile, from a bit farther back, the other three used their mid to long range spells to cast offensive attacks from behind. [Ice Bullets], [Fireball], and [Gust of Wind], all of which were elemental spells.

    While all this was happening, the ck haired girl would stay at the far end to heal the others using [Healing Ray]. And when the group asionally got pushed back, she would utilize her defensive spells to protect them.

    Unfortunately, though, today''s session was allotted for the students to test out the theories they had learned in ss. As a result, they purposefully made the number of opponentsrger than the students'' respective groups, each having to fight a 10 against 5 battle.

    After a continuous exchange of spells, each of the members within the group began to fall one by one, leaving only the ck haired girl fending off four attackers at once.

    "Huh! Useless pigs! I''m wasting my energy trying to heal you all."

    The four opponents were delighted that only the support mage was left, not knowing that when the girl was cornered she would take out her weapons; dual-wielded energy guns that she fired with both hands.

    Bamm!! Bamm!!

    The opponents couldn''t believe it. The girl was able to cast magic incredibly fast, all while still being able to use a gun with great uracy.

    When she was cornered, she would cast some kind of protective shield or start healing herself at will. Within a few minutes, finally the test ended.

    [White Group wins]

    [Top Score]

    [La - 3210 point]

    [Fixi - 890 point]

    [Giana - 790 point]

    [....]

    "You are amazing, La!!" One of her teammates said enthusiastically. La herself, though, simply looked at the rest of them withplete ambivalence.

    "Thank you. thank you.. and I am sorry I speak too harshly, I always do that under pressure."

    This was actually something that her teammate already used to get from the ck haired beauty, so they understand.

    Not long after she finished her test, she began to receive some notifications that brought a satisfied grin to her face.

    [You have passed the test with top scores]

    [You are rewarded with a high-quality spirit potion]

    [You have received 200 student points]

    She immediately ran towards the Wizard Academy''s front desk in order to im her potion.

    La didn''t wait long she took a shot in one of the training halls and quickly drink the potion while meditating in full concentration

    [5 point increase in Spirit Force]

    [La - Human]

    [Battle power - 24 points]

    [Spirit force - 88 points]

    [Magician Rank 3 - Mid Stage]

    "Yes!! getting stronger every day!"

    Only after 10 weeks of training, La had now turned into quite the powerful magician. She had high aptitude and the intelligence to absorb all her studies.

    The next thing she did was go to the Wizard Library and browse for more spells.

    [Light Element]

    [Blessed - Rank 3 Light Spell - 500 student points]

    "Increases the body''s resistance and augments an ally''s attack power with Light element."

    [Smite - Rank 3 Light Spell - 500 student points]

    "An area-of-effect attack that destroys and repels the enemy."

    She rolled her eyes as none of them really excited her.

    "Are there any flying spells or teleportation spells for Light magician?" She thought to herself.

    After browsing some more, she ended up purchasing [Telekinesis - Rank 2 Light spell - 200 student points].

    "Ability to control objects based on the user''s desire and energy reserve."

    It was not exactly flying magic, but if she had a strong enough spirit force, she could use the spell to lift herself up in the air.

    La then returned to her room and started to learn the new spell by heart, as she always did when she delved into her studies. But she realized that even with the sessful results of her test and receiving the rewards that she did, she still wasn''t happy.

    At the moment, she was just concerned about her brother. It had been days since she sent him herst messages, but the fool still hadn''t returned any of them.

    The reason why she was looking for a mobility spell was for one purpose only. To escape whenever she had the chance. After training and getting stronger, nowadays the girl felt confident enough with her powers to the point where thoughts of escape began to fill her mind.

    With her talent, by the next morning, she was already able to cast her new spell perfectly.

    [Telekinesis]

    And with that, she sessfully made herself float in midair. But for some reason, she was unable to hover more than a meter from the ground. She wondered if her weight had something to do with it.

    "Maybe I can cast it better after I diet," she thought to herself.

    Because of this, her escape n would have to wait.

    When she was on her way to ss, she was stopped in her tracks by a group of fighters in white uniforms. She knew who they were; the Arcadian Kingsde.

    "The King wishes to see you, "Come with us."

 Chapter 254 - O District

    La followed the Kingsde fighters and went into the pce. Three months have passed since she started to live in Arcadia, and since then, other than for the trip to visit her brother, it was the third time she was summoned by the king.

    Every time the king called, he would ask her questions about what she had been doing or the progress towards her current training, hence she was never worried about whenever she was called again.

    "Could it be that the king wants to take me to see Tristan? I sure hope so." La mused.

    When she entered the throne room, she saw a few more people were standing in line in front of the king. Some wore luxurious clothing and brought a lot of scrolls and binded books, while others brought a simple paper, perhaps a missive from the neighboring city,

    La watched from the corner as the king handled their cases one by one.

    The Arcadian Kingdom has a total of 25 cities, all possessing their own unique problems. As the king, Can possesses the responsibility to make a decision on some of the bigger ones, be it directly from him or discussing it with his council. Sometimes, problems are sent with the aid of themunication stone, as well.

    The problems range from conflict between towns, monster sightings, or even simple ceremonial invitations that are important enough to warrant the attention of the king.

    La watched the king discuss and talk to each of them, and before she realized it, an hour had passed. It was now her turn to meet the king.

    "Your Majesty," La greeted politely,

    "Ah, La, here you are," the king nodded and looked at his student before asking her toe with him, "Come, let''s go on a little walk."

    Followed by a few Kingsde personnel, they walked through the halls and exited from the west side of the pce,

    "So La, I heard you came out first again on yesterday''s test?"

    "Yes, I did!" La answered, excitement palpable in her voice.

    "That is very good. I have tomend you. You have only been in the rank 3 sses for around two months now, but you are already at the top of the ss."

    "Well, most of the students in my ss are idiots." La remarked.

    The king replied with a smile and said.

    "It''s not that they are weak, it''s just that you are very talented."

    Everyone loves to be praised, especially young women, and La was no exception. Although her brother really disliked the king, the time she spent with him made her feel otherwise.

    Well, to be fair to her brother, the king did beat him up, but what were they arguing about in the first ce? Probably a male thing, she thought

    Tristan was her brother, and as his sibling, she would sympathize with him and defend him. But on the other hand, It is good to have more people to rely on while she was stranded on this strange, especially a king.

    While she remembered about her brother, she decided to ask.

    "Any news from my brother? Is he doing as well as you requested?"

    The king stopped for a while, looked away from her for a moment, before answering.

    "His methods may be questionable, but he gets the job done."

    "Isn''t that good then?"

    "We''ll see in two months."

    They merely talked for a bit, but La realized she ended up in a part of a city that she has never been to.

    "So where are you taking me, King Can?"

    "We are going to the O district."

    La stared at him for a bit, her confused expression clear as day. She has been living here for a few months, and he only heard of three districts here. A is the market district, B is the military district, and C is the residential district. This is the first time she heard of any district beyond that.

    She walked alongside the king past the crowded and lively streets, before reaching a small path. When she made it on the other side, she saw a quite deste ce far separated from the city, with tall walls surrounding it from all sides. At first nce, it looked like a war fortress, but then La realized that there was no point in building a fortress when the castle was so close by.

    The only other option was a prison, all depending on the walls, are they there to keep people in¡­ or out.

    "What is this ce?"

    "You will see in a little while. We have just arrived."

    When they entered the ce, La gasped. It was like they had entered apletely different world, with different buildings and people with different clothes. The tall walls obscured the ce, but now that she was inside, she was unable to see the furthest wall, a sure sign of how huge the ce actually was.

    To be fair, Arcadian Kingdom was also strange at first, but La felt apletely different aura from this district.

    The city was alsopletely different. Instead of mes and crystals, there are glowing lights all over, and some people were walking on top of a moving machine

    From a cursory nce, although much dirty, it could see this ce was more advanced in technology than Arcadia

    From the clothing, the buildings, and the people, La quickly put two and two together. The "O" district most likely means Ounder district.

    Can exined that this is the ce where he gathered any Ounders who ended up in this world and slowly introduced them to Arcadian customs before letting, or releasing them, as ordinary Arcadian citizens.

    "Just like you, they appeared mostly out of nowhere and were mostly trapped in this world with us."

    La walked around passing through multiple buildings and realized all eyes were staring towards the two of them.

    They walked through several streets, and they passed the residential area before they stopped in front of an ordinary-looking building. Inside, there are around a dozen ordinary people waiting.

    To her surprise, she could recognize some of their faces

    The realization hit her, and she stood still like a statue. She was too shocked to even speak properly.

    "They¡­ are¡­" She looked around, refusing to believe what was right in front of her eyes.

    "Yes," King Can nodded,

    "These people are the ones who came to this world at the same time as you and your brother did"

    La can quickly see there are a few of them that came from Earth among them

 Chapter 255 - Outlanders

    La quickly found herself being brought to the faculty to observe the so-called ''ounder'', which apparently numbered at twenty five. These were the people she recognized, they were the ones who woulde together with her and witness the nightmare of the bloodbath.

    King Can and her were weed by a thin-looking old man. The moment she saw thetter, La''s eyes immediately attracted to the unique-shaped sses hanging on his nose.

    "Wee, King Can." He then looked toward La and asked politely, "Is this the girl?"

    "Yes, Emmet. She''s the one." replied the Arcadian King. "Brief her of what you told me before."

    The old man, Emmet, even though looked so thin and decrepit at first nce, was actually much more energetic than La had expected. An excited look was apparent on his face as he began exining what exactly he was doing.

    Emmet, who actually preferred to be called Dr. Emmet, was one of the ounders that had been stuck on this together for thest 20 years. During their time in this unknown and dangerous world, they had been helping the Arcadian King with many things about the existing others.

    He told La that the twenty five ounders came from eight differents. In addition, all of thes were apparently mid and low-rank ones, with less knowledge about the outside universe just like Arcadia.

    They were different from the rest of the O District''s residents who mostly originated from space. These ounders arrived at this world from what appeared to be a portal situated at the Aesir Ruins.

    "We have asked all of them and found out that all eight differents they originated form have some history or myths about the Asgardian people."

    Therefore, Emmet came into a conclusion that somehow, around five thousand years ago, the Asgardians made use of the Aesir portal to send some of their people to these eights, and for by some probable chances, their descendants arrived and returned to their origin world by the work of the reported Goblin Scientist.

    Everyone in this group of ounders had various levels of aptitude on magic, which made Emmet believe this was the reason as to why they and La weren''t butchered on that nightmarish day. However, Emmet couldn''t find anyone with better aptitude than La, and he also discover nothing out of ordinary from these twenty five people.

    Therefore, after being mind-read and tested, Emmet told La that these people were decided and ready to be integrated into the O District, bing another of its residents.

    The things that Emmet exined was simr to something that La once heard from sci-fi novels or films. Hence, she could still somehow follow it. However, listening and believing were two entirely different matters, where thetter would certainly take more time for her.

    After receiving the lengthy exnation and orientation from Emmet, King Can gave La an opportunity to speak to the four people who hade from Earth with her. All of them were middle-aged men and women in a state of panic, fear, and confusion.

    These people had no connection with her whatsoever, other than the fact they were all boarding the same ne from Florida Airport. Hence, La only spent a moment to talk pleasantries with them before walking away again.

    Later on, Emmet spent some time alone with La, asking some questions. The first one was about her family, which basically provided nothing as she had been in the orphanage since very little.

    The second was about her knowledge of Asgardian history. Emmet asked La to tell him everything she knew regarding this topic, whether it was true or not. Unfortunately for him, La wasn''t really a history nor mythology fan. The only word she knew which had some kind of connection with Asgardian was a certain Hollywood film, where a stunning guy with enviable hair and some kind of hammer as a weapon.

    After this short session of getting into contacts with the ounders, La had gotten some of her questions answered. But then, more questions popped into her mind.

    "King Can, I am very grateful that you gave me this chance. But why did you take the time to personally show me this amidst your busy schedule? What exactly do you want?"

    Upon hearing her question, the Arcadian King unexpectedly shed a smile and said, "You really are bright, aren''t you?" He then looked at La seriously. "The fact that you have extraordinary aptitude for magic and your amazing progress make me think that you are the reason the portal managed to bring all those people here. To put it simply, I suspect the others arrived here simply because you were there at that time."

    The words the Arcadian King spoke brought surprise to La due to its unexpectedness.

    "Me? Are you sure it wasn''t because of my brother?"

    King Can''s expression changed a little when she brought up her brother. "As for your brother, I think he''s apletely different matter altogether. Don''t worry, I will definitely tell you when I know more."

    Receiving the Arcadian King''s promise, La could only nod her head and walk along as they exited the faculty.

    King Can told her that starting from tomorrow, she would be moved to a different ss. The things that would be taught in this ss were more advanced than the one she previously attended, which were surely something she would not reject.

    The Arcadian King gave a sentence to La before he left for other matters. "Just listen to the mentor and train properly. Don''t force yourself too much."

    In the end, La was left with Dr. Emmet, who was instructed by King Can to lead her to the O District and learn more about it because this district was the ce she was supposed to be a member of.

    She was given an identification designated for the district, so that she coulde in and out as she pleased in the future.

    There were a total of 846 people registered as part of the O District, with only 40% being given clearance to go outside of the district. They were all naturally those who were ssified as ounders.

    Even though they werebeled as such, some of them managed to reach exceptional positions in Arcadia, like Dr. Emmet and the ship pilot Zoe and Wash. Some of them even managed to actually join the Kingsde.

    Dr. Emmet exined to La that this O District was built by the Arcadian King 30 years ago as a way for him to understand more about the worlds beyond the sky that he never knew of. But of course, the main reason for the construction of this was still to prepare for any threat that mighte along with the pursuit of knowledge.

    That was the reason why there was a whole faculty dedicated as the ce to research and develop the technology the ounders brought when they arrived in this world.

    Later on, La discovered she was given the grand tour of the entirety of O District. There existed an interesting marketce, where many items originated and made by the ounders being traded around. Various kinds of cuisines and beverages she would never imagine could be seen in this exact marketce, while weird-looking, entric, exquisite, and many other kinds of architecture were seen all around the district.

    In fact, her attention waspletely caught when they passed a particr area that waspletely filled with water, just like an aquarium. Noticing where she was looking, Emmit exined what the ce was.

    "That''s the residence made for the ounders who live in water."

    La found this tour around the district to be very much interesting, just like walking around a sci-fi theme park. Before long, the group came across a certain building that seemed to be heavily guarded.

    "What''s that ce, Dr. Emmet?" asked La while pointing her finger at the building.

    "That''s the residence for the 10% of the ounders who were considered dangerous for Arcadia."

    That exnation could only mean ''prison'' and none other. She wanted to take a look because she was curious about prison.

    With her talent for persuasion, La managed to get Dr. Emmet showed her around. At first nce, she could tell that the ce was filled with very, very emotional people. But then, those who were locked up tended to be emotional with the passage of time.

    Dr. Emmet didn''t allow La to get into direct contact with the people inside. But even so, she still managed to see a really scary-looking door that was obviously not for humans inside that ce.

    When asked as to why such a dangerous facility was built inside the district and not somewhere far away like a dungeon or something, Dr. Emmet could only say that some of the most important findings the district gained hade from those people.

    When it waste, La immediately returned to her residence and prepared for her new ss tomorrow.

 Chapter 256 - Kings Order

    The next day, La went to the Wizard Academy and checked on the reception about the new ss the Arcadian King had told her before. She was excited as well as nervous because of the things she was about to learn in the so-called advanced ss.

    With her 88 spirit force, La was considered to be within the middle of rank 3 magicians. She needed to reach 150 spirit forces to be eligible as a rank 4 magician and had the ability to cast rank 4 magic.

    That was exactly the next milestone La had set herself on; to break through rank 3 and reach rank 4 as fast as she could.

    If she managed to do this, she would then enter the ranks of rank 4 magicians and stand among the top magicians of Arcadian. It also didn''t close the possibility that she would be the youngest and fastest to do so in the history of Arcadia. If she could reach that point then she wouldn''t need to worry about being in such a strange world anymore and maybe even be able to help her brother for a change.

    This morning, La wondered if what King Can mean about new ss was to directly shoved her into the rank 4 ss earlier. But when she came to the Academy reception, it seemed none of the people at the wizard academy knew about such a matter. But they did have receive words taht she just needed to wait for someone.

    She waited for almost an hour and nearly wanted to go to her usual ss when someone approached her. It was a woman who appeared to be in her fifties wearing a white uniform that was recognizable to her.

    The uniform was something a Kingsde member wore, but this particr woman wasn''t just any Kingsde. She was the vicemander of the Kingde itself.

    Commander Cecilia, a figure known as the Arcadia Starlight. She''s a rank 5 magician which had received her grey wizard title.

    La knew her somewhat well as thetter asionally came and gave lectures in the light element ss. After all, the woman was considered to be the best light element magician in the kingdom.

    The woman looked at La with her usual warm and friendly gaze. "You are La?"

    "Yes.. Yes I am," replied Laa little nervous than usual.

    After all the people who studied at Wizard Academy would definitely know this woman, as thetter was simply too famous. Beyond her smile, Cecilia naturally gave off a powerful aura that could be felt as she was one of the top Arcadian wizards. A level that less than a dozen reached throughout the realm.

    "Alright. Come with me, La."

    Hearing the other party''s words, La swiftly followed her and she once again felt strange as to why the top figure of the kingdom would personallye for her. After all, she hadn''t done anything remarkable that was worthy of the attention of these people.

    To her surprise, Cecilia took her out of the academy and led her to one of the ces she never expected to visit. The Kingsde headquarters.

    Entering the illustrious headquarters, Cecilia brought La to their proud facility, the training ground. This ce was only reserved for the Arcadian elites, but La was told those few people gathered were the ones yet to be members of Kingsde.

    "La, I''m happy to tell you that you are now part of the Kingsde cadet. Here, you will receive and enjoy the best training and resources Arcadia has to offer. Most of the cadets here are rank 4 elites, so I hope you can keep up with them. After all, if you are deemed as good enough, you can be included in one of the active Kingsde forces."

    La nodded and said, "I understand."

    Everything that just happened was quite overwhelming for La, and it took her a moment to finish ingesting them. As if that wasn''t enough, the renowned Cecilia of the Starlight told her that from now on she would be her mentor and would see her an hour every day. This was definitely a privilege that no other cadet could get.

    "I really hope you''re not going to disappoint me, La."

    "I will certainly do my best, Master Cecilia! It''s my honor to be under your tutge."

    Cecilia gave La a smile before leaving her with the other cadets.

    Looking at the back of her new master, La quickly joined the group of cadets that gathered on the training ground. There were around 50 of them and she could tell how strong they were from a nce. There were even elves seen among them, numbered about a dozen.

    Not just that, La could also recognize a few of them from the Vanyar Kingdom, as they returned together from Vanyar with the Arcadian King.

    It seemed some of them also recognized her as La could see three elvesing toward her. The one at the front was the female elf she had seen, nis. She introduced the two who came with her. The tall, muscr elf was called Elyon, while the other male was Sindur strangely staring at her with a mixed expression.

    nis said, "I have seen you before. You are rted to that blood elf, aren''t you?"

    La instantly knew these three people must have had some issue with her brother before. Therefore, she said, "Yes, I am. So don''t mess with me, and instead let''s be friends."

    ----------------

    At the same time, on the throne room of Arcadia.

    King Can was brought upon thetest news while Tobias the Wizard stood next to him.

    It was a letter that gave the renowned king a sudden headache.

    "What is it, My King?" asked the wizard.

    "That Tristan, the said blood elf; he just took over Forlorn."

    The unexpected news immediately made the wizard turn pale. "Wait, My King. I don''t understand.. Took over?"

    King Can didn''t say anything and just handed the letter over to Tobias while rubbing his head.

    "He killed Prince Janus of the Forlorn, and 700 other elves with it. He also caused the death of Agorn, the emissary we sent" Muttered Tobias as he read through the letter, disbelief exponentially grew with each word he read.

    The old wizard was stunned, wondering if this was good news or bad news because he remembered that Janus after all had been giving the kingdom of Arcadia hard time for thest dozen years.

    Folding the letter again, Tobias turned to the Arcadian King and respectfully asked, "So, what do you n to do about this, My King?"

    "Honestly, Tobias. I don''t really know. It''s been a while since I became unsure like this."

    The old man wizard Tobias gave his opinion like he usually did.

    "You shouldn''t be too hard on yourself my king. If he can defeat Janus, you probably should send our best team of wizards or me. I should be able to restrain him."

    King Can shook his head at his advisor''s words.

    "You should read again on what the blood elf could do, and how easily he defeated Janus."

    Tobias nodded his head as he understood what the Arcadian King meant. "I know, My King. It surely won''t be easy to subdue him, but what I have shown in this letter tells me exactly how to deal with him."

    King Can nced at the old wizard and said, "I don''t doubt you nor your capability, Tobias. But I need you here to hold the capital as I have a bad feeling that things could go bad any second with our situation in the north and with the Asgardians."

    Understanding that what the Arcadian King said was true, the old wizard gave another piece of advice.

    "The blood elf, he really advances too fast, My King. If you want to deal with him, you should certainly do it early before he can grow even stronger, it will be much harderter"

    Hearing Tobias'' words, King Can took a deep breath and exhaled a long sigh. "I''m still not sure if that''s the best solution, Tobias."

    "If so, My King, I suggest you quickly make peace and resolve your grudges with the elf. Why don''t you send his sister back? That would definitely go a long way andnd you on his good book, I believe. You never nned to threaten him with her, after all."

    The Arcadian King firmly rejected his suggestion. "No, Tobias. That won''t do. I can''t do that after I knew the Aesir put a lot of interest in her. In fact, I have some belief that she would have some important role in Arcadia furutr. So, no. We will keep her here, safe from outside dangers."

    The old Wizard can only nod it appear the king have thought this trough

    "I see. That''s why you put her in the Kingsde headquarters.. That''s indeed wise, My King. With this, she''ll be kept safe and would always be under supervision all the time"

 Chapter 257 - Gathered

    Caerleon City

    The morning was still young, and the cold air presents a temptation for many to fall back into thend of dreams. However, chaos had engulfed the southern gate of the city.

    "We are under attack! The orcs areing!" A rider shouted as he rode his horse as quickly as he could.

    Tang! Tang! Tang!

    The warning bell was sounded, and the city guards took up their weapons before gathering on top of the gate and walls. They pulled their bowstring taut and gripped their pikes tight, their eyes all focused towards the shades of figures in the distance approaching the city.

    Right afterwards, a short, chubby elf ran towards the gate alongside a dark-skinned man and a female orc.

    "Don''t panic! Don''t panic!" The fat elf shouted, authoritycing his voice, but it was clear he was panicking as his voice shuddered a bit. "We are more than prepared for this fight! We are!"

    "Sir Uriel, calm down, you should call the scout and ask about what exactly he saw," One of them reminded.

    "That''s right, uh¡­ Gazef! Call him!"

    The female orc who stood next to him shook her head in exasperation. "Don''t bother, they are here already."

    From the top of the gate, every single soldier stared at the yellow ground in horror, as they saw hundreds, maybe thousands of huge, monstrous figures all snarling and growling as they approached the city of Caerleon. The fat elf quickly panicked again. Although he had served as the mayor of Eranfell for a dozen years, he himself had never seen an attack of this scale.

    "That''s more than a thousand orcs! Can we win a fight against a thousand orcs?!" The mayor asked. His breathing became even morebored than before, to the point that passing guards thought he was sick.

    "Most likely not, mayor, for we only have 500 town guards, as for our orc warrior, they won''t came here in time"

    The mayor quickly turned around, trying to find reinforcements as soon as he could,but the orc woman stopped him.

    "Wait! Those are not orcs, those are Uruk! There is also a group of elves among them."

    Thousands of orcs moving together with several hundred elves. That information certainly helped, but also raised a thousand more questions. Why would the Uruk move together with the elves, and what is their purpose?

    As they were busy thinking, the Uruk walked closer and closer, their booming footsteps sounding like ps of thunder in quick sessions. The three recognized a few people amongst the elves, one of them being their own mayor.

    "What¡­? How?!" Uriel stared at the horde in disbelief.

    As they came closer, even those who did not pay much attention knew that the Uruk was led by Tristan, their mayor.

    Uriel stared with mouth agape and eyes almost bulging up, unable to believe what he saw before his eyes until they were close enough for there to be no doubt. Right as Tristan reached the gate, the fat elf ordered the guards standing above to open it.

    A week has passed since Tristan officially became the ruler of Forlorn. After the throne was passed to him, Tristan decided to go check a few of the mines mentioned before, and he took some time to grab himself a few hundred Uruks on his way towards Caerleon.

    "Uriel!" Tristan shouted from outside the gate.

    "Yes¡­ Yes¡­ What can I do for you, Sir Tristan?" The fat elf asked with a ragged voice. He seemed to be even more polite than before.

    "Tell the people to prepare some food for the Uruks, then meet me in the town hall," Tristan waved his hand, as if trying to make the fat elf go faster.

    Still unsure of what is currently going on, Uriel merely nodded and turned away to search for someone who could fulfill Tristan''s order.

    "Yes, certainly, right away!" He answered.

    If Tristan knew about his fear, he gave no indication of it. He entered the city together with two full elven squads, their tidy marching creating a distinctive beating sound thanks to the silver armor covering them from head to toe. There are 100 warriors, 10 nobles, walking behind him, while Serene and Astrid walked next to him.

    Everyone was still stunned with shock from the Uruks and the elves following Tristan, but then suddenly they saw something swooping down from the sky. The creature spun around a few times before perching on Tristan''s shoulder.

    It was a small red dragon with light red underbelly and a line of gleaming silver spikes on its back.

    Tristan separated away from the group, jumped down and tied his horse to a tree, and walked inside the town hall before sitting on his designated chair.

    Uriel, Gazef, Karra, Serene, and Astrid all gathered before him, while the red dragon hovered around the room, looking at each item inside with unbridled interest.

    First, he asked about their progress after the two weeks he left the ce. Gazef reported his sess in recruiting the new townsguard. As a result, the town became much more lively than before.

    After confirming that the existing tasks were done, Tristan started giving out new tasks.

    He exined to Gazef that he would leave the 100 elves and nobles under his care, and the reason he brought them here was to reinforce the town''s defenses. Each of those 100 elves have the strength equal to ten guards, and with such a small number of soldiers, he had tripled the town''s defenses.

    The order elicited unbridled gasps of shock from the others. Not only did Tristan just casually ordered high ranking elves around like nothing, he just entrusted them to his underling. Uriel and the others did not know about the Forlorn situation yet, and this order only exacerbated their confusion.

    Tristan needed a ce for his new forces, and to finish this, he gave Uriel the permission to take charge.

    "I need a ce enough for 1000 Uruk to stay, and more wille in time," Tristan looked at Uriel and said.

    "More¡­? How many more?" Uriel asked.

    He needed a temporary ce enough to 3000 Uruks in total, but he had reasons to believe that he will end with more people than he expected after his campaign to subjugate the chaotic ins were finished.

    To amodate this eventuality, he needed enough housing for around 5000 people. That was around the same as the total residents living in Caerleon.

    Although he was d his little territory was expanding, currently Caerleon''s infrastructure, especially their port, was not feasible to support that amount yet. Therefore, he requested for the new ce to be made right inside the forest closest to the town.

    "Ah, I also need 3000 sets of weapons and armor for those Uruks. I hope the cksmith is ready."

    "3000?!" Uriel shrieked. "I am sorry, Sir Tristan, but such an order would require a lot of manpower and coins."

    He didn''t answer; he merely reached onto his belt and threw a storage ring filled to the brim with coins. It was one of the treasures he grabbed from the Forlorn kingdom, and for a while, he would not need to worry about coins.

    The coins inside should be more than enough to arm all 3000 Uruks.

    It was unfortunate that Uruk didn''t grow ready with weapons and armor, hence he needed to spend some money to arm and prepare them for the campaign through the chaotic ins.

    "Oh, I will need all of them ready in two weeks!" Tristan ordered. That time would be right after Elorth would finish bringing all the Uruks working within the mines into the gates of Caerleon city.

    Uriel stared at Tristan in utter bewilderment. "No matter how I try to look at it, arming 3000 orcs in two weeks with just the aid of our own workshop is borderline impossible, you know."

    Tristan answered calmly. "Well, then it''s a good thing the neighboring town will help, right?"

    He gave the fat elf a chilling smile, and just like that, Uriel was forced to bring Erantell''s workshop to help in the efforts of arming the Uruks. They discussed a bit more, and decided that light armor would be more than enough to protect them in the battlefield.

    At first, Tristan did consider to prepare everything in Forlorn, but then he realized that with the kingdom''s resources he could prepare other things for the Forlorn instead

    Besides, elves'' armor and weapons are too costly and would take too much time to be manufactured inrge numbers. Previously, Janus nned to prepare the Uruks for a few months before deploying them.

    But, Tristan was not that patient. After all, why take the slow road if the easier road would be faster and yield the same results?

    Tristan beckoned at Karra teh female high orc . "Go, called out the orcs, let see how great are the Urukspared to the orcs?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 258 - Uruk

    The next morning, Tristan went to check on the chosen site where his army of Uruk had settled.

    It was located inside part of the Forbidden Forest that was situated near to Caerleon, which was about an hour-long ride from the center of the city.

    To create an appropriate ce for the hordes of Uruks that were avable, the most important factor was easy ess to water and food. And for this, they needed to find ideal ces to hunt and bodies of water.

    A small stream that branched from the huge, rushing river ahead was only a few minutes away from the site, and there was easy ess for hunting as they were in the lushest part of the forest.

    As for the structure of the building itself, the orcs and Uruks did not need much at all. They only needed a minimal amount of facilities to get by due to their extremely resilient nature.

    Just like the orcs, the Uruks are a race that were gically created to be sturdy. They needed only the bare minimum to survive, to the point where they only needed a few hours of sleep every few days.

    With that in mind, Uriel simply created amunal sleeping area with a capacity of 1000 Uruks. That should be more than enough for the things that were toe. 3000 to 5000 Uruks could use the ce in shifts and it''s still more than enough

    What the builders were currently making was a palisade to provide some degree of protection to the site.

    When Tristan arrived at the main tent, he saw that the fat elf Uriel appeared to be frustrated, pacing around restlessly with his hands behind his back.

    "They are abominations!" He screamed when he saw that Tristan had entered the tent. "They eat 5 times more than a normal human being! And even worse, they don''t ever sleep or rest! Their noise keeps me up all night!"

    Tristan smirked in response.

    "I see that you have understood my people better, Uriel," As he said this, Tristan emphasized the words my people, which made the fat elf smile wryly upon hearing them.

    "Yes, yes. Of course, Sir Tristan, I just need to make sure that my assistant will learn well..."

    Tristan then stepped closer to the assistant''s side, leaning down to speak against his ear.

    "Just keep this in mind that these Uruks can eat anything," he started, smiling wickedly. "If they get hungry enough, they would start to look at all of you differently, if you get what I mean."

    The assistant immediately jumped, quickly beginning to sweat profusely at Tristan''s words. He immediately reassured him that they would try their best to find alternative food sources for the Uruks.

    With a grin, Tristan turned to Uriel again before saying, "But you are right, though, Uriel. These are big concerns. A thousand orcs or Uruks will suck these forests dry within a few weeks."

    Because of this, Tristan reminded Uriel to ce more importance on finding additional food resources. He wouldn''t want the Uruks to go berserk and trash the ce he had put a lot of effort into building.

    These Uruks are born as warriors After all, It will be more efficient if these fighters just focus on what they do best - fighting, while as a matter of food and other things can be provided.

    Tristan then trudged forwards to the fields ahead, and he saw that the hundreds and hundreds of Uruks had been told to cut wood and dig at the grounds in order to make the necessary materials for the builders toter install.

    And overseeing it all was Karra, who looked on the workers overhead.

    "Wee, Chief," the female orc said cheerfully, bowing slightly as she gave her respects to Tristan.

    "Any notes to pass along so far?" He asked, squinting at the sun that was beating down his face as he tried to observe what was going on in front of him.

    Karra exined that she found it surprising that the Uruks were much more disciplined than her fellow orcs. These grey creatures would do the work as soon as orders were given,pletely without questions orints at all.

    Tristan wasn''t too surprised upon hearing this, after all, all of this was possible because Tristan had sessfully altered the gic imprint of these Uruks with his blood, hence the reason why they followed the female orc obediently as soon as Tristan gave the orders for them to follow Karra.

    The tasks given to them regarding cutting the wood and digging the grounds were part of preparing their camp, and most importantly, it was to give them the basic task of following simplemands. He wanted to see what limits they could be pushed to, and whether or not they would retaliate when they were told what to do.

    Unfortunately, Karra said that although they were physically stronger, the Uruks were dumb. Even dumber than the orcs, in fact, and that was saying something. It took Karra a dozen practical examples just for them to understand how to cut trees down without being crushed by them.

    Next, Karra showed Tristan the other half of the Uruks, the few hundred that were being given trials to start using weapons. Surprisingly, they knew how to work with them effectively without much training at all. It was almost instinctual.

    "They are pretty much the same with the orcs, we are gically imprinted to survive, after all."

    For the next few hours, Tristan watched how the Uruks were shown how to fight, unarmed and using melee weapons. Some took minutes, others took hours before they finally got used to the hidden imprint inside of them.

    When noon came and the sun was at its highest, the ce was visited by hundreds of new tenants. These were Tristan''s orcs hordes that had been called upon to gather here today.

    Two weeks ago, before he went to Forlorn, Tristan had sent Karra to approach the surrounding orc tribes and recruit the small orc tribes or groups, and within thest two weeks, apparently, their numbers had sessfully increased threefold up to 300 orcs.

    Unfortunately almost half of them are Gretchin, the smaller, weaker orcs. The other half was the Grunts'' warrior orcs and the rest were the 25 champions that were augmented by him.

    The 300 orcs were gathered together with the 1000 Uruks and Tristan hoped to use this time topare them both to check their differences in physiology.

    Although Tristan was not using his scanner, he already knew from his previous scan the difference in their average battle power.

    Gretchin: 20 battle power

    Grunts: 40 battle power

    Uruk: 55 battle power

    Champion: 75 battle power

    Now it was time to test their skills, and what other way could it have been than to stage a fight between the two species.

    Karra chose 100 of the Uruks, the ones that had been practicing how to fight, and picked 100 Grunts. To make sure these less intelligently refined species did not kill each other, Tristan made sure for them to practice with wooden or blunt weapons.

    It was such a brutal battle as both sides had a very strong will to win the fight.

    The result was a win by the orcs on the first try. After a short break, they fought one another again. Finally, on the third fight, the Uruks won the fight and never lost another one again.

    These Uruks that were gathered were just like newborn babies; they needed a little training to start understanding their strength. By the end of the day, one Uruk could match two orcs, but the orcs needed a third one to overwhelm it.

    Without doubt, the grey creatures were simply stronger, faster, and less emotional than the orcs which made them easier to organize. They were the perfect soldiers, really, but the main problem now was that these Uruks were unable to evolve.

    Once more, Tristan tried his Augmented Blood Seal, and the result was that the Grunts were able to evolve into Champions with twice the strength they had before, while the Uruks only increased a small margin of battle power.

    With the result that one Uruk could best about 3 to 4 orcs, Tristan believed that at the end of the day, these Uruks would only be ideal foot soldiers, while the orcs would be the best species to be nurtured.

    In the end, while still waiting for the next batch to return, Tristan told Karra to teach these Uruks a few simple battle formations. He also wanted her to start mixing the two between Uruks and the orcs, to see if they would actually fight better or if it would only make them perform more poorly. All of them must be ready to battle in 2 weeks.

    Tristan left the camp and went back to Caerleon.. He was interested to check out the workshop; maybe the cksmithing skills he learned in Vanyar would prove to be useful.

 Chapter 259 - Armed

    Tristan returned to Caerleon City and went through the streets, making his way to the newly made workshop to check on it. Passing the dozens of stalls and stores offering their goods vigorously to the pedestrians, he eventually arrived at his destination.

    The workshop was built and located on the corner of the town, in a newly structuredplex situated near the market.

    He could see the workshop about the size of an inn, with a dozen people already working hard on making ordered weapons and armor for the orcs.

    Inquiring about their progress, Tristan found out that they had been making the weapons and armors since the workshop waspletely built, which wasst week. And so far, these dozen human cksmiths had managed to make 300 sets ofplete armor and weapons to go along with it.

    Even so, Tristan was still concerned about the situation. Not only was the speed of production very slow, the quality of the end product was also not satisfactory in which they barely passed the standard of tier 1 equipment.

    He knew and had first hand experience on how important quality is, based on the fact he could easily wreak havoc on a whole squadron of barbarian warriors who were wearing equipment with such level of quality.

    As much as he wanted the orcs to be ready as soon as possible, he also didn''t want them to die a foolish death because of theirck of equipment.

    Therefore, this was definitely a problem that needed to be taken care of immediately.

    With time at the essence and him not having other things to do for the next two weeks, Tristan decided to join and help out the workshop. The moment they heard what he nned to do, the few cksmiths on the scene were very surprised and dumbfounded to see the mayor himself, an elf, join in such a messy kind of work.

    Tristan swiftly took off his outer wear and summoned all the dozen cksmiths before him. Momentster, he began managing the production as efficiently as possible and with the highest possible quality on the end product.

    The 12 cksmiths were used to do the work one set at a time as they mostly got paid per set. The process of sessfully making a set of equipment was a whole strenuous and tedious work, from the steel heating to the tempering until the pounding that shaped the metal.

    Most of them could only make 3 sets a day, while the experienced ones could make 4 sets, which meant about 40 sets of equipment produced per day.

    Fortunately, or unfortunately for this bunch of cksmiths, Tristan had gone through and experienced directly forced and extendedbor in his 4 years special study. These people would soon bore a witness to it, after he divided the work tasks he needed them to do.

    Tristan decided he wouldpletely take over the heating and tempering process, so that only left the cksmiths with the pounding and shaping process. Not only would this make the process much quicker, he was also confident that the quality of the metal would increase because of his technique.

    With this in mind, Tristan immediately threw the steel ingots into the forge and used his [Heat Touch] to significantly amplify the furnace mes. Next with Katra, he kept his attention to the ingots and it would allow him to know when they were already at their most optimal form to be tempered.

    The moment the ingots hit that apex, Tristan immediately took them out and started the tempering process by pounding the ingots with controlled strength and interval. He watched as the ingots bent andpressed under the pressure applied by the hammer in his hand before being cooled down.

    In the end, the scorching blocks of ingot turned into high-quality steel sheets.

    He then gave these sheets to the dozen cksmiths, allowing them to start shaping them into the armor and weapon. With this kind of method, not only did Tristan manage to speed up the work by twice its normal speed, all the end product also managed to reach the standard of high grade tier 1 equipment.

    Even though his result was extraordinary in the eyes of the cksmiths, Tristan was still unsatisfied. He stubbornly wrecked his brain in the endeavor of finding a more efficient method, and by a stroke of chance, he thought of a creative approach.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Tristan created a detailed, high-quality mold with [Blood Synthesis] in order to make these cksmiths easier to follow the shape for each of the equipment. He created the molds for all the parts: helmet, breastte, gloves, boots, de, and so on.

    He even decided to have some fun and made the mold of a weapon he thought of, a t de with a hook which looked like a bottle opener at its end. With this kind of configuration, the de could sh and pierce its target at the same time.

    With Tristan''s ready-made molds, production began to double their previous pace again, which should have allowed them to produce 160 sets of equipment in a day. With this number, they could certainly fill the target of 3000 sets after 2 weeks. Therefore, Tristan worked really hard on this.

    One day passed, two days, and then three days.

    The news of Caerleon City''s mayor working on the cksmith workshop gradually circted around the streets until it became known to all of its residents. As a result, the area outside the workshop began to be filled with spectators who wanted to see the mayor firsthand.

    Once again, the citizens of Caerleon saw another different side of their mayor. He wasn''t just a ruler, he was also a hard worker just like them. A diligent one at that.

    Oblivious to all of this, Tristan who was busy with his work didn''t know that his poprity among the poption increased drastically as he spent time on the workshop.

    "Do you see how different our current mayor ispared to thest one?"

    "Yeah! This one is definitely multi-talented!"

    "He is! Not only is he capable, he''s also very hardworking!"

    "That''s right! Do you all know that he worked this hard to clean up the orc threat once and for all?"

    "Really? Is that even possible?"

    "What?! You mean the mayor is doing this for the city, no, for us?"

    "Our mayor is so great!"

    "I totally agree with you. He''s so handsome too. Did you see those sweats falling from his body? Those muscles¡­"

    ¡­

    On the fourth day, more cksmiths came to join the workshop, and as a result, the production speed of the equipment increased again. This evidently a joyous matter as it allowed Tristan''s n to go smoothly.

    In the meantime, Tristan was drawn into the art. From the heating, sensing the ingots, and pounding them into steel sheets. Without realizing, he and the cksmiths managed to finish the target of 3000plete sets of equipment on the tenth day.

    On the tenth day, it wasn''t just the cksmiths who were cheering. Many citizens of Caerleon came to the workshop to congratte them on the sess.

    Uriel and Serene, who were on the scene, couldn''t believe their eyes on what was happening.

    They couldn''t believe the fact that the morale of the town had be so much different than when they first came. It had gone into a seemingly brighter direction.

    On the other hand, Tristan who had been working nonstop finally felt a little tired. It seemed the exhaustion had caught up to him when the target was achieved. Therefore, after nodding to the citizens for their congrattions. he immediately went to his room in the City Hall to rest.

    As his bodynded on the bed, Narra the dragon swooped down next to him and said, ''Congrattions, master. It seems the work you just did has helped strengthen your soul."

    Upon hearing this, Tristan who wanted to rest decided to sit and concentrate his mind, entering the Heart of Monarch domain.

    Momentster, he found himself arriving at the familiar bloodke. He quickly entered the building and checked on the stairs that were sealed by chains.

    As soon as his finger touched the chains, Tristan immediately saw a message came into his mind.

    [Soul Force 2/10]

    Seeing this number, Tristan grinned widely. He thought he could only increase his soul by absorbing high-rank magicians, just like what he did to Janus. But from this, it was apparent that the soul force worked the same as his Katra.

    Currently, Tristan has reached the 4th stage of Katra. From this, he could deduce that he only needed 8 additional points to reach stage 5 and be able to break the next seal of the next memory fragment.

    It looked like his future endeavors would be filled with cksmithing.. He really should visit those dwarf mountains for this. Well, maybe he would after he was done with the orcs,

 Chapter 260 - Horde

    It had been ten days since Tristan upied himself in the art of cksmithing and now, he wanted to check on the Uruk force''s progress. Coming together with him were Serene and Astrid, who these days seemed to always stick around to his schedule.

    The trio swiftly exited Caerleon City and travelled to the camp via horse. As they got nearer to the camp, they could already hear the noises and shouts even though there was still quite a distance to traverse.

    When the camp entered their vision, they could clearly see that it wasn''t the same as thest time they saw it. The camp had been expanded by the orcs to three times its previous scale

    The spot in the forest that was previously crowded with trees had be a wide, open clearing, which at the moment was muddy and full of filth. This spectacle was all thanks to the ocean of grey creatures numbering more than three thousands cramped in that spot.

    Today, all of them were told to wear the prepared steel armor and get used to the de weapons. It was obvious that most of them were still trying to get used to the armor as many looked ufortable with it on their body.

    Even so, the sight of these three thousand grey creatures fully dded from top to bottom with weapons would certainly make anyone who saw them involuntary gulp their own saliva. The mere fact that they only stood there in an orderly manner was enough to amaze and deter anyyman.

    When they arrived at the camp, Tristan could see the Forlorn elder Raika, the priestess of Thorn standing as she was the one who brought the rest of the Uruks under his order here. She was, after all, the one who had the most depth understanding regarding those grey creatures.

    Not long after, the elven elder and the female high orc approached Tristan to brief him the current situation in hand.

    In thest ten days, the Uruks had been constantly trained and sparred against each other to let them quickly get used tobat and activate the gic imprint they had. They were also being taught the basic defensive and offensive formation during those training sessions, with emphasis on the ability to follow orders and formations with absolute discipline.

    As usual, when the numbers involved were too big, the hordes gradually became too difficult to handle, which in return made the effort to train them increasingly hard. Thus, Karra reported that the Uruks were still not optimal to be deployed into battle.

    Hearing about this issue, Tristan contemted the solution and decided it was best to split the Uruks into divisions and smaller groups. That way, the burden of managing them would be less harsher because a small number of individuals was obviously easier to handle.

    When Tristan was inspecting the Uruks while listening to reports by Karra and Raika, he was suddenly approached by a group of unexpected orcs. Eight familiar orcs, they were the High Orc younglins, the Rugrats.

    "We havee to seek for our Chief Golug!" said the one who was standing in front of the group.

    Golug was the title the orcs gave to Tristan.

    His eyes turned to these orc kids while his mind couldn''t help but walk down the memoryne. Even though only 2 months had passed since hest saw them, these Rugrats had grown at least another ten centimeters; an abnormal growthpared to humans. They were now almost as tall as a normal human adult.

    "What do you want?" asked Tristan in a stern tone.

    It was Rugrat 1, the biggest among them, who replied to his question.

    "Chief Golug, we hope that we too can join the uing battle. Please allow us to do so."

    Before he could say anything, the remaining Rugrats shouted in unison. "Please let us join!"

    Tristan turned to Karra who stood next to him while gesturing to her, asking for her opinion.

    The female orc was silent for a while before she opened her mouth.

    "Most orcs join the battle when they are five years old. Moreover, these younglings need a few more months to a year before they reach their maximum strength. So, I suggest not allowing them, Chief."

    Tristan nodded his head slightly at Karra''s words. He was never the one who judged someone by their age as he himself was already able to do adults'' work when he was still teenager. However, it was a fact that he didn''t see many High Orcs around.

    Seeing how useful Karra was after he took her under his care, Tristan couldn''t help but feel regret if he lost these younglings in the battle. But then, there was also no point raising them if they grew up to be useless.

    He mulled over the options he had for quite some time before turning to the younglings. "If you all really want to be treated like an adult, then you must also ept the responsibility that came with it. All of you need to understand that there is no room for ying around. Even so, are you still willing?"

    The eight High Orc younglings were clearly much smarter than normal adult orcs as they pondered and weighed Tristan''s words rather than immediately epting them as their normal brethrens would do.

    "Yes, Chief! We are all willing!"

    Tristan didn''t reply to them and only gestured to Karra to handle the following. Thinking about this matter and the problem of the horde quickly bing too big to control, he thought it was probably time to upgrade and organize the entirety of his troops.

    Turning to Karra, he said. "Karra, quickly summon all the champions before me."

    "All right, Chief."

    While Karra went to carry out his orders, Tristan proceeded to check the amount of Blood Essence he still had, and found that he still had more than enough left.

    [Blood Essence 45350]

    Afterwards, he went ahead and checked the avable upgrades for his Blood Monarch ability.

    [Blood Monarch Innate skill]

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Blood Seal - stage 2]

    [Blood Synthesis - stage 3]

    [Blood Legacy]

    [Blood Summon]

    [Upgrade Blood Seal to stage 3 required 10.000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrade Blood Synthesis to stage 4 required 50.000 Blood Essence]

    Ever since the battle at Forlorn, Tristan had upgraded his Blood Monarch body twice, increasing it from stage 3 to stage 5. Now that he was going for another battle, he thought it would be the best time to upgrade his other skills. After all, another trump card in his repertoire would always be weed.

    [Upgrade blood seal to stage 3?]

    "Yes!''

 Chapter 261 - Orcs Formation

    Ever since Tristan received the blood elf''s memory fragments, he was able to understand the skills etched on his body better, and now he has no reason to hesitate upgrading his skills. For he already knows how each of them will work.

    [Upgrading ''Blood Seal'' to stage 3 will require 10.000 Blood Essence]

    "Yes!"

    [Blood Seal has been upgraded to stage 3]

    [Chance of Blood Seal sess increased!]

    [Blood Seal pool erged to a total of 10.000 Blood Essence]

    "Alright!"

    First, Tristan decided to check his current Blood Seal limit. Currently, most of his Blood Seal slot was free, as Chieng was killed on thest battle, and he also already took away Astrid''s blood seal.

    Right now, his Blood Seal pool was filled only with his augmented people.

    [Astrid ¨C 250 Blood Essence]

    [Herrera ¨C 350 Blood Essence]

    [Karra ¨C 600 Blood Essence]

    [Seth ¨C 250 Blood Essence]

    Aside from that, there are also the 25 orcs he turned into champions with 80-100 Blood Essences each. his current total pool was:

    [Current Blood Seal pool: 3750/10000]

    Right now, as Tristan had nothing better to do except wait for Karra to return, He decided to first use the skill on the rugrats.

    [Blood Seal ¨C Augmentation]

    [To augment target, 200 points of Blood Essence is required]

    It needs one-third number of the blood essence topare to Karra, the adult high orc, it was an adequate amount.

    Tristan nodded, and a cloud of red mist seeped out from his skin before entering the Rugrats 1''s body through his nose, mouth, and ears. The young orc was unprepared, and he let out a choked cough, but his eyes quickly darkened before his muscles stiffened and erged.

    Even with the increased strength, the orc still looked half the size of an average adult grunt, but his body was full of muscles just like a human warrior. Without using his scanner, Tristan could tell the youngling has received an increase of 100% in battle power.

    "Chief! I¡­ I¡­" The first orc child stammered.

    Honor and strength was ingrained in every orc''s mind since their birth, and their whole culture and lifestyle revolved around it. The young orcs were so moved to be given such power, they all stared at Tristan like he was Santa using on Christmas day.

    [Blood Seal ¨C Augmentation]

    He augmented all the orc children. With this, although they are smaller size wise, their strength would beparable to that of an average Uruk. Afterwards, he checked his remaining blood seal slots. With the added orc younglings, he has a total of

    [6100/10000]

    He finished right on time, as he heard footsteps a short distance away, and looked to see Karra came back with the 25 orc champions. Among them, four were augmented after they evolved to champion rank, and One Ear was one of those.

    Tristan called the four champions along with Kara. To their surprise, the next thing he did was extend his hand, pulling out the red mist and taking away their augmented power.

    The four was instantly devastated. Without the added bonus, their power was now the same as the other champions. Out of the five, only Karra did not react, showing how much she truly believed in Tristan.

    "Chief, we make mistake¡­? Chiwwikkk!"

    "No! Just wait."

    After taking out their augmentation, Tristan once again used the skill towards them. With his upgraded stage 3 Blood Seal, the strengthening was much more impressive than before.

    Right in front of his eyes, Karra and the 4 orc champions gradually evolved. Their skin turned dark green, their muscles stiffened and expanded, and their tusks looked even more sharp and wicked. Meanwhile, Karra actually turned a bit paler, making her appearance look more pure and ethereal.

    But despite that difference, all five realized that they have broken through the limits of their power and reached the upper level of Warchief.

    That is the improvement he could bestow to them with the power of his stage 3 Blood Seal. Actually, there are no added power boost with the increased power level, but his stage two Blood Seal was unable to give the maximum possible amount of boost to a higher leveled creature or person. Before this increase, Karra only received a paltry 40% boost in strength. This time, she should be able to receive at least a 70% boost.

    Meanwhile, for the normal orcs, the increased level will do nothing, as their power has already increased around 110% from their original strength. For now, 110% increase was the best he could do.

    With that recent upgrade, Tristan was only able to empower the five war chiefs.

    The strengthening was done, it was now time for Tristan to start organizing battle strategies using the knowledge he attained from Earth.

    3000 Uruk soldiers will be divided into three legions, each legion consisting of five groups of 200 Uruks each. To each of the legions, Tristan assigned one newly augmented warchief.

    For the other orc champions, they were grouped together with the 150 orc grunts, and they will be led by One Ear the newly appointed Warchief. He had assigned the augmented 8 rugrats into this group, as well. With note for them to be very careful.

    The numbers and groupings may seem arbitrary at first nce, but Tristan had put a lot of thought into them.

    The Uruks are already strong, and he just needed to put one orc champion as their leader to ensure they would follow his ns. But for the orcs, the champions serve as not only leaders, but also morale boosters. With high morale and perhaps implied proof that they too could be stronger if Tristan favored them, it would help them to close the gap of power between them and the Uruks, ensuring there will be no weak spots in their defenses.

    With all of these, now Tristan has 16 groups of Uruk and Orcs. He assigned them a number from one to 16. Legion one to three alone would make a horde with 3000 plus strong forces.

    For the position of Commander, there was no one better than her trusted female high orc Karra.

    With the force division finished, and the troops organized, it is time to split and train them to ensure they will be able to fulfill their roles.

    Tristan exined his objectives, divided them ording to the specialty he needed, and shouted.

    "You have 4 days to get them ready!"

    Everyone followed the order without objections.

    -------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 262 - Shady Merchant

    While his orc army was having their final preparations for the uing battle, Tristan made his way back to Caerleon City. After all, he also needed to take care of other things on his list.

    When he reached the town hall, he was surprised to find that someone was waiting for him - an unexpected guest.

    "Lord Tristan!!"

    A loud voice of a woman was heard, making him turn his head toward the direction it came from. The moment she noticed Tristan was looking at her, she immediately ran and jumped at him like some kind of band groupie.

    Knowing who the woman was, Tristan didn''t even try to stop her action.

    Left with no obstruction, the woman sessfully found herself clung onto Tristan''s body. Smoothlynding on her objective, she proceeded to stick her cheek on thetter''s chest very tightly, as if they would be separated the next second. How the woman currently acted was exactly the same as those who hadn''t seen their significant other for ages.

    "I missed you.. I truly did. I really don''t want you to send me away, ever again." said the woman in a pitiful tone.

    Hearing it, Tristan could only shake his head and smile wryly. He really couldn''t believe this woman was still like this. This behaviour of her even made him wonder what he actually did to her to turn her like this. She didn''t even show the slightest hint of care at all, even though his wife, Serene, was clearly watching the scene standing next to him.

    The woman who acted coy with Tristan was none other than Hererra, the fire magician who Tristan gave a mission to go to another town with Seth. Apparently, they had returned and even brought with them some guests.

    Under the gazes of everyone on the scene, Tristan slowly walked toward his seat. He sat down and looked at the people who Hererra had decided to bring here.

    In front of him stood three figures. The one standing on the left was a half-human half-tiger man with muscr build who had two sabers on his back. On the right was a lizard-like figure with green scales covering all of his body whom he assumed was a man. Thest one standing in the middle of the two of them was a man wearing luxurious clothes with two horns protruding on his head - the unique characteristic of a goat hybrid.

    The man looked surprised for a moment as he locked eyes with Tristan, but he quickly recovered hisposure. "Greetings, Lord Mayor, this one''s name is Faunt. I believe that you were looking for me?" He said while ncing at Hererra.

    When the goat hybrid introduced himself, both Uriel and Serene looked surprised. If what the former said was true, then this man was that person. The one known as the infamous merchant leader who was suspected to be having many shady deals throughout his venture.

    As for Tristan, even though he never heard of the man, he knew this man was the one he was looking for. The leader of the Trapper, that group of people who hunt unique and rare animals to be sold on the ck market.

    This was one of the tasks he told Hererra to do when he sent her away. It was evident that not only she was able to find news about the man, she even managed to bring thetter right to him.

    Tristan shot a smile and nodded at Hererra, causing her to let out a silly smile full of happiness.

    There was only one reason he wanted to meet such a shard person, which he was about to reveal now.

    "Ah, Mister Faunt. Yes, indeed, I''m indeed looking for you because I''m extremely interested in your business regarding rare animals. Shortly put, I am interested in purchasing all of your collections."

    The first time he went to the Forbidden Forest, Tristan had tasted the blood of the extremely rare Divine Stag and discovered it gave him such a high amount of quality Blood Essence.

    That time, the reason he let one of the trappers go despite thetter being under his [Blood Seal] influence was exactly for this particr moment - to be able to get into contact with these trappers and have ess to more high quality blood.

    However, the man named Faunt frowned when he heard Tristan''s words, which was strange. After all, why would a merchant be unhappy when someone wanted to buy his entire stock?

    "Excuse me, you want all of my collection, Mayor?!" The man then startedughing and said, "Hahaha, my apologies but I find what you say hrious. If you wanted to know why.. That''s because I''m afraid you still can''t afford my entire collection even if you sell this city to me."

    Any normal mayor would certainly be offended hearing his boastful words, but not Tristan. In fact, he didn''t mind the other party''s rudeness to him. He just hoped that the man didn''t lie about his collection. But then, there was also something unusual about his overflowing confidence.

    Tristan gave another look at the two hybrids standing next to him, the tiger and lizard hybrid. Upon closer observation, he could tell the two were pretty strong but not that strong to the point of being unparalleled.

    Therefore, he wondered why this Faunt was so confident and even acted arrogantly.

    Inadvertently, Tristan''s gaze wandered around the room and he then realized the possible reason why. All his strong fighters were not present with him. Both Gazef and Karra were busy preparing the army.

    These guys only met Uriel, Seth, and Hererra, who acted as his representatives. Therefore, they might think that his force was so-so. As for him and Serene, these people probably thought they both belonged to one of those elf nobles who had limited fighting prowess. After all, the appearances that Tristan and Serene had were theplete opposite of that of a fighter.

    Tristan took another nce at Faunt and noticed the smirk on thetter''s face. Even so, he tried to not be too bothered by it and focused on his objective of what he wanted from the man.

    "Tell me.. Mister Faunt, how impressive is this¡­ collection of yours? Even if I can''t buy your entire collection, I''m sure we can find a number that we both can agree on."

    Unexpectedly, the man showed a wicked smile as his hand slowly reached for his neck. The man lowered his cor and Tristan could see there was a ne in which the pendant was a bone. A w to be exact.

    "Do you see this, Lord Mayor? This is a real dragon w." Faunt put his cor back on and said, "I hope this makes you realize how extensive my collection is."

    Tristan pped his hands and said "Wow, that''s really impressive, Mr Faunt. So what you''re trying to say is that you have a lot of legendary creatures in your collection?"

    A confident grin graced Faunt''s face again as he replied, "Yes, indeed, Lord Mayor."

    "Alright, give me a fair number then." Tristan said while joining his hands together. "I want all magical and legendary creatures."

    Without further ado, Faunt spoke about the price range of his merchandise.

    [young magical creature - 100 to 300 coins]

    [adult magical creature - 500 to 1000 coins]

    [young legendary creature - 3000 coins]

    [Adult legendary creature - no stock]

    "This.. is this all in gold coins?" asked Tristan. He was surprised to see the price list. If this was true, then it was no wonder that he said even selling the town wouldn''t allow him to afford all of them. Caerleon only made a profit of about 500 coins per month, after all.

    When asked why the prices were so steep, Faunt told him how almost every part of magical and legendary creatures could be used for potions, artifacts, and other things. Hence, the outrageous price.

    Tristna could only shake his head inwardly when he realized that even the fortune he received from Forlorn Kingdom would bleed dry for this purchase of his.

    Therefore. he exhaled a long sigh and decided to change his approach. "Honestly, I just need the blood. Would it be possible if you sell only the blood to me?"

    "Lord Mayor, if you take the blood then how would the creature live?" said Faunt in a sorry tone, but the man still had a wicked smirk on his face.

    At this point, Tristan knew this man was ying hard to get and he has no patience to deal with him.

    Actually with his abilities right now, Tristan could easily take control of this disrespectful merchant and plundered all of his wealth. However, he would not decide to go that low unless the man himself did him wrong.

    After all, he couldn''t just go and rob anyone he met, could he?

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 263 - Greed

    In all honesty, Tristan knew that the best way to get more Blood Essence was still through battle. Not only was this exploit faster, it would also yield him much more Blood Essence than absorbing from these creatures.

    This attempt of his trying to get rare creatures'' blood was only thought to be an extra Blood Essence ''revenue'' on the sideline. After all, with more Blood Essence he gained, he could quickly get more upgrades to further ensure his survival.

    [Upgrade Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrade Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrade Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence]

    These three upgrades which each had its own outrageous cost would still go a long way into making him the strongest person on this. Therefore, it was only natural that for Tristan, Blood Essence was the highest and most prioritizedmodity.

    At this moment, Tristan seriously thought that the most efficient way to deal with this Faunt was to just [Blood Seal] the man and be done with it. This way, he could make thetter give up all of his worth with essentially no cost other than the Blood Essence consumed to cast the ability.

    However, Tristan thought this solution didn''t seem too great for him after he already gave the goat hybrid a check for the cost.

    [Blood Seal]

    [1,000 Blood Essence required]

    [68% chance]

    Putting the guy under his [Blood Seal] seemed to be a waste of Blood Essence upon deeper consideration. Although he still had 31,250 Blood Essence on him, the worst thing about this blood seal was the waste of his blood seal pool [6,950/10,000]. He would rather augment more orcs than waste the pool on this goat hybrid.

    On the other hand, he really needed more Blood Essence and he hoped these trappers could be the solution. It was a moment of greed like this, Tristan''s brain seemed to work even better than usual. Apparently, greed was the best ingredient to fuel creativity.

    Tristan stood up from his seat and walked toward the balcony while saying, "Mister Faunt, I actually have a good collection as well. In fact, I''m sure you''ll like this one."

    Faunt and his two escorts were silent as they found the situation to be a bit strange. Their confusion didn''tst long as it was quickly answered by an unbelievable sight unfolding before them.

    A flying creature was seen rapidlying down from the sky before it arrived at the balcony of the town hall.. It was Tristan''s familiar Narra, the Bloodgem Dragon.

    Looking at the striking red dragon, the confusion on Faunt''s face was instantly reced with shock and a hint of admiration.

    "A-A.. living dragon?! Especially the kind that I''ve never seen before! This.. this is unbelievable.."

    Tristan could clearly see that Faunt had lost all theposure he had shown earlier when he looked at Narra who was currently flying around him. "Lord.. Esteemed Lord Mayor.. If I may ask, what kind of dragon is this?"

    Tristan smirked inwardly while maintaining hisposure outwardly, acting as if Narra''s existence was so-so in his eyes. "This is a Bloodgem Dragon. Have you heard of it before?"

    "Bloodgem Dragon?!" eximed Faunt, his face showed a look of shock.

    Tristan was intrigued when he saw his surprised face. "Oh? Have you really heard of them?"

    "Hah? I mean, yes, Lord Mayor. I seemed to have read about them from a book." said Faunt as he went into deep thought. "Red scale with silver-colored streak on its back¡­ this is truly unbelievable. That is such a beauty, Lord Mayor. I wonder how much you would be willing to part with it?"

    Again, Tristan was annoyed hearing it. He walked to his seat and Narra the red dragon crawled to his shoulder and talked to his mind.

    "What''s the matter, Master? Do you need me for something?"

    Hearing Narra''s voice in his mind, Tristan replied. "Actually, yes, Narra. You have been asking about food, haven''t you? I wonder if you like this one in front of you."

    As Tristan conversed with Narra in his mind, the only thing Faunt and his escorts could hear and see was the cry of the Bloodgem Dragon which was then followed by it approaching them.

    Faunt discovered the dragon was looking into his eyes with such animosity that it brought chills running down his spine. His body involuntarily tensed up while his mind told him to get out of there. As someone who led a group that hunted creatures for living, he knew what the dragon was trying to do.

    Turning his eyes to Tristan, Faunt quickly said, "L-Lord Mayor! What''s the meaning of this?!"

    "Ah?! What''s going on? I have no idea! You''re the expert, aren''t you?" said Tristan, who was acting surprised.

    "Lord Mayor, my two bodyguards here are the strongest gold adventurers out there. Don''t tell me I didn''t warn you if your dragon was injured!"

    The two hybrids standing next to Faunt quickly brandished their weapon, their gait told Tristan they were ready to fight. On the other hand, Herrera, Seth, Serene, and Uriel were all flustered by this unanticipated development.

    Seeing that Tristan showed practically no reaction to his warning, Faunt became flustered too.

    "Aren''t you worried about it? Even though it''s a dragon, it''s just a baby!"

    The lizard hybrid struck first by thrusting his spear at great speed. However, Narra unexpectedly shot upward and flew past the spear tip, dodging the stab. In reaction, the lizard hybrid smashed her using the shield on his hand.

    BAM!

    A loud booming sound echoed through the air as Narra''s body hit the shield. Surprisingly, it was the hybrid lizard that bounced off in this confrontation. His body flew through the air before violentlynding a few meters from where he had been standing before.

    The others could only watch as Narra rushed at the lying lizard hybrid, and the poor guy screamed his lungs out because the former attacked him ruthlessly. Before they knew it, the man was already screaming no more.

    The tiger hybrid who was just a step away from helping his colleague suddenly became a step too close to his doom for the exact same reason. Narra turned to him and revealed her wide open jaw as she shot [Fire Breath] on him.

    Seeing the iing mes that could definitely injure him, the tiger hybrid quickly used the powerful battle art [Whirlwind] using his two sabers. A strong spherical wall of gusts materialized as his body spun rapidly, obstructing the [Fire Breath] from reaching its target.

    After that, the tiger hybrid immediately took a few steps back, only to find his high-grade sabers had melted away, turning into useless lumps of steel. A look of horror appeared on his face as he realized how miserable he would have been if the [Fire Breath] hit him directly.

    Even though the fight had only just begun, Faunt knew he f''cked up. Thus, he quickly turned to Tristan and shouted, "Lord Mayor! That!.. That is a Mythical dragon! Please stop this madness!!"

    "I''m really sorry, Mister Faunt. I really don''t know why she was so ''lively'' when she saw you. Could it be because you have hunted one of her family before?" said Tristan with a pondering tone. "Ah! That''s right! The w on your ne; that must be it!"

    "No! Lord Mayor, please. This is not a dragon w! I lied! It''s just the w of arge eagle, not a dragon. Please tell her to stop!!!"

    Unfortunately, before Faunt could finish his words, Narra already shot towards the tiger hybrid and utilized her wings to cut thetter''s head apart from his body.

    "Narra, stop!" said Tristan, and the rampaging Bloodgem Dragon immediately stopped her actions. She casted a nce at Faunt with blood still dripping from her jaw, scaring him so much that his facepletely lost it''s color.

    Tristan casually walked and approached Faunt who had unknowingly fallen to his knee, his expression was in disbelief. It was at this moment that he realized what kind of person the man standing in front of him was.

    As he got closer, Tristan used [Blood Extraction] and obtained 2800 Blood Essence from the two dead hybrids - a number that was a little bit more than what he had extracted from the human golden adventurer. It wasn''t much, but still better than humans.

    When he finished the extraction, Narra took the bodies away with her and everyone knew what she wanted to do with it. The realization that Narra would be having a feast was something that quickly stiffened everyone in the room, especially Faunt.

    Now that he knew what a hybrid''s actual worth when extracted, Tristan made up his mind. He quickly cast [Blood Seal] on Faunt to glean all information out of him. Unexpectedly, the man had hundreds of hybrids stationed in his base, guarding the dozen or so legendary creatures that were kept there.

    After he collected everything valuable from Faunt, Tristan immediately set him free because he didn''t want to fill up his nearly upied [Blood Seal] list. He then threw him a bag filled with 1,000 gold coins and told him to bring all the creatures next month at thetest.

    Tristan told Faunt that if he came back as requested, he would give him another 1,000 coins. But if he didn''te, then Tristan would have more Blood Essence to collect from the hundred hybrids in his base.

    As for the issue of 2,000 gold coins for a dozen legendary creatures, knowing that they also could be said to be captured against their will, the coins would be a fair amount to pay for all the hard work spent on capturing them.

    "I really hope you will return with my request fulfilled, Faunt. After all, I really think I will have more of your services in the future." Tristan said with a smile.

    As the meeting ended, Tristan was seen making his way back to his room. At this time, Herrera once again came and approached him.

    However, before she could say or do anything, Serene had grabbed Tristan''s arm and pulled him inside the room before mming the door in front of the purple-haired magician''s face.

    Realizing what she had done, Serene slowly turned around to look at Tristan. Her face was slightly red, half-embarrassed, she said "I... I want you to...."

 Chapter 264 - Wanting

    The beautiful, golden-haired goddess standing in front of Tristan violently mmed the door before her. Afterwards, she turned around and looked at him with an embarrassed expression that she herself couldn''t believe she just did such an unbing action.

    For Serene, the situation was too identical to before. That shameless purple-haired whore was tantly flirting with her husband, and this time, Serene would definitely not let her have her way. Not when she was here.

    On the other hand, still standing in front of her, Tristan was strangely unimpressed by her behavior as his face wore a passive expression. He, of course, smart enough and was man enough to understand the reasons behind her action and quickly realize what was going on. But to be honest, instead of being happy, he felt a little annoyed..

    Tristan stepped closer to the door, and his approaching body made Serene subconsciously take a step back. Next, he ced his hand on her hair, feeling the smooth sensation of her silky hair. The beautiful princess of the Vanyar Kingdom was blushing because of Tristan''s actions.

    However, the next thing Tristan did surprise her so much that she stood still during the entire progression.

    Tristan pulled Serene''s body sideways away from the door before he opened it.

    "Hererra, you cane in."

    Tristan didn''t wait for her response nor gave a nce to Serene. Hence, the two women walked into an extremely awkward atmosphere.

    Hererra, of course, would not let this opportunity go. Entirely ignoring the situation, she stepped into the room with confidence, took a nce at Serene before walking closer to the blood elf who had decided to sit on the chair inside the room.

    At the moment, Tristan was looking at the two gorgeousdies with a deep gaze. One was an elf princess with silky skin and delicate beauty, while the other was an exotic beauty that exuded a certain aura that was certainly no less attractive.

    The room was silent, as the three individuals inside stared at each other. Eventually, it was Serene who broke the silence as she spoke, "Why are you letting her.."

    Before the elf princess could finish what she wanted to say, Tristan cut her off and said,

    "To bepletely honest, I don''t have time for drama. So, you two can say what you want with me directly."

    The words spoken by Tristan quickly sent Serene to another round of stun as she found herself unable to say anything.

    Meanwhile, Hererra got closer to Tristan and said, "My Lord, I believe you know exactly what I want. I have been following you for months, helping you during the battle in Chaotic ins, taking care of the orcs on your behalf,pleting the tasks you ordered for me, and teaching you fire magic. All I ask is that you will give me another unforgettable night."

    Upon hearing Hererra''s words, Serene immediately muttered in a low voice. "You shameless whore!"

    Tristan, on the other hand, was touched by her words. Her actions and behavior of being direct and clear on what she wanted somehow moved his heart.

    For a short moment, he went into trance. He found it surprising that he would think this way toward Hererra. He was sure his old self would find such a woman to be undesirable, but not the current him.

    Tristan gave her a slight nod before turning his eyes to the fidgeting Serene.

    "What about you, Serene? Tell me, how do you really feel about what she said earlier?"

    She was obviously annoyed by his direct, shameless question, but Tristan definitely wanted to hear it clearly from her.

    "..No! This woman really doesn''t know her ce, especially being a human! Besides, you.. You are married to me! I can''t even imagine that you would consider¡­ whatever this is you are nning on doing!" said Serene quickly, while looking at Tristan and gasping in the border of unsettling and rage.

    Tristan closed his eyes for a second after he heard her words. There were just words in there that were too disappointing to hear.

    A secondter, he looked at Serene and said, "I am only going to say this one more time. We married because of obligation, out of duty that was imposed on us. I''m sure you''re pretty clear on that because you''re the one who vehemently refuses to go through with it in the first ce. So, don''t tell me what I should and shouldn''t do"

    Serene was quickly shocked by Tristan''s outburst, and certainly Hererra as well.

    Tristan stood up and approached Serene, which made her unconsciously walk backward until her back hit the wall. His fingers went through her silky golden hair as he said, "However, I told you we are family and I will take care of you.. You know that right?"

    The situation Serene was currently in was quite intense, making her subconsciously nod her head.

    Then, Tristan went closer until his mouth stopped right near her ear. "But.. As I said before, I will never force anything that you don''t want. If this marriage is such a burden to you, I won''t stop you if you want to dissolve it." He whispered.

    All the wordsing out of Tristan''s mouth made Serene''s body tremble. She was really surprised because she didn''t expect him to say such words. She wanted to say that it was no longer the same as before, that she had now changed; but she couldn''t because she was too proud.

    The words she genuinely wanted to say were unable to leave her mouth, and instead, a single tear fell down her cheek. Not wanting to appear weak, she quickly turned around and walked out of the room.

    Seeing her disappearing back, Tristan let out a long sigh. He was actually quite surprised that he could say such words. Apparently, he now had less patience when dealing about this kind of matter.

    Shaking his head, Tristan turned and looked at the purple-haired beauty who was still waiting for him.

    "So, do you still want to continue?"

 Chapter 265 - Devour**

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Tristan felt that he was a little bit too harsh on the Vanyar princess, but on the other hand he couldn''t stand idle while the elf woman tried to y him like a fiddle. He wouldn''t be surprised if the beautiful sorcerer found it disturbing and changed her mind.

    One thing Tristan had not taken into ount, however, is the sheer strength behind this woman''s lust.

    The sorcerer stared at him with half-lidded eyes, her gaze wordlessly conveying her desire to devour him.

    .

    "My Lord, you were so fierce, and¡­" Herrera touched his chest, and each word from her mouth was spoken apanied with a heavy moan. "Do you know how much I desire you right now?"

    The beautiful Herrera removed her clothes impatiently.

    She only reached halfway, before she dashed forward to press her supple skin and breasts against his arm.

    "My Lord, leave everything to me, for I know exactly what you desire."

    The woman reached down and caressed the bulge between his legs. Her touch was soft as a feather, yet burned tantalizingly all the same, while her other hand slowly undid his pants.

    Tristan''s undergarments fell down and bunched around his legs. The garment was quickly forgotten, and she went on her knees the moment his member was exposed.

    Her soft lips and warm mouth caressed him. asionally, her tongue wrapped around him, and the pace she set left Tristan barely able to keep up with it.

    It would not be an exaggeration to say that Herrera was skilled. Every movement, every touch and caress she did served to further his pleasure. He couldn''t think of anything else except the woman devouring him.

    Enjoying the breadth of sensations stimting him, Tristan grabbed the back of her head and felt her soft purple hair.

    Ast tug from her tongue, and she released her mouth, a trail of wet, transparent fluid clinging on her tongue. She then pressed her soft breasts onto him, giving him an immense amount of pleasure.

    Although it was obvious that he would be subjected to an immense pleasure should he receive the gorgeous woman''s offered, he only bothered to deal with her as once again it was an opportunity to explore the strange body he ended up inhabiting.

    Thest time he tried to do it with a human woman, he was unable to obtain the release he so craved, and he refused to ept that only an elf woman could tip him over the edge.

    Tristan grabbed Herrera by her torso and carried her onto the bed, his hard bulge pressing on her soaked undergarments all the way.

    "Yes, My Lord! Yes!" Herrera shouted in ecstasy.

    Unlike her, Tristan did not bother to remove her panties gently. With one tug, the garment was torn and thrown to some forgotten corner of the room. Herrera was now pinned beneath him on the bed, and she bit her lip in utter anticipation.

    He insert his under parts onto her soaked entrance, the fine bush trim between her legs providing even greater sensations.

    "Ahh¡­ahh"

    The woman moaned in ecstasy. Her body simplyid there in submission, a meal waiting to be devoured.

    Tristan pumped faster and harder. He yed with her left breast with his tongue, while his hand fondled her right one. As his pace went faster and faster, her pleasured moans quickly turned into screams of pure delight.

    "Don''t.stop¡­ No¡­ yes.. Ahh!"

    Within only a few minutes, her body trembled, and she tipped over the edge. Tristan felt a warm liquid squirt from between her legs.

    That moment woke Tristan up from his trance with a jolt, and his mind shed back to their first time, where he struggled to chase his own release while she kept on getting the price he coveted.

    He had no desire to see a repeat of that incident.

    Tristan took a deep breath, and felt the Katra flowing from within his body. With the aid of his sharpened senses, Tristan felt her whole body with his tender touches and kisses, while hoping he would be able to create the intimate connection like when he did it with Serene.

    It took a little while, but his efforts were rewarded with a resounding sess. Now, their intertwined skin stimted not only their sense of touch, but also their spirit.

    "My Lord, what did you just-" Her breath hitched at his slightest touch, the sensations she felt multiplied. "-ahh! Don''t stop, my Lord!"

    Her body started to tremble with excitement and anticipation, and she grabbed his arm tight.

    "Keep going, my Lord! Ahhh!"

    The woman had lost her senses and mind in the numbing pleasure, while Tristan chased for his own relief with the aid of their spirit connection and the friction as he pumped deeper and deeper into her.

    It was as if the Katra connection had flipped a hidden switch within his body, and the pleasure that took hours to achieve was attained in a few minutes.

    The song of their mutual ecstasy filled the room, and before long, they were both able to tip over the edge. Tristan was finally able to break the dam with a human woman.

    Only for him to be distracted from his pleasure by the woman beneath him growing limp.

    She was fast asleep, unconscious in an instant.

    On one hand, Tristan was d for the sessful experiment and the satisfaction, but he was only able to climax once, and it left him craving for more. It was to be expected, after all, elves could keep on going for days if need be.

    He slowly rode down the throes of pleasure, but the bubble was immediately broken when he heard a knock on the door.

    Whoever it was, they weren''t keen on waiting for an answer, as he saw the doorknob turn.

    It was Serene, who walked in only to see him standing naked right near the unconscious woman.

    Tristan merely stared at her, as she stared back at him with mixed feelings

 Chapter 266 - Submit**

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Tristan''s desire still burned hot and bright, and when Serene walked in, he could sense what exactly she desired from him..

    With her spirit force and enhanced senses, the princess of Vanyar would know what has been happening inside the room. Even if their moans did not leak outside, they weren''t exactly being subtle. The only reason she was here was either jealousy to the point of blind rage, or to express her regret stemming from her actions beforehand.

    All led to the same conclusion: she truly cares about him to some extent.

    Tristan walked towards her, his body fully unclothed, and stood in front of her. His expression held no trace of guilt.

    Serene nced at the unconscious woman lying on the bed and rage boiled within her. She practically jumped towards him and was about to p him, only for Tristan to grab her wrist to stop her.

    Instead of being angry, Tristan pulled her closer and kissed her tenderly.

    The princess resisted at first, and struggled to get out of his grasp, but Tristan''s allure was too strong for her.Deep down inside, this is what she really wanted.

    Within a few seconds, her body turned limp and she reciprocated the kiss, their tongue dancing together and mixing their distinct taste together.

    When the two lips parted, Tristan took one step back to look at her eyes. The princess previous confusion has turn into a look of wanting, she took another step closer to him and put her hand on his chest, face turned away embarrassed she said

    "Don''t be angry with me.. I.. can''t stand it¡­"

    Tristan gently touched her chin and turned it back toward him. Eyes staring at the beautiful princess, he said "Don''t think of anything else, submit yourself to me."

    He kissed her soft lips once more before he grabbed her and carried her with his two arms to the bed. As she realized where she was going, she broke the kiss and shouted.

    "No¡­ please not there, not with her...!"

    Her soft voice was in a totally different tone, and Tristan respected her wishes.

    "Alright then, I will listen this time."

    Tristan walked towards the wall and outstretched his hand, casting [blood synthesis] he created a sharp construct and cleanly cut through the wall making a new opening to the next room. It was another empty bedroom which is currently empty.

    Tristanid her down on the bed before undressing her manyyers of clothing. Even the barest touch of his hand on her skin was enough to make her tremble slightly.

    Unlike his previous tryst with the sorceress, Tristan started slow and gentle this time. Each time he took off a piece of her clothing, he would give her a soft kiss. From her lips, to her ear, to her neck, and down to her chest, right on her nipple where he gave her a hard suck.

    "Aaahh¡­" the princess moaned.

    Tristan took off the bottom of her dress, gently spread her legs apart, and kissed her inner thigh before pushing one finger into her already soaked entrance.

    The elf woman unconsciously tried to push him away, but Tristan merely smiled, took out his finger, and gave her folds a slow, sensual lick, making her body tremble and made her lose her grip on Tristan. It didn''tst long, as she grabbed his shoulders for dear life, her nails scratching his back hard.

    She was soaked through and through.

    By this time, Tristan had already activated his Katra and created a spirit connection between them. He caressed her and gently climbed onto her before pushing his shaft into her soaked entrance.

    He set an unrelenting pace, quickening and slowing all within the span of a few moments, but the princess moaned and moaned, her eyes clouded over in ecstasy all the same.

    One hour passed, and the princess had turned into a willing ve for his desires. Her eyes were no longer focused, and she was unable to string together coherent words. All she could think of was him chasing pleasure with her, and at this moment he was asking for the position that she loved the most.

    "I want¡­ likest time¡­ aahh... "

    Tristan instantly knew what she wanted, and he was ready to give her what she wanted. He tilted her body and saw her beautiful back figure. He caressed her again from the golden hair down to her hips. He took the time to take a deep breath and enjoy the sweet fragrance of her golden hair before he held her hips tight and started thrusting again from the back.

    "Like this?"

    The princess'' moans escaped unbidden, as she could only ask for more and more.

    The more the goddess screamed, the brighter the desire within Tristan burned, and he thrusted into her faster and faster.

    Another hour passed, and finally, Serena and Tristan both achieved their release. He spilled deep inside her, but of course, that was not enough. He grabbed her hips and pumped into her at a faster pace.

    The golden rays of the rising sun had trailed into the room through the slightly ajar window, but nothing could stop them now.

    The princess painted the walls with the echoes of her song of pleasure, as the blood elf reigning over her body took out all her defenses one by one. It was a certainty that she was no longer functional, let alone coherent. She now has be a ve to Tristan''s pleasures.

    As his thrusts got faster, he tipped over the edge for a third time. He was about to stand, when Serene gripped him tight.

    "No.. dont stop, more!More..Give me more!"

    This time, in a disy of surprising strength, the princess turned around and threw him toy on the bed. She looked at the erected parts with a smile, before slowly moving her hips and slowly put the shaft into her inside by herself.

    Tristan was currentlyying on the bed, letting the princess have her way with him. letting him savor the sensation as her body starts pushing and pulling with all her strength on top of him.

    His presence had turned the princess into such a different person. Joy seeped from her every movement, she looked up in the air while touching herself from waist to her hair.

    It was such a spectacr view for him. He could see her beauty had turned even more radiant than before.

    The ecstasy continued for hours before the two heard the sounds of footsteps from the next room. From the hole he made, he saw the sorcerer, covered in bedsheets, watching the two.

    Serena saw her as well, but she took the decision to ignore her. She continued what she was doing, even putting her arm on Tristan''s chest to prevent him from moving even an inch away from her.

    Serene had finally reached the throes of pleasure she had not reached before, and the pleasure gave her the strength to keep going in such a condition. There was also the fact that being on top of the mighty blood elf, making him let her do whatever she wants with him gives her the feeling that empowers her.

    The fact that she let the sorcerer watch on the sideline actually enhanced the feeling.

    The sorceress kept watching as the golden-haired beauty and Tristan kept on their y, and she found herself slowly intrigue with excitement. Unconsciously she removed her bedsheets and yed with her fingers as she kept watching the scenes that were unfolding.

    For Tristan this situation was clearly new to him, having the two goddesses enjoying themselves right in front of him was every man''s dream.

    As the spirit was connected, Serene realized the increased excitement of his partner as he let out a contented sigh. She plunged deeper, and he savored the feeling as her hot breath tickled his ears in a whisper.

    "The things I would do for you..."

    She turned her head to look at Herrera, gave her a mischievous smirk, and with one finger she gestured for the sorceress toe closer and join them.

    The purple-haired beauty didn''t hesitate at all, she walked up and got onto the bed and as the princess was still riding on top of the blood elf, the sorcerer would use her finger and her tongue to give them extra pleasure.

    The three of them were joined together to achieve total ecstasy. Not realizing the time that had passed, Serene had another release andyed helpless on the bed next to Tristan. With such a slight gesture, Herrera quickly picked up where the princess left off. She would continue until Tristan achieved his third release.

    The three did not realize they had spent 2 whole days in total pleasure.

    Now Tristan could finally say all the preparations wereplete. The time for battle drew near.

 Chapter 267 - Blood Warrior

    All the preparations were already set, and they were ready to ignite the me of war.

    On this particr morning, the outside of Caerleon City''s southern gate was crowded with an ocean of grey creatures d in striking ck armor. The view of thousands of living creatures lining up in an orderly manner would certainly shake the hearts of those who saw them.

    This was certainly proven true when the citizens of Caerleon City were terrified by them, not only just because of the overwhelming number of the orcs, but also the fact that all these monstrous creatures submitted under the order of their mayor.

    At the moment, Tristan was seen on top of his horse wearing his gleaming mithril armor as he made his way to the southern gate. He was apanied by three women; the elf princess and thescivious sorcerer were riding just behind him, while at the back was covered by the female barbarian.

    The four rode out of the gate to meet the prepared hordes. There, four Orc Warchiefs as well as Karra the female high orc were waiting for him. The moment they saw him, they immediately went onto their knees.

    "Chief, we are all ready for yourmand.." said Karra, with reverence apparent in her eyes.

    Tristan nodded his head and looked at the hordes that were lining up in front of him.

    3000 Uruks and 300 Orcs, the grunts and the gretchins all were joining the horde. All 3 legions and 16 groups were ready to be deployed in the uing battle.

    Among them, there were also 30 elven nobles, brought by the Forlorn elder Raika.

    Sweeping his gaze across the hordes, Tristan''s eyes became sharp as he raised his voice and shouted,

    "There are hundreds of orc tribes scattered throughout the Chaotic ins and they are all our brethren! So today, we will go and unite them all under our one tribe!"

    The hordes immediately turned rowdy when they heard Tristan''s words, so much that the citizens behind the walls could clearly hear them. Well, this reaction was to be expected as what Tristan just said was something that any orc tribe had always wished to aplish.

    "Chiwikkkk!!! Grawlll!! Chiwikk!!"

    Tristan raised his hand once more and when they turned silent he continued.

    "From now on, you, we are one tribe! We will call ourselves the Blood Warrior Tribe!!" Tristan shouted with such spirit that the veins in his neck could be seen faintly.

    Immediately, another wave of growl and grunt weed his words with excitement

    "Grawlll!! Chiwikkk!! Grawwll!"

    Tristan knew how important an objective and a distinctivebel were for any battle. The prowess of an army could be somewhat affected by the mere existence of those factors. Therefore, he had stated it with straightforwardness and resolution from the start.

    This would also be the message that would be spread to all the orc tribes existing throughout the Chaotic ins.

    Tristan nodded in satisfaction as he took his gaze back. Looking far into the horizon in the direction where the Chaotic ins was, he said.

    "Let us all move as nned!"

    The hordes split and opened the pathway for their chief and monarch as Tristan slowly rode through their midst. Serene and Hererra who were on his sides as well as Astrid on the back rode along, which was then swiftly followed by the female orc Karra. Subsequently, the four Orc Warchiefs and the 16 groups as the troops made their way south toward the Chaotic ins.

    It was such a spectacr sight; thousands of Uruks and Orcs marching through the terrain. This sight even gave goosebumps to the elf princess who definitely had never seen something simr to this, let alone Hererra, who was just a mere silver adventurer a few months back. If she hadn''t insisted on following Tristan back then, who knew where she would be today.

    Now she was one of the Blood Monarch''s most trustedpanions and lovers, a position she had not even dared to imagine in the past. A grin slowly crept over her lips once more as her thoughts returned to what had happened two days ago.

    Without realizing it, she took a nce at Serene and thetter managed to notice it.

    "What is it?" asked Serene, her voice t.

    The familiar teasing smile that always managed to annoy Serene could be seen on the sorcerer''s face as she replied, "Sister, I know that Lord Tristan loves you the most, but I wonder which one he will like better? Me or the warrior beauty behind us?"

    The words were spoken by her shocked Serene. She quickly turned her head and her gaze immediately locked on Astrid and Karra. The barbarian girl, although indeed beautiful in herway was nothing to be concerned about, but when she thought of Karra, the one Tristan trusted with his hordes, Her mind quickly became troubled as countless thoughts swarmed it.

    "No way... That''s not possible¡­"

    -------

    The Chaotic ins was a long, narrownd. To be exact, it was a long corridor that existed between the Great Sea to the north and the Impassable Mountain to the south. It was the only passageway that connected the Arcadia Continent to the west and Asgardian to the east.

    It''s length could be traveled from one end to the other in three weeks on horseback, while five days were required to traverse its width.

    Tristan''s objective was to clear all of the Chaotic ins from the orc tribes, who had basically established themselves there, within one month. The main reason for this was to solve the orc problem once and for all, and in the meantime, erge his horde of orcs.

    With the geographic information of the Chaotic ins and the number of his forces, Tristan had nned the most efficient n he could think of.

    The hordes would be split as nned, into three legions.

    Each legion would be led by one Orc Warchief, consisting of five groups of 200 Uruks with 10 elven nobles who would act as observers and healers of the legion.

    One legion would march across the northern part of the Chaotic ins, along the shore of the Great Sea. Another would sweep the southern side of the Chaotic ins along the Impassable Mountain. Thest legion would go together with Tristan''s main group, plus the 300 Orcs, to advance through the center of Chaotic ins and maintain clearmunication and supply lines for all the hordes.

    With orders passed across the ranks, the Chaotic ins battle finally began.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 268 - Chaotic Plains

    The Chaotic ins were a broad expanse of nds, with arge portion of it covered in prairies, steppes, and grasnds. It barely had any tall trees and the only sources of water were limited to small streams and rivers, but what itcked in ecosystemic variety was made up for with the presence of dozens of different species of creatures.

    Among one of the species that were seen most often were the dozers. They wererge, furry animals twice the size of man that ran through the ins inrge packs.

    Ground tremors were considered to be one of the main indicators of a dozer horde passing through.

    In the distance, a shrill call reverberated throughout the wide expanse of grass.

    "Chikikkk!!"

    A group of orcs ran through the ins with the dozers in their sights, prepared to hunt them down. A warrior went forward in an attempt to distract the horde, while another ran ahead and used the spear to pierce through one of the buffalo-like creatures. But the creatures were strong, and as they thrashed around violently, they were able to throw the orcs off of their bodies, sending them flying across the ins. .

    But one young orc warrior courageously jumped at one of the dozers, grabbing its neck, hold it thigh and breaking it apart with his bare hands.

    "Chiwwikk! Lok''Tar! Gol Kosh!" He roared valiantly.

    Although young, he was one of the tribe''s strongest warriors, only second to their chief. He had been hunting and fighting his whole life, hoping that one day he would be able to gain his chance to evolve into a champion, and finally attaining the honor of having a name of his own.

    The hunting group of 10 would continue until all of them each had a dozer perched on each of their backs. These 10 carcasses would be able to feed the entirety of the tribe for a few days; the sheer size of the beasts would be enough to feed the average person for over a week, but the orcs had an immenselyrge appetite. When there were no dozers passing their camp, they would go after the desert wolves, lizards, and sometimes even desert spiders when they got really desperate.

    Typically, all of these monstrous creatures were considered extremely strong and resilient, not being easy prey to hunt. But not for these orcs. This was the reason why the orcs were able to survive and thrive in these Chaotic ins.

    The hunting pack returned to their campsite proudly toting the prizes from their hunt on their backs, thinking about all the grilled meat they would be able to have tonight. But as they gradually neared the campgrounds, they could see a steady stream of smoke rising to the sky.

    "Lok Barash! Chiiwikk!!''

    Knowing that danger was close by, they immediately dropped all of their game at once, running quickly towards the camp only to find that their tribe was currently under attack by a group of grey skinned orcs. Despite the fact that they knew they were outnumbered, these orc warriors refused to just run away and flee for their lives; they all decided to jump in and join the fight.

    The young orc, who was considered the strongest among them, was surprised to find he was unable to best their opponents in a fight. He struggled through the campgrounds that had now turned into a blood battlefield, trying as hard as he could to take at least one of them down, only to finally get tackled to the ground by one of the grey skins.

    There was simply no way that he could win; his tribe had no more than 50 strong warriors. The others were mere gretchins. Meanwhile, the opponents had at least ten times their numbers, and he realized now that even him, the strongest among them, was unable to defeat even one of their tribe.

    Instantly, the whole tribe was defeated, all of them being overpowered by the grey creatures.

    When the battle had concluded, the young orc was surprised to see that the chief of these grey creatures was an orc just like him.

    The next thing he knew, the leader of the grey skinned orcs was proposed a challenge; he was requested to duel with the young orc''s chief. He epted, and the young orc''s chief was hungry to regain the honor he believed his tribe had just lost, but the fight ended quickly. After a few exchanges of moves, his chief was defeated.

    "Trk''hsk! LakTuk! Chwikkk!"

    Surrender and join his tribe. That was what the grey skinned leader said to him. He stated how his chief was a warrior much stronger than he was, and what an honor it would be to join the Blood warrior tribe.

    The young warrior was honestly enticed by this proposal, but he and the whole tribe never had any desire to join the bigger tribes as a whole. After all, they always considered themselves to be simple hunters.

    The chief refused the offer, and for that, they executed the chief right away. There was no honor greater than to die by the de, hence the reason why none of the orcs would cry over such death.

    Despite the fact that the rest of the warriors expected to be executed, to theirplete shock, the grey skins decided to release them all. As a result, most of them stood around, clueless as to what they should do next.

    Now that they no longer had a chief above them, the Orc Champion that hailed from the Blood Warrior Tribe gave them two choices. To join his tribe, or to go and find another tribe.

    It didn''t take long before many would join them, in respect to the winner''s powers, but the young warrior refused. Instead of bending under the hands of those who killed his brethren, he believed that he was extremely close to evolving into a champion himself, so the honorable thing to do was to one day return and challenge that champion once again when he was ready.

    With this newfound determination that zed fiercely within him, the young warrior was told to head east, as all the western regions of the ins now belonged to the Blood Warrior Tribe. With that, he started his journey to the east.

 Chapter 269 - Report

    The sun was setting, coloring the western horizon of the chaotic ins in a beautiful vermillion.

    In the center of a massive grasnd, stood arge camp. It could easily be seen from a mile away, and each tent was made of dozens of rough leather that could be quickly assembled or disassembled should the situation arise.

    Tristan standing in the middle of the camp site, staring toward the hordes that had just returned from their raid. They came in bringing the news of victory and more supplies, such as food and weapons, that they took from the raided orc camps.

    Thanks to their strategy of spreading three legions to cover more area, Tristan was able to take over one third of the chaotic ins within one week. His blood warriors would always be on the offensive, and every night he would receive more reports from the returning legions.

    Karra and a few of the champions woulde to his tent, apanied by Serene, Herrera, and Raika. Based off their reports, Tristan would unroll the chaotic ins map and mark the areas he had conquered.

    He started marking the spots where the tribes were found, making sure no area was missed.

    Number of tribe attacks: 32

    Number of casualties: 81

    Number of orcs recruited: 687

    Tristan furrowed his eyes, stared at the number, and asked his warchief a question.

    "Tell me, Karra, what do you think about the results?"

    The warchief clenched her fists and eximed. "The Uruk forces fought bravely and valiantly, and we have managed to cover all sides of the battlefield! No tribes could resist the might of our warriors!"

    Tristan nodded, "What you are saying is true, but what I needed is a more in-depth ount of the situation. Based on these numbers, what do you think is happening out there?"

    The orc woman was a high orc, and thus, she was much more intelligent than a normal orc. However, orc society did not favor thinking and their culture revolved around battle, so she was not used to having to think much other than fighting. Tristan waited and gave her a little bit of time. She took a deep breath, looked at Tristan, and said.

    "I¡­ I believe the casualties we suffered are low, which is good, and we have gathered quite a lot of orcs into our tribe. I believe our forces are doing well."

    Tristan nodded without saying anything, and turned to look at the other girls. "How about you two? What do you think?"

    Herrera, as usual, was impulsive and she didn''t really take the time to think about her answers in a futile attempt to impress Tristan.

    "Congrattions, my Lord, within just one week, you have managed to control one third of the chaotic ins. Before we all know it, I believe you would be able to finish the rest."

    Tristan gave Herrera a dry smile upon hearing that answer. As much as he enjoyed his ego being stroked, what she said was basically just sweet talk with nothing of substance. Tristan expected more from the sorcerer who was supposed to be intelligent, but it seems she has been feeling too upbeat since that day.

    Next, he looked at Serene with a gaze full of expectation, and the elven princess instantly knew what he was looking for. She stared at the statistics and thought hard, aiming to not only give better input but also to look smarter than the previous two girls.

    "I think the number of casualties are still too high." She finally said.

    The orc woman turned around in surprise and red at the elf princess. It seems she was offended by the assessment.

    Tristan looked down and smiled a little bit, before asking Karra about what made her upset.

    "Orcs are strong, and they would not give up easily even when they are outnumbered. Casualties would be unavoidable."

    Karra answered, barely restraining her rage. But, Serene didn''t back down and she continued.

    "Yes, I can understand that, but that should not happen with the elf nobles around. Each group was apanied with two elven nobles to help heal any of the wounded, and most of the tribes are outnumbered. If everything went smoothly, there should be no casualties at all."

    Serene looked towards Tristan and gave a confident smirk. "I believe we need to further improvemunication between the orcs and the elven nobles."

    "Very good." Tristan praised. This made Serene''s cheeks redden, while the other girls red at her in jealousy.

    However, he was still not satisfied. The answer may be right, but it was iplete and did not exin any of the deficiency in his tactics. "Anything else?"

    After what Serene did, Herrera and Karra looked down. Now they were thinking about the question seriously. A few minutes passed, and one was about to speak, until a voice from the back interrupted them.

    "My Lord, may I speak?" The voice asked as the four of them turned to look at her. It was none other than Astrid, the barbarian girl.

    "Then speak."

    The brown haired girl who has been standing guard in the back approached the table, gave the statistics a quick look, and said.

    "My lord, I have seen one of the raids, and from that, I can make a rough estimate of the size of each tribe here. Considering those two factors, I have reasons to believe that from the 32 tribes you have attacked,pared to the number of the recruited orcs, means you have only sessfully recruited an average of a quarter members of each tribe, killed another quarter, and let go of the rest."

    The girl stopped for a second, while Tristan looked at her in approval, nodded, and said. "Continue."

    "I believe that our objective was to secure the allegiance of as many orcs as possible. With these numbers, we can consider this a failure."

    Another word that triggered Karra''s rage. After all, failing is a big disgrace, and there was no way she would ept failure right in front of Tristan.

    "What do you know about the battlefield, you barbarian!" Karra shouted, but Tristan gave her a re, and her words died in her throat as a look of regret crossed her eyes.

    "Continue, Astrid."

    Astrid asked for permission to make a few marks on the map, and Tristan responded by passing the pen to her. She pointed that ording to the positions of the tribes and the paths visible in the chaotic ins, there should be around 2000 orcs who took refuge to the east. With this kind of tactic, the orcs'' forces would only get bigger as they would gather under one banner for the sake of taking him down, and eventually an all-out battle would be unavoidable.

    Right now, they may have gained more orcs for their forces, but an all-out battle would most likely deplete most of them, resulting in little gain or even potentially a massive loss of time and resources for Tristan.

    Tristan nodded at her exnation, gave her a sincere smile, and said. "Very good, Astrid."

    The barbarian woman nodded and returned to her post at the back. Tristan had almost forgotten that as a former barbarian captain, Astrid had some experience battling in the chaotic ins.

    Tristan exined to the three girls that the two inputs were right, and he had already known that before asking. He was hoping that with this, Karra as amander of the battlefield would learn and know more about the art of battle. In the distant future, he might need her to make her own decisions without him around to help.

    The orc woman put her arm on her chest and gave a gesture of respect. She even did the same to both Serene and Astrid for the input, and apologized for her behavior.

    It was another trait that Tristan liked about the high orc. Although she was not the sharpest tool in the shed, she has loyalty and willingness to improve herself.

    However, the discussion they had made Tristan think of getting another advisor for his future battles. As much as he appreciated Astrid''s input, she merely gave him the bare minimum, and Tristan needed another set of eyes to give him input on what aspects of the battlefield he might have missed.

    He has reasons to believe that in the not so distant future, there will be more wars, and he wouldn''t be able to depend on himself. As much as he could use his reasoning, he had only seen wars fought with magic and weapons like this in history books or fantasy stories and movies. He had no actual experience of battle startegy in a battlefield.

    But that was to be consideredter, for there were more pressing matters he needed to attend to right now. "So, how do you think we can sessfully recruit more orcs without killing too many of them?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 270 - Orc Tribes

    Somewhere in the chaotic ins, the biggest orc horde kept on gathering new members over the past few weeks bolstering their numbers.

    Before, there were merely a dozen tribes'' worth of orcs gathering because of the barbarian attacks three months ago. Since then their numbers have been increasing, especially in thest few days.

    Fragments of more destroyed tribes eventually converged there, and before any of them realized it, there were now more than 7,000 orcs gathered in one ce. It was the biggest gathering they have ever had.

    The green-skinned creatures all gathered in a settlement near an abandoned mine. It had simple wooden walls with two huge entrances on each side.. Within the ce, there were simple buildings made of wood, their crude craftsmanship indicating that they were made by the hands of Gretchin.

    At first, they were all able to live there, but now thanks to the fast poption growth, most have to camp outside the settlement.

    In the middle of the settlement, there was an open clearing. A few dozen important-looking orcs had gathered, while others stood around them to watch.

    "Guk Thar! Dra Zur!"

    "The barbarians'' recent invasion has killed many of us! Now, the blood warrior tribe ising to im ournd, what say you!" One of the orcs mmed the stone table in anger.

    "Chiwikkkk Lor Tak!"

    The Orc who was speaking was called Guldan. He is a high orc and a Warchief from the Yellow Hand tribe.

    He was part of the orc chiefs who were pushing for the goal to unite the tribes. However, each orc tribe carried its own foolish pride and its own ideals. Hence, uniting them under one banner had been proven all but impossible. Until today, that is.

    "Ruth! Ak Tor!"

    "If this continues, there will be no orc left alive!" Another orc roared, trying to attract the attention of their colleagues.

    Right as the orc screamed, another chief stepped forward. Compared to the high orc, he was much bigger, with his skin a darker green than the rest and sporting a long facial hair that dragged on the stone floor. In contrast, not a single strand of hair could be seen on his head, which gave him the name LongBeard.

    "Guldan! You high orcs worry too much! We live and die as real orcs, and we will always wee death in a glorious battle!"

    The high orc could only shake his head upon seeing the behavior of the other orcs. Every time this point was brought up, the orcs were always like this, and it never failed to irritate him every time.

    "Listen to me, all of you!" The high orc screamed, his voice echoing in the tunnels and making all present turn to look towards him. "They have 3,000 grey ones on their side! If we don''t try to unite under one banner now, they will ughter us all!"

    Another war chief stood up, his eyes gleaming with no small amount of glee.

    "Then, this is a good day to die!" While raising his arm towards the crowd he shouted "What say you?!!"

    The gathered orc warchiefs, the champions, and the hundred grunts all cheered in excitement, some even raised their rusted metal weapons at the prospect of another battle.

    While they were still drowning in euphoria, another orc warchief stood and made his move. His voice was calm, but itmanded respect, and all orcs suddenly paid attention to him.

    Though his physique looked averagepared to the other orcs, numerous greyed scars litter his body from his face to his exposed feet. Thanks to that, he was known as Scar.

    "Listen!! Guldan is wise! If we are going to die, we shall die on the battlefield with honor! Under one banner we must! Let us struggle in the most glorious battle!"

    The scars littering his body were not for show, as he was known as the strongest war chief of them all. As the orcs cheered his decision, he continued.

    "For that, we shall choose a leader between us!"

    "Chiikkkk! Chiiiiikkk!"

    Thanks to the mention of a new leader, the situation turned even more rowdy. The sounds of banged rocks and thumping feet echo deep and shook the tunnels they were inside slightly.

    It wasmon knowledge that the orcs'' culture revolved around strength and a glorious death, but such a culture was enforced by the battle instinct they acquired when they were young. Each orc would think of themselves as the best warrior by default even if reality said otherwise. Thanks to this, they would not ept another''s strength unless they were beaten or they knew someone stronger than them was beaten.

    Currently, the settlement held more than 50 tribes'' worth of orcs, but only 11 of them were tribes led by Warchief, while the rest were merely small tribes led by champions.

    As much as the orcs wished to prove their mettle in the leader selection, a battle of a grand scale is marching closer to them. Luckily, they knew better than to follow their instincts now, and would only consider a warchief to lead them through this massive war.

    From the 11 war chiefs gathered there, three stood out as the best among the rest.

    Guldan was known as the wisest orc, an advantage he obtained thanks to his heritage as a high orc. Under his tribe, he had 500 warriors, and it was said that he could employ trickery under certain situations, something orcs usually would loath to even try.

    LongBeard had the most warriors, almost 1,000 of them, thanks to his charisma and his willingness to indulge his subjects, a feature that made him well-loved among the orcs.

    Meanwhile, Scar was known as the strongest warchief, with the discipline to match. Most who would join Scar''s tribe do so with the understanding that they would be subjected to training that is no different from torture.

    Thebination of the 11 war chief tribes carried a total of almost 5,000 orcs, while the others were mostly smaller tribes, each with less than 100 warriors in their ranks.

    At this tense moment, surprisingly there was another orc warchief who stood up to express his desire for the position. Everyone turned around to look, but when they saw who it was, they were disappointed.

    The scary-looking orc was actually known for his powers, but thanks to an incident, he lost his leadership position in disgrace and now he was currently the sole member of his tribe.

    The name of this orc was Ghral.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 271 - Warchief

    Ghral was the warchief that faced defeat at the hands of Tristan about 3 months ago. In fact, the blood warrior orcs were once a part of Ghral''s vicious tribe of warriors.

    Since having to face the shame of losing his tribe, as well as losing a fight to a non-orc, Ghral has been desperately trying to find a way to win back his honor and regain the respect as a warrior and a chief.

    He has spent thest 3 months endlessly fighting and training, and he was hoping that now would be the best time to regain the honor he had lost. After all, he was still one of the 11 orc war chiefs hence he should be eligible to try for the leadership position of the horde.

    But as soon as he rose from his seat, sounds ofughter erupted throughout the room, clearly ridiculing him.

    "Mok Narash! Kagh!"

    "Ghral!! You have no voice in this matter!" A member of the Longbeard tribe shouted at him. All at once, every single one of the Longbeard champions continued tough at him.

    Ghral, who was used to being treated with high regard as a well-respected war chief, was simply nothing in the eyes of his peers now..

    But he refused to give up. He used this opportunity to challenge Longbeard himself in an attempt to show his powers and regain his honor. However, the famous orc refused.

    "Come back when you have at least 500 warriors to challenge me!" He scoffed, and the rest of his men chortled in agreement.

    The words enraged Ghral, and he was about to retaliate, but Scarr suddenly stood from his seat re toward Logbeard and shout;

    "Lok Thar! Longbeard!" He roared, mming his fist on his chest. "What about me?! Would you dare to challenge me?!"

    The sentence quickly drove the Longbeard orcs toplete silence. "No! Scarr, you are the strongest among us. We do not need to oppose one another; I will follow you instead!"

    Scarr then looked upon Guldan the Wise, proceeding to ask him if he would be willing to challenge him in exchange for his leadership. But the wise orc was indeed wise to reject the proposal.

    It appeared that the decision to make Scarr as the leader waspletely unanimous. The 50 plus chiefs that hailed from each of the tribes started to call up his name.

    "Scarr! Scarr! Chiwiikkk!!"

    Scarr was relishing his victory, but as he turned around, he realized that Ghral was still standing tall, facing him with a scowl on his face.

    "You¡­!" Scarr yelled, an excited grin on his face. "You wish to challenge me?"

    Ghral''s stomach dropped as he was immediately worried; at first, he was simply trying to use this opportunity to show off his new strength and regain his honor, but he didn''t realize that he would have to fight against Scarr, the strongest among them. But he really couldn''t back down now; this was thest chance he had. He would have to stand his ground, right here and now, or he would never be able to regain his honor again.

    Scarr red at him. "If you win, you''ll lead the battle. But if I win, you will have no choice but to serve under me!"

    It appeared that Ghral had no other option. He grabbed his ax and readied himself, nting his feet firmly on the ground, while a champion orc came and brought Scarr arge hammer.

    The bald orc with multiple scars that adorned his body was able to lift the huge hammer up as if it were a toy.

    When the fight started, the orcs initially thought that Ghral was no match for Scarr, but the orc surprised them as he was able to keep up with his opponent. It appeared that his training,bined with the motivation from his defeat against Tristan, really did change him.

    "Very good!" Scarr roared. "But not good enough!"

    After a few exchanges in moves, Ghral eventually found himself cornered. His body started to receive several unrelenting blows from the hammer and he could feel his body breaking underneath the pressure, but he didn''t give up.

    Surprisingly, after a while, the orcs start chanting both of their names in respect.

    "Ghral!! Scarr!! Ghral!! Chiwiiikkk!!"

    It was an exciting battle, but after a few minutes, Ghral was kneeling on the ground, unable to keep up to Scarr.

    "You should just give up! You will never defeat me!"

    Ghral was so ashamed that he simply wished to kill himself. At this moment, though, both of them suddenly heard a familiar voice.

    "Do you wish to win?"

    Ghral quickly looked up and was met with the sight of a figure donned in a cloak.

    Simultaneously, all the other orcs realized that there was someone they didn''t recognize standing among them. The figure pulled down the hood of his cloak, and beneath it, they could see the face of a white haired elf.

    "Cwhiiwiwkk! Gok Thar!! Who are you?! Do you seek death?"

    The elf remainedpletely calm, still fixating his gaze at Ghral. He repeated his question.

    "Do you wish to win? If you do, I can help you!"

    At the same time, the sound of drums came reverberating from outside, which the orcs knew was a warning.

    Along with the drumming came a group of orcs, who were steadily approaching from the hill.

    "Another tribe?! Which tribe is it?!" One of the orcs yelled.

    "Must be one of the small ones, nothing to be concerned about!"

    "There are so many of them!! There have to be more than 500 orcs!"

    The group of orcs was confused with the sudden appearance of an elf in a cape and a new orc tribe that they didn''t know. The 500 orcs were left outside, but they were surprised to see a dozen champions and two warchiefs approaching the center.

    Even more surprising was the fact that one of the warchiefs was a female High Orc.

    "Who are you!? Which tribe are you from?!" Asked Guldan the High Orc.

    Before the female orc could open her mouth to answer, it was Ghral who responded. "They are the Blood Warrior tribe"

    At that moment the hundreds of orcs turned towards one another,pletely rmed.

 Chapter 272 - Not Worthy

    When they heard the words ''Blood Warriors'' leave Ghral''s lips, all the orcs who had gathered there in a diplomatic meeting suddenly turned hostile. Immediately, they all took out their weapons and started to shout and yell, thrusting their fists into the air, hoping that a fight would break out.

    After all, during these past two weeks, this tribe who called themselves the Blood Warriors had taken over almost half of the territories within the Chaotic ins.

    As for Tristan, he had already heard that these gatherings were happening a few weeks back. With his Blood Warriors already pushing against the orcs and closely monitoring their ns, he was able to predict they would all eventually gather in this specific ce, and now that he got their attention and his troops were ready, its the best time to strike

    "Chiwiikkk! Cwhiiwikk!!"

    All of the orcs roared; they straightened up, readying themselves for the oing attacks. All the while, Karra, One Ear, and the other 10 orc champions quickly approached their leader, surrounding him on all sides as they prepared for the worst.

    It appeared that a fight was going to be inevitable, but before anyone was able to throw even a single punch, Karra began to yell out.

    "Osh''Kav! You are now in the presence of the chief of the Blood Warrior tribe!" Her yell quickly stopped them in their tracks..

    "We are here to talk! We have the same right to speak here as any other chief!" She addressed all the other chiefs with a cold gaze in her eye, making sure her message was sent across.

    The other warchief can tell there were two war chiefs that were essentially considered the leaders of the Blood Warrior n, which were the female high orc and the one eared orc, but the other tribe leaders who were present there were surprised to hear that it was theparably tiny white haired elf who was their true chief.

    Longbeard was the one who responded first.

    "Lok''mogul Zug!" He eximed, banging the staff of his weapon loudly on the ground.

    "An elf?! Your words are not worth anything in this council!"

    "Cih!" The orc spat vehemently into the ground in front of Tristan, and as a chief with such a great number of warriors as well as a good amount of poprity among the other leaders, his words were followed by the majority.

    Tristan had actually discussed this with Karra beforehand, when they were strategizing the specific ways they were going to approach this gathering of orc leaders. To crash their warchief council would be the best way to avoid any more unnecessary orc deaths, although the orcs as a species were engineered to ept elves, however, when it came to matters of honor, it still needed to be proven.

    Hence the reason why he believed that second best option was to send Tristan''s own warchief to represent him. It was for this role that Karra had prepared herself valiantly.

    "I am Karra, a high orc, a champion of the Blood Warrior n, and it is I who will be speaking on behalf of the tribe!" She raised her fist high into the air in a show of confidence.

    Now that it was a female high orc warchief who came forward, the 11 other warchiefs looked at one another, beginning to murmur amongst themselves in a rather perplexed manner. They were still undecided as to whether or not such a thing should be allowed.

    Once again, Longbeard was the one toment, a disdainful look stered on his face.

    "Huh! A female and a high orc! Chiiihh, that''s even worse than an elf!" it was followed byughed of his champions

    This time, though, a few of the warchiefs disagreed with Longbeard''s words. Especially Guldan, the high orc chief.

    Longbeard''s remarks actually caused Guldan to defend the female orc. As he spoke, he looked at Longbeard intently. "Let her have a say on this matter!

    "No!" Longbeard refused. "I will not let a female lead!! Never!"

    Karra''s eyes met Longbeard''s. The expression on her face was extremely determined, her mouth pressed into a long, thin line. She stared at him long and hard before challenging him to a duel, which the orc leader then epted. Unexpectedly, Longbeard made a specific request.

    "We shall fight unarmed. I dont not wish to hurt a female!"

    As he said this, his face was split into a smug grin. His smile only grew when Karra''s face fell slightly; she realized that she was actually at a disadvantage as her key abilities as a high orc did not lie in physical strength. Inparison, Longbeard was still one of the strongest orcs around.

    Karra refused to bow down, and epted the challenge anyway.

    When their fight finallymenced, both sides were able toy a hit on one another simultaneously. Being significantly bigger than Karra, though, Longbeard''s punches and hitsnded much harder. Being a humongous mass of muscle, the ferocious body ms he delivered were able to throw the female high orc onto the ground with extreme force.

    Karra looked upwards at Tristan with determination; she would not let him be disappointed. To win this battle, she knew that she had to utilize her wit. She decided that it would be futile to fight him directly, with conventional fighting techniques. She would dodge around therge warchief and hit only when she had an opening.

    After a few rounds of dodging, she saw an opportunity and kicked Longbeard''s foot out from under him, causing him to lose his bnce and fall to the ground.

    Longbeard was ashamed. Unexpectedly, he walked out of the duel, yelling something about how her unconventional fighting style was definitely the reason why she would never be considered a true orc.

    Unfortunately for Tristan, many of the orcs listened to him just out of hatred for what she represented; being different as both a high orc and female.

    Tristan was annoyed by this and wished he could just crush them all with his powers. But he tried his best to calm himself down. He turned around to face the only remaining option he had left.

    He only had one ear, and in ordance to their n he was ast resort option, so he wasn''t sure One Ear was able to win. With that being said, Tristan shot a nce towards Ghral instead.

    "This is yourst chance! Do you want to be strong?!"

    This time, Tristan realized that something was different about Ghral''s expression.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 273 - The Strongest

    Tristan camepletely prepared to kill all the warchiefs at the gathering.

    It would be a waste to kill all these orc warriors, really, but in order to take full control of all of the territories within the Chaotic ins, he could not risk allowing another warchief to hang around his turf. That''s why he decisively ordered his champion to kill all the tribe leaders as they crossed the chaotic ins.

    Seeing these dumb orc warchiefs made him itch with the desire to massacre all of them at once.

    Now, his entire n really depended on Ghral. Surprisingly, Tristan seemed to be rather attached to this particr warchief. It could have been his prowess in battle before, or the way he rejected hisst invite with such pride that made him want to tame him.

    "This is yourst chance!" Tristan was definitely not going to ask again.

    Unbeknownst to him, though, deep down, Ghral was already in his most desperate state; he was no longer able to put up with the constant losses he faced in terms of physicalbat as well as the shame that followed it. Before, he believed that his only choices were to either be one of Scarr''s subordinates or kill himself..

    But when he saw his previous second inmand, Karra, and the new powers she was able to wield, he was absolutely bewildered.

    The female orc was definitely only a new championst he saw her. It was only 3 months since that happened, and it was clear that in that short time period, she had be much stronger. This did not make any sense to him at all.

    He then looked towards the other champions that came with Tristan, and he could recognize half of them, even One Ear. He was formerly one of the strongest grunts in his n, not even a champion, and now he was a warchief.

    What Tristan just said had confused him, but now, after what he saw, hearing them again gave him a sudden calling to submit to this elf. Ghral walked towards the white haired elf,pletely determined.

    "Make me win and I will follow you!"

    Tristan gave him a smile in response.

    "You shall have it."

    [Blood Seal - Augmentation]

    [Augmented target requires 1000 Blood Essence points]

    He never augmented a real warchief before, and it pained him to see that it cost him three times the Blood Essence points of a champion, but he believed that it was worth a try, especially in a dire situation such as this.

    "Yes! Augment him!"

    [Target sessfully Augmented]

    A cloud of Blood Mist entered therge orc, and everyone could see that something was happening between the two of them.

    Guldan, the smartest among them, whispered incredulously to himself. "Blood Magic!"

    There was very minimal change in terms of appearance, but Tristan could feel a sense of pure power beginning to emerge inside of the dark green orc.

    He screamed, shouting his battle cry, which suddenly surprised everyone in the area.

    Ghral looked towards Tristan, the expression on his face unreadable, as he turned around and aimed his ax towards Scarr once again.

    "Scarr!!! Lok''tar!! We didn''t get to finish our fight¡­! So fight me!" He screamed at his opponent.

    The most respected of all the orcs, Scarr, was definitely not going to back down on his word. Once more, he lifted his great warhammer off the ground.

    "Lok Narash!" Arm yourself!"

    The two start to growl at one another as everyone cleared the area to give them the center ce. With Scarr epting the challenge, none of the other orcs would dare to stop them, And once again, they exchanged moves with one another.

    Within the first few hits they exchanged, Scarr was shocked to see how much different this orc has be. His huge hammer was not able to stifle the axe''s strikes in the slightest. The physical power of his opponent really shined through this time around.

    But seeing this only made the strongest orc in all of the Chaotic ins turn more and more excited as he used [Berserker Rage] on his opponent; this was the orc''s innate ability that increased his strength exponentially. In return, Ghral certainly did the same.

    His state of mind right now waspletely unshakeable; he was absolutely determined to fight to the death, and each of his blows were full of the rage he had repressed all this time. With the sheer power behind his punches, his opponent was quickly pushed back.

    Bammm!!! Bammm!!

    "Arrgghh!!! This is not possible!" Shouted therge, scarred orc.

    All the orc spectators rose up from their seats, cheering viciously upon seeing such an exciting fight, but only a few who could really understand what was happening to Ghral and the reason behind his sudden boost of strength. Guldan was one of them and he quickly turned toward the white haired elf and his subordinates in a state ofplete shock and awe, his eyes as wide as saucers.

    Bamm!! Bamm!!!

    It was as if Ghral''s fighting prowess andbat ability was increasing each second that passed; he was gradually bing stronger and stronger, being able to push the strongest orc aside with the sheer force of his strength, making him drop to the ground, kneeling as he looked up to stare his opponent in the eye.

    Unfortunately, when he was about toy hisst blow, his poor axe broke apart, its de shattering into several pieces.

    This gave Scarr a single, vital moment as an opportunity to counter attack and use his never before seen skill, [Mighty Blow].

    BAMMM!!!!

    The hammer swung downwards, and Ghral was forced to ept it with his bare arms.

    Absolutely refusing to give up, though, his fingers grasped the hammer firmly. He roared, almost as a final battle cry, and overcame Scarr''s strength, pushing the hammer away, grabbing Scarr''s waist and mming him down into the ground with an immense thud.

    Ghral grabbed the huge hammer and smashed it hard on the ground next to the half-dazed orc.

    Everyone that was watching could not believe what had just happened; all together, they started to chant his name repeatedly.

    Echoes of "Ghral!! Ghral!! Ghral!!" reverberated throughout, as the crowd that surrounded them erupted into cheers.

    But the victorious orc, who had only trained this hard and came this far in order to receive such respect and honor from his peers, surprisingly ignored them. Instead, he approached Tristan and kneeled before him, bowing his head.

    "My chief."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 274 - Hear Me Out!

    Finally, the warchiefs that had been rejecting him before had decided to join him.

    It looked like the only thing that was actually more important than honor in their eyes was strength, pure unmatched strength that allowed one to steamroll through every opposition.

    Tristan''s ability to strengthen an orc had been proven through the living example of Ghral, and apparently, this quickly made the other Orc Warchiefs and Champions fall into confusion. They were not sure how they should approach the new reality he had imposed upon them.

    Seeing the strongest among them being defeated, they all felt concerned. Some even turned afraid and paranoia, while the aggressive ones became enraged by the situation.

    "Sorcery! Ghral has dishonored us all with Sorcery!" shouted Longbeard with all the strength he had, as if he was afraid his voice wasn''t heard in the midst of the confusion.

    It appears this particr orc always tried to find a way to stir the mass in favor of him.

    Hearing such outrageous words, it was Ghral''s turn to be enraged..

    "GuK Tar! Long beard! How dare you!? Fight with me! I challenge you!!"

    Though orcs were known to have limited intelligence, but as one of the warchiefs, Longbeard knew about not epting duels that were obviously unfavorable to him. Even so, he couldn''t just straightforwardly refuse the other party''s challenge.

    Therefore, to not appear as a coward, he started shouting how the Blood Warrior Tribe was afraid of a real battle, how the grey creatures were not real warriors and could not bepared to them, which in his opinion were the real warrior orcs.

    To put it simply, he wanted to provoke the others who were still hesitant about the situation.

    "Let us fight on a real battle!!'' shout Longbeard confidently

    While he was shouting, sending out his thought-provoking sentences, amotion suddenly urred.

    DUM!! DUM!! DUM!!

    Loud, sonorous beats of drums were heard in the air, this time much louder and they wereing from both sides of the walls.

    "Chiwiikkk!! Blood Warrior Tribe hase!! Chiwikkk!!"

    From three directions, north, south, and west, three legions with 1,000 Uruks each appeared at the outskirts of the settlement. The drums, the marches, the demeanor; they were ready to battle!

    It was as if Longbeard''s wish for suddenly being granted, and when the Uruk hase suddenly longbeard turn much quieter than before.

    On the other hand, the development of the situation made Karra worry, and all the champions within the settlement quickly readied themself to fight in response to the troops outside.

    "Chief, I will hold them all so you should retreat! One Ear, you go and protect the Chief. The others stay with me!"

    "Lok! Regar! We are ready!" shouted the Blood Warrior Tribe''s champions in unison.

    The expression seen on their faces clearly showed they were not afraid even though they were surrounded by dozens of Orc Warchief and 50 Orc Champions together with hundreds of grunts not counting the thousands outside of the gate

    Even though the situation gradually grew out of control due to the appearance of the three legions, Tristan still appeared calm. He raised his hand to the air and Karra who saw it quickly stopped, ready for any order that was possibly given by her chief.

    Under the gazes of everyone, Tristan walked to the center. He was very calm, not even the slightest hint of fear detected on his face; all because he was ready to decimate all that opposed him.

    "I am the chief of the Blood Warrior Tribe! I heard that you, greenskin, were honorable! Hasn''t my champion here already proven enough?! All I am asking is that you warrior to hear me out!"

    Long Beard interrupted him and spat saliva to his feet. "Cih! I will not hear a word from a puny elf!"

    The audacity and disrespect Long Beard showed to him certainly made Tristan angry. Suffice to say, he quickly cast [Blood Synthesis], creating ropes out of blood. The ropes that were numbered in half a dozen immediately flew toward the orc.

    Caught unprepared, Long Beard quickly found himself bound in all his limbs, waist and neck by the blood-synthesized ropes. He tried to break free from the bindings by pure strength, but his attempts were only for naught.

    Realizing his efforts were in vain, Long Beard quickly ordered the Orc Champions under him to swing their ax at the blood ropes. Unfortunately, it didn''t matter how many times and strong they sent their axes down, the blood-synthesized ropes were still intact. There wasn''t even a bit of scratch on them.

    On the other hand, Tristan watched and let them try their chances to free their chief with a grin on his face.

    After seeing the despair on their faces, he finally pulled the ropes, sending Long Beard to the ground and dragging him until hey beneath his feet.

    "I''m not a sorcerer," said Tristan as he looked directly at Long Beard''s horrified eyes. "I am the Blood Monarch and no one shall insult me!"

    Tristan used the ropes to raise Long Beard high into the air and started tightening the bindings, making therge, green-colored chief scream in pain. A few of thetter''s champions charged at him because of his actions.

    Karra and the others were about to charge themself when they were stopped by Tristan''s raised hand. Understanding their chief''s intention, Karra ordered her champions to back down and watch the brutality that was about to happen.

    Looking at the iing champions, Tristan stood calmly where he was. The moment they arrived within his reach, however, they were immediately greeted with a fist to the face.

    BAM! BAM! BAM!

    One after another, the figures of the Orc Champion flew through the air as Tristan sent them back faster than they hade with only one punch each. Before more started making trouble, he decided to tighten the ropes once again, and immediately,

    "Crckk!!"

    Crisp sound of bone breaking could be heard in the air, stopping the champions that were about to save their chief again. Disbelief was seen on their faces as they looked at Tristan as if he was a demon.

    It was a sound rarely to be heard by orcs, even more so from a warchief, as orcs'' skin and muscle were known to be harder than stone itself. Their bodies subconsciously shuddered when they recalled how easy those delicate-looking ropes break their chief''s bones.

    While the orcs were not sure on what they should do, Tristan did not hesitate any longer because he knew Long Beard was the problem''s root. He immediately used his whole strength to tighten the ropes and crush the other party.

    St!!!

    Blood sttered across the ground as Long Beard''s crushed, nearly unidentifiable body fell down lifelessly.

    As expected, Long Beard''s death angered some of them as he could see several champions be restless. Even so, Tristan was not worried. After all, he only wanted the ones that fully submitted to him and he won''t ept any rebellion. Therefore it''s better to flushed these future problems right now.

    Therefore, he turned facing all the war chiefs that surrounded him, and shouted!

    "I will ept all warchiefs who disagree to fight me! All at once! I will ept any number!"

    The brazen words spoken by Tristan made them hesitate instead of provoking. Well, it was to be expected; they had seen what he did to Long Beard.

    Realizing what these champions and warchiefs were thinking, Tristan added on,

    "If that''s isn''t enough? Alright! I will not use weapons nor magic!" He then starts to provoke them further by pointing at each of them. "Now! Which chief dares to fight me?!" His eyes scanned around, and a mocking smirk suddenly appeared on his lips.

    "Or, is there no one brave enough in here? Can you really call yourself a warrior?"

    Thanks to the rich insult Tristan added to his challenge, the rage these orcs had subsided the fear they felt.

    One, two, three... one after another, Orc Warchief started to step forward and stood before Tristan. In the end, there were six of them. One of these six actually looked at Scarr, the strongest, clearly intending to ask thetter to join, but the strongest orc refused.

    "No! I have lost, so I have no right in this matter anymore."

    Tristan realized Scarr and the high orc war chief decided not to join the fight, he decided to ignore them and focus on the Orc Warchiefs standing in front of him.

    "Six! Very good!"

    This number should be enough to make Tristan sweat. He honestly thought he would be enjoying this uing fight.

    Immediately, Tristan took his cape off. He was about to prepare himself when a figure suddenly approached him. It was no other than Ghral.

    He came to give his respect and said

    "Chief, I sincerely beg you. Please let me fight in your stead!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 275 - Overlord

    Tristan was quite surprised when he heard that Ghral wanted to take his ce in the fight. Even though the augmentation he received had indeed made him strong, he was doubtful Ghral would be able to win against 6 Orc Warchiefs at the same time. He looked intently at his newest warchief, and saw thetter seemed to be in such a frenzy for a fight.

    In the end, Tristan decided to follow what his gut feeling told him and allow Ghral to take the stead. He swiftly stepped backwards, intending to enjoy the unfolding show.

    "Groowlll!!" Ghral growled loudly as his eyes fixed at the opponents before him.

    "I am Ghral! You all have to defeat me before facing my Chief!"

    Ghral''s unexpected provocation caused the situation to turn exciting for Tristan and the rest of the orcs who were spectating. The six Orc Warchiefs, who were previously not sure about their decision to face Tristan, now they had someone else to direct their anger to.

    They all startedughing simultaneously at Ghral once again, for not knowing the limit of his own strength..

    Bombarded with the mockingughter, Ghral remained silent and only picked up Scarr''s hammer that was lying on the ground as he walked toward the center of the settlement where all six Orc Warchiefs were. Seeing Ghral approach, they also started to move and surround him.

    Immediately, without even caring if Ghral was ready or not, one warchief charged at him brandishing his de. In response, Ghral skillfully positioned his body and grabbed the dull part of the de with his hand before throwing the said warchief barrelling toward another who tried to attack from behind.

    Then, he swung the hammer in his hand into a big circle, parrying the other two who followed behind the first warchief who charged.

    Crkkk!! Loud sound was heard in the air as the hammer smash sessfully broke the two orcs'' saber into pieces. In an instant, two Orc Warchiefs lost their weapons of attack.

    The two orcs, which were mmed onto each other by Ghral, quickly got onto their feet. They appeared to bepletely unhurt, except for their pride.

    One of them screamed his battle cry as he jumped at Ghral. Unfortunately for him, Ghral was prepared and a step ahead as he swung the hammer in his hand and sent the orc flying through the air again.

    Another warchief lunged at him and managed to pierce a spear into his back. The orc looked very ted when he saw blood spilled on Ghral''s body, but his smirk quickly disappeared when he saw a fist erging in his vision.

    He was sessfully beaten by Ghral''s counterpunch that sent him straight to the ground and even took a few of his teeth out. The loose teethnded on the ground and were free to see by everyone on the scene.

    Seeing the strength Ghral disyed, the six Orc Warchiefs no longerughed and decided to attack him together.

    BAM!! BAMM!!

    Ghral''s hammer managed tond on one of them, making his body fall as well as heavily injuring him. However, two other warchiefs leaped to his behind and locked both Ghral''s arms, holding him from moving away. In the meantime, one warchief was seen advancing, wanting tond the critical blow.

    This made Tristan agitated, but he could see that Ghral was still not giving up despite the precarious situation he was in. Therefore, he decided to not make a move, yet.

    Unexpected by his opponents, Ghral managed to dodge the spear that was aimed at his heart by shifting his body, and it only ended up piercing through his shoulder. Even so, the pain caused by the stab forced him to let go of the hammer he held.

    The other warchief dashed in, ready to cut Ghral with the saber in his hand. Looking at the situation, this would probably be the end of Ghral. However, Ghral roared with all the power he had and threw the two on his back to the front, making them sh the saber toward one of them instead.

    The fight turned into a full-on, head-on brawl as Ghral started to sendbos of punches and kicks to the six Orc Warchiefs. He didn''t care who he attacked and kept sending attacks ferociously. As long as they were near, they would receive either kick or punch to their body.

    Unfortunately, orcs were known as creatures with the most tenacity, so even with their body smashed with several broken bones or pierced by weapons, they would still continue fighting till thest drop of blood.

    Some timeter, Ghral finally looked like he started to lose his strength as more of those warchiefs held him down and threw multiple hits on him, but none were critical. It seemed now that Ghral was under their hands, they wanted to take their time to savor the taste of victory.

    At what seemed to be the end of him, Ghral''s eyes turned to Tristan and he screamed another warcry before his body suddenly began to tremble and change.

    "Arggghhh!!! Uurrggh!!"

    Following the changes, Ghral discovered a new strength, a breakthrough that gave the needed power to break off the warchiefs who held him down. As a loud roar echoed across the settlement, the four warchiefs holding Ghral down were sent flying backwards.

    His muscles got progressively erging and his skin actually turned brownish, making him look like arge-sized human. There was also a unique-looking marking appearing on his neck and bare chest.

    The other two warchiefs who were just a step in front of him were quickly grabbed by Ghral''s monstrous arm, and the two quickly discovered themselves getting mmed into each other.

    Crack! Sounds of bones cracking were heard as the two warchiefs fell sluggishly to the ground after Ghral let go his grip on them.

    The other warchies who were about to jump in again immediately stopped in their tracks. They all looked at Ghral with apparent disbelief on their faces.

    At this time, suddenly, Guldan the High Orc Warchief eximed in incredulity as he was also shocked by what he saw. "An Orc Overlord!"

    Overlord, was the next and final known evolution of the orcs. This knowledge was being gically imprinted into their mind, hence the reason they knew despite the fact they never saw an Orc Overlord before. In their eyes, Overlord was the final journey into the orc''s perfection.

    All the remaining, still standing warchiefs quickly took several steps back as they were unwilling to continue fighting against such existence. The mere presence of an Orc Overlord itself brought chills down into their very being.

    On the other hand, subsequent to Ghral''s roar, all hundreds of orcs started to chant his name loudly. "Ghral!! Ghral!! Ghral!"

    Tristan himself was looking at Ghral with same disbelief the others showed at their faces. He didn''t even imagine that Ghral was able to evolve during the fight.

    Done with his transformation, Ghral shouted a battle cry one more time as he stared at the retreating Orc Warchiefs. The intense gaze he shot was asking them for another round of fight.

    Unfortunately, the four remaining warchiefs decided to drop their weapons and put their hands on their chests. All the others, among them Gundal and Scarr, also followed suit.

    "Ghral! Ghral! Ghral!"

    The sweating,pletely bloodied Ghral shouted to the hordes, and immediately, they all became silent. They all waited for Ghral to talk, but the Overlord was seen turning his body around and bowed at the white-haired elf.

    Afterwards, he turned to the hordes and shouted, "Orcs of the Chaotic ins, that is your chief and master. Follow him!"

    It was at this time that Tristan stepped forward, catching the gazes of everyone.

    "Orcs of the Chaotic ins!!! The blood warriors havee today, ready for battle. But battles among ourselves was not something that I wished for! If glory and honor are what you all are looking for, join me and I will give you the war and glory you have never seen before!"

    Ghral immediately followed with another cry, and the orcs quickly started chanting Tristan''s name, the name Golug! As soon as Karra and Ghral knelt before him, the others also swiftly went to their knees.

    "Golug! Golug! Golug!"

    With the help of Ghral, Tristan had totally dominated all the warchiefs that had gathered here. Guldan, the High Orc Warchief, even Scarr, the most respected Orc Warchief among them.

    The two walked and arrived in front of Tristan before giving him their respects by putting their hand on their chests and bowing. When the others saw the two leaders submit toward their new leader, they immediately followed suit.

    For a few days, Tristan continued to send orc groups throughout all of the Chaotic ins to make sure all the tribes knew his existence and submitted to the Blood Warrior Tribe. Eventually, the entire Chaotic ins fell under his control within a week.

    Right now, Tristan was facing the two dozen Orc Warchiefs standing before him. They were all waiting for their orders, for the next move he wanted to do.

    Seeing that Tristan was silent ever since they entered, Guldan, the High Orc Warchief, asked, "Chief, can you please tell us your n? Are we going to attack the barbarians in the east? Those Asgradian have killed many of our kin!"

    Tristan turned his gaze at him and calmly replied, "Yes, we will eventually. But for now, you all will follow me to the west, we will be facing the Arcadian first!"

    Hearing this, Guldan, Serene and Herrera became shocked, while the other Orcs were all just excited.

    "Chiwwikk!!!"

 Chapter 276 - Investigate

    Caerleon City

    Thest three months, the citizens of Caerleon were dazzled by the series of many shocking things they had the chance to witness in their lifetime. It all started from the sudden death of their mayor, who was quickly reced with a new one named Tristan.

    From then on, the events spiralled out of control and they couldn''t do anything but being dragged by it.

    On the first day the man came, he promised that he would solve the problem that had gued their city ever since. Naturally, most of them thought that this newly deployed mayor was having a little bit of a problem in his head when they heard the so-called promise.

    But then, their reality was immediately put into test as a sequence of events swiftly came barraging into their lives in the following days; the war against the barbarians, the Caerleon''s adventurers massacre, and the invasion of the orc hordes.

    The citizens of Caerleon quickly found themselves living under constant fear of losing their lives. It even led many to move into other towns which they thought were much safer than the current Caerleon.

    Those who escaped indeed received respite, but at the cost of starting everything over in a new and foreign environment.. Meanwhile, those who decided to stay and brave through the violent storm, they discovered that thest few weeks things had changed to a better direction.

    On this particr day, a fat-looking elf was seen walking down the street of the southernmost city of Arcadia. He was also one of those people who lived under constant fear the moment he arrived at this ce. In fact, the fear was even worse as he was actually forced toe to this ce, or rather, kidnapped.

    But now, as he walked through the streets of the city, he could see those angry faces seen on the masses were no more. It had been reced with smiles and vibrantughter.

    As he continued the aimless walk he was currently going through, he noticed several women looked toward him while throwing out winks. At first, he was surprised and then ted by it. However, it soon died down when he realized those winks were actually sent to the new vice head guard of Caerleon City who was currently walking next to him.

    "Following my buddy Tristan was the best choice I ever made in my life!" said the Caerleon''s newly promoted vice guard while returning smiles and gestures to the manydies at the street.

    "Buddy, huh? How unexpected.. Let me hear you call him that exact wordter when he returns." The fat-looking elf''s words caused the busy man to turn his head immediately, mercy written on his face.

    Thence-wielding adventurer Seth, who had been following Tristan, quickly cooled his expression as he coughed and let out a sheepish grin,

    "Even if he doesn''t think of me as one, at least he is to me! To be honest with you, I have seen his greatness since from the first time we met!" said the man proudly

    Hearing the shameless reply of his walkingpanion, Uriel decided to ignore the former because his ears couldn''t afford to hear any more of the bull. After making rounds across the city that was trusted to his hand, Uriel immediately made his way back to the town hall.

    For him, now that the hard work was done, time to once again enjoy a good day of peace and quiet with a cold drink and massage by beautifuldies.

    Just when he wasying down closing his eyes, It was at this exact time that a flying object suddenly came hovering over the city, causing everyone who caught a look of it to be surprised.

    Recognizing the object, Uriel quickly ran toward the direction where the flying objectnded, which was just outside of Caerleon City''s wall on the north. A few dozen guards were seen running towards and crowding the northern gate because of the flying object. Many became rmed by its arrival and unknown origin, but Uriel quickly calmed them down and ordered them to open the gate.

    The moment the order was issued, the northern gate was quickly opened and everyone there had the chance to clearly see the object they were wary of. It was a ship, a flying ship colored in ck and giving off faint sheen.

    The ship was the means of transportation that the Kingsde had been using for quite some time now, and its appearance usually came with urgent matters that needed to be delivered in the shortest possible time by the King.

    Uriel quickly came out of the northern gate apanied by Seth and Gazef who had just arrived.

    When the back door of the ship opened, Uriel was given the shock as he saw who hade. Among the dozen white-uniformed Kingsde members stood the Arcadian King himself. King Can, the ruler of Arcadia, had visited Caerleon City, bringing his trusted confidant, the old-looking man with white beard, Tobias the Great Wizard.

    Everyone on the scene recognized the Arcadian King and they immediately knelt to wee him. As for Uriel, he gave a deep bow to thetter.

    "Wee to Caerleon City, King Can, Your Majesty, what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

    Seeing Uriel, Can calmly spoke with a faint smile hanging on his face, "Hello, cousin. I came to check on the city. So, please show me around."

    Upon hearing it, Uriel nned to lead the Arcadian King and his envoy directly to the town hall. However, it was apparent the king had another n as he decided to take a look around the city first.

    King Can eventually did his own round throughout the city. He visited the training ground, took a look at the market, inspected the newly-built cksmith, and most importantly, he walked around while observing the people on the street. He was also surprised to see dozens of Forlorn elf stationed to defend the city.

    Along the way, Uriel asked the Arcadian King questions, but thetter seemed to be upied by something as he only gave nods in reply. Realizing that the other party was in deep thought, Uriel decided to just follow him around.

    After walking through a few streets in the city, Can seemed finally satisfied as he said, "Alright. Let''s make our way to the town hall."

    Several minutester, the group arrived at the town hall, and the Arcadian King started calling names to be summoned before him, several of them. Among them were Gazef, several people working under the previous mayor''s rule, those who had been working with Uriel, and also the mines'' previous owners.

    When he heard the people the Arcadian King wanted to see, Uriel actually had a bad feeling sprouting within. However, there was really not much he could do. Therefore, he just sent his subordinates to bring all of them to the town hall.

    Later on, the fat elf could only stand there, listening as the Arcadian King began questioning these people one by one. His bad feeling was true, but there was nothing he could do.

    With Tobias'' existence standing next to the king, no one could escape from telling the truth. Can even ordered them to hold the God stone to make sure none of them were under any of Tristan''s influence.

    After hours of questioning, Uriel was the only one left in the room with the Arcadian King and the Great Wizard.

    Looking at the former, Can asked, "Tell me, Uriel. Why are you helping him?"

    Immediately, Uriel said that was because he was kidnapped. From the words he spoke, it seemed his actions of helping the blood elf was done against his will.

    Tobias the wizard calmly said "Being kidnapped is true, but no, My King. He waspletely willing when he helped the Blood Elf."

    Uriel realized he had messed up when Tobias even chose to use his ability to discern his words. Previously, he didn''t realize how much interest the Arcadian King had to look into this matter. Therefore, he quickly tried to remedy the mistake.

    "Forgive me, Your Majesty. The truth is, he promised me arge sum of coins. That''s the reason why I am willing to help him. You know how much I like coins.."

    The Arcadian King maintained his silence for a second before saying, "Yes, your greed has always been what stunted you from improving, but I''ve known you for 50 years, Uriel. You wouldn''t go to this extent just for some coins."

    It seemed there was nothing that could go past this astute ruler. Understanding that, Uriel eventually told him the true reason. At first, it was started because of amusement, but it gradually changed.

    "He is brash and hard to deal with, but strangely, I find it exciting to follow his lead. That is the truth."

    A look of astonishment appeared on the Arcadian King''s face when he heard Uriel''s answer. He was so surprised that he asked Tobias twice if his analysis of Uriel not being under Tristan''s weird magic was correct.

    "Yes, Your Majesty. None of the people we talk with today are under any influence whatsoever."

    The Arcadian King once again fell into deep thought, and this time, Uriel braved himself to say what he wanted to tell the other party.

    "I really think you should try to know him better, Your Majesty."

    Can turned to Uriel, his gaze calm. "Yes, we shall. In fact, I believe he should be here any time now"

    Uriel was surprised by the reply, and before he could ask what it exactly meant, amotion urred.

    RANG!!!

    Loud sounds of rm were echoing throughout the city, and it came from the south.

    Uriel as well as the two quickly made their way to the southern gate.

    Standing on top of the walls and looking at the sight in front of him, Uriel took a deep sigh, he realize his day of peace would not be avable for quite some time.

    Far into the distance, scattered throughout the horizon, ten thousand orcs, the blood warrior hordes were approaching Caerleon City.

 Chapter 277 - My Goal

    It took a little over a month for Tristan to finally be able to take over all the territories within the Chaotic ins, and now he had returned to Caerleon with the hordes of orcs trudging loyally behind him.

    10,000 strong green creatures walking together in line formation was certainly a very intimidating sight.

    Forparison, Caerleon city only had about 5,000 civilians and just a little over 500 guards. It was said that the whole of Arcadia had over 30,000 soldiers in total, all of which were human warriors, hence the reason why the forces that Tristan brought could seriously bring cmity and destruction to the entire kingdom.

    But as soon as he began to approach Caerleon city, he realized that a dozen figures were waiting for him outside of the Southern Gate. Tristan first thought that the group consisted of his subordinates, but when he got closer, he was surprised at what he saw. Not expecting the sight thatid before him at all, he began tough hysterically.

    "Hahaha! This is certainly a surprising wee!"

    Hispanions, Serene and Hererra, did not have the same enhanced sense as he did, hence they had to get a little closer in order to see the line of people in white uniform Tristan was so amused about.

    "That''s - that''s Can!" Serene eximed, extremely confused as to why he was standing there..

    Serene, as princess of the Vanyar, was actually quite close to Can. Hence the reason why this situation immediately worried her. A dozen Kingsde as well as the king himself were waiting at the front of the city gates, while Tristan and his army of 10,000 orcs were situated right behind her.

    She looked toward her mate and said "Tristan, what''s your n, really?"

    The white hair elf only smile and said "Don''t worry, Just follow my lead."

    She was definitely worried, thest time she was apanying Tristan, it ended up with a fight and Tristan being subdued by the King. Of course, he''s much stronger now but the facts remain the same, she was worried they would fight and kill each other in the heat of the moment.

    Tristan raised his hand, at the same time, all 10,000 of his warriors stopped marching altogether. He then looked over to the side and called out Ghral the Overlord to follow him as he walked forward. Serene decided to tag along out of concern, and all three of them headed towards the middle ground between their two groups.

    From the other side, it was King Can and Tobias who approached them. In the end, they all met in the open area, the neutral area between Caerleon CIty''s walls and the orc hordes.

    As they faced each other, both the king and Tobias seemed utterly fascinated as they looked in the direction of Ghral. Tristan knew that the two of them knew exactly what Ghral was, thus the reason for their scrutiny toward thetter.

    In fact, the reason why he took Ghral to join the meet was exactly to intimidate them. To show not only that he had a legendary orc next to him, but also the fact that he could tame one.

    Tristan smiled at the king as he said, "Ah, how honored I am to know that the king himself would wee my return so warmly¡­ You are here to congratte me on my sess, I presume?"

    Right away, it was Tobias who shouted vehemently in response. He stepped forward so that he was standing almost chest to chest with Tristan, who was still smirking. "You are being disrespectful toward the King!"

    Upon hearing the usation, Tristan merely replied with a smile. "Disrespectful, yes, it''s true! But to call him King, however... I''m honestly still undetermined as to whether or not he''s really my King."

    "You Insolent elf¡­!" Tobias the great wizard said before cursing Tristan out in anger; eventually, the King told him to stop at once.

    King Can, who had remainedpletely silent up until this point, finally opened his mouth to respond. He addressed Tristan with a cold look in his eye, brows furrowed.

    "What exactly are you nning to do with those hordes behind you?"

    Tristan turned his eyes to the Arcadian King and calmly said, "I merely did the task that you asked me to do, can''t you see? As the mayor, I just made sure that no threat came upon the city, not from the barbarians, orcs, nor the elves. All three of which I already handled."

    With a smirk on his face, he continued. "I think the 3-month long task had just passed. Now I see that you havee to check on what I have done with the city, so please tell me; did I do a good job?"

    The king stared at him intently. "You did a fine job. There are some issues you went too far on, but in the end, you cleared up your objective, so it''s still a job well done."

    Tristan smiled and quickly responded. "Aahhh, thank you! Thank you... Yes, I worked really hard... I did!"

    Despite the good naturedness of his words, everyone could clearly see that Tristan was mocking the king with his sarcastic tone. This made Serene grow even more worried.

    The victim of the sarcasm, on the other hand, still maintained his calm and said, "Let''s stop all the pretense and tell me the truth, are you nning to massacre everyone from here to the capital?"

    Tristan stopped smirking when he heard that, and this time he stared at the king with a serious look.

    "Yes, if I have to, to achieve my goal."

    The king replied "To what end? What is your goal?"

    Tristan has been thinking about it since he took over the Forlorn kingdom.

    Take over the chaotic ins and the orc forces were actually part of that of the deceased Forlorn Prince''s n. He thought it was always a good idea to have thousands of warriors under hismand, and now that he had achieved it, he had been thinking about what he should do with it.

    At first, he only thought about using the force to intimidate the king and get his sister to return to him and maybe some benefit, like a permanent home in Caerleon or somewhere within the elves kingdom for some living in peace, outside of any threat.

    But now as times went on, it was as if he already experienced what he was thinking before and knew it would never work. Something within him warned him that as a blood elf, there would never be a true peace for him. The only way of peace was to dominate all future threats, like what he did for thest three months.

    Tristan knew that it was definitely the blood elf part of him talking, but as it was what he was now, he might as well embrace it. There was no other choice for him, and therefore, the answer for the other party''s question was:

    "My goal right now is the Arcadian''s total submission."

    The moment the words came out of his mouth, Tristan knew that was what he wanted. This revtion quickly surprised Serene who stood next to him and was instantly received as a threat by Tobias the wizard standing next to the Arcadian King.

    The king, however, seemed to be amused by Tristan''s words. He strangely didn''t show any anger at all, and instead, asked another question.

    "You wish to be our king? What do you know about ruling?"

    Tristan replied, "I have no experience about being mayor too, look how Carleon be, I believe I can do better with Arcadia."

    Tristan had actually picked up a few things since he became the mayor that he disagreed with about how the other party managed his country. The other party was being too soft with the way he handled the town tax which led to corruption, and the way he handled the Forlorn was also what caused the rebellion itself.

    Of course, Tristan was sure there were still many things he didn''t know about governing, but somehow something in him gave him confidence that he could do it along the journey.

    His answer could certainly be considered as an insult, however the king was still calm and unexpectedly smiled as he said, "You have changed.. That''s very good."

    The next thing Can did was even more surprised he calmly removed his royal coat while saying

    "I do not wish to see bloodshed, but I will definitely not let you get my throne easily. So I believe unless we know who is stronger between us, whatever we are discussing next is only a moot point."

    Hearing this, Tristan showed a wild grin and replied, "Agreed"

    Serene and Tobias were both dumbfounded by the unexpected development, and thetter begged the king to reconsider his decision. Unfortunately, it seemed nothing they said could stop these two figures.

    In the end, they were forced to step back as the two prepared themselves to brawl with each other.

 Chapter 278 - Fighting The King

    The two of them stood on each side of the field facing each other. On one side, the beautiful gate of Arcadia''s southernmost city stood proud, while on the other side, there was a horde of 10,000 orcs.

    Tristan took a deep breath, prepared himself, and used [Blood Synthesis]. Fountains of blood appeared around him and merged into a massive greatsword made of blood. It was his preferred weapon in fights.

    The King used his storage ring and took out a broad sword with a golden handle and shining de. The weapon looked majestic and elegant, fitting for a king.

    Both of them pointed their weapons at each other. Tristan grinned and boldly imed.

    "To be clear, you are offering the kingdom if I manage to beat you, don''t you?"

    The king replied.. "That is what normally happens when you defeat the King, so yes."

    "Then¡­" Tristan took on a fighting stance. "Don''t even bother asking me to submit to you if I lose! You better kill me with that sword of yours!"

    His opponent, the king, shook his head and held out three fingers towards Tristan. "Three years! If I beat you, you will be in my service for three years. Surely, the whole Arcadian kingdom would beparable to the value of 3 years of the blood elf''s services!"

    Tristan stared at the King in disbelief, The king definitely struck a hard bargain, as he would not ept anything more than 3 years. "Alright, then! But only if you let my sister go!"

    "She was never my prisoner, but yes! It''s a deal!"

    The King snapped his fingers, and light shone all over his body before solidifying into ayer of rough ck stone all over his skin.

    [Greater Stone Skin] a tier 4 spell, and the same earthen spell used by the Forlorn elder Dulos. Tristan remembered it was this particr spell the one the king used at hisst moment of the duel, a decision that cost Tristan the fight. But currently, he has no worry about this spell at all and Dulo''s wellbeing was the proof.

    Tristan charged at high speeds and pointed his de towards the King.

    nk!

    His [Blood Synthesis] sword was effortlessly parried with the golden sword, but this time, Tristan could feel that he was able to exert some pressure on the King. At least, the King had to be capable of this much to spar with him.

    nk! nk!

    Their swords collided over and over, creating a cacophony of metallic sounds echoing throughout the arena. On theirst duel, Tristan was only on his stage 3 Blood Monarch body, and it ended in his loss even with his best efforts. Now that he had raised his strength to stage 5, he was definitely able to fight on an even footing with the King.

    King Can definitely has as much strength as a Katra 5 elf just like Janus. Tristan was really still holding back most of his strength to check how much stronger Can waspared to Janus.

    nk! nk!

    Tristan realized that the king has a much more refined sword skill, as King Can definitely had taken a part in kingdom-scale battles and thus had more experience. However, in terms of pure strength alone, Tristan was still better, so he was definitely able to close the gap.

    Whenever the King used a sword battle art to counter, Tristan would always have enough speed to dodge or enough strength to push back without the King''s weapons harming him too much.

    On the opposite side, King Can was definitely surprised to see Tristan''s blood construct sword able to match the strength of his tier 4 sword artifact. It was even able to hurt him slightly and gave him small cuts that oozed blood, which made the King even more excited.

    His expression showed nothing, but deep down, he was amazed by Tristan''s skill to make high quality weapons out of his blood.

    nk!!!

    A loud metallic ringing resounded, and the two were thrown back away from each other at the same time. The King appraised Tristan from top to bottom, and said

    "Your sword skills are very basic, you should spend more time training!"

    After being thrown back a few steps and dashed towards Tristan. Tristan responded by doing the same and dashed towards the King as well.

    "Don''t you worry about that! I will have plenty of timeter after I beat you and be king!"

    "Your improvement in such a short time span is impressive! Then, I shall honor this fight and use my real strength!"

    The King jumped back, dispelled his tier 4 stone skin spell, and used a much better earth spell. His skin glowed with yellowish-golden light, and the texture of stone was no longer visible. What protected him was pure concentrated spirit energy.

    [Tier 6 ¨C Armor of the Earth]

    Finally, the king revealed a high-tier spell worthy of a Katra 5 fighter. Even with a casual nce, it was easy to tell that the spell gave the king a much better defense than the [Greater Stone Skin]. But he was not afraid; in fact, he felt his bloodlust surge as his blood sang for more violence.

    nk! nk!

    As Tristan expected, his sword was only able to scratch the surface of the king''s skin, without being able to cut flesh let alone draw blood. Tier 6 spells are definitely on a whole different level.

    In addition, the king''s new spell had started to push him back. The king''s strength had increased exponentially, and his advantage in strength was no longer valid. Added with the king''s multiple sword art, Tristan started to receive damage.

    With a strong defense coupled with excellent sword skills, Tristan was unable to maintain his advantage without strength or technique, it was only a matter of time until he started to taste defeat.

    St!

    The king''s swordnded a solid hit and cut deep into Tristan''s neck. Blood sttered under him and on the golden sword.

    Tristan jumped back as the king swung the sword. He then used his [Blood Synthesis], and little by little, the wound closed as if it was never there in the first ce.

    The king''s smile became wider, almost manic in his excitement. He stared at Tristan and said.

    "That is a very handy skill, do you have anything else to show me, Tristan?"

    "That depends, only if you are strong enough" Tristan answered once more grabbed the sword with all of his strength he charged again.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 279 - Surrender!

    Even though Tristan had casted [Fire Aura] to make up for the difference between the two of them, it was apparent that it was still not enough. It seemed what the Arcadian King said was somewhat true, that he really needed to have more practice in the art of the sword.

    There was no point in having a lot of strength and speed, but kept getting parried and dodged by his opponent''s skillful moves..

    Previously, it was always his body''s muscle memory that helped him keep up with the expertise his opponents disyed against him. However, the same couldn''t be said about the Arcadian King.

    The man seemed to have incorporated so many variations and techniques within his fighting style, and the King kept changing his approach, Tristan muscle memory finally found its limitation.

    St!! Blood spilled from Tristan as the Arcadian King''s golden sword managed to cut off his arm. As a result, Tristan''s sword found its way to the ground.

    After using [Blood Synthesis] to recreate his arm, Tristan decided he would abandon fighting using the sword altogether as he was sure he wouldn''t be able to best the other party in it..

    He started creating many blood-synthesized projectiles as he started bombarding with ranged attack.

    Swish! Swish! Swish!

    Sounds of air being sliced through were heard as half a dozen of Tristan''s projectiles flew rapidly through the air heading towards the Arcadian King. The razor-sharp, boomerang-like des flew in many unusual trajectories, making them really hard to evade.

    At first contact, the des managed to overwhelm the Arcadian King and reach their intended targets. s, they were not able to cut deep enough through the king''s defensive spell. Tristan only saw it ripple before returning back to normal.

    Even so, the des gave him the opportunity he needed.

    While the Arcadian King was distracted by the desing at him from basically all directions, Tristan leaped into the air and proceeded to cast multiple [Fireball] in rapid session.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Multiple strong fireballs bombarded and sted the area where the Arcadian King was, creating such a big explosion that itunched dirt and dust in all directions. For a moment, visibility dropped to its lowest level as the area was shrouded in thick ck smoke.

    The fight of the two had gone for quite some time, and now it wasn''t just Tristan''s ten thousand orcs who were watching, but also the citizens of Caerleon City who were standing on top of the walls and behind the opened gate. The two parties watched their chief / mayor fighting in such a magical battle.

    As the smoke gradually cleared up, Tristan saw a glowing, dome-shaped barrier of light that covered the area where the Arcadian King was. It was a tier 5 light element defensive spell called [Halo]. This spell allowed its caster to be impervious against element-based attacks for a certain period of time.

    Apparently, the Arcadian King was a dual element magician, and he had been keeping it the whole battle.

    In the meantime, Tristan touched the ground again after his high jump. He looked at the Arcadian King who was currently standing behind the barrier, thinking about the next move he should do.

    The man had multiple defensive techniques and great closebat fighting capabilities. There were simply no ws with the other party at nce!

    It was obvious that the fight would be much harder than he previously assumed. The Arcadian King was definitely a much better and experienced stage 5 Katra practitionerpared to that shitty prince of Forlorn Kingdom.

    After dispersing the barrier, King Can walked toward Tristan in a nonchnt manner while saying,

    "You are much better than I expected. There are probably only ten people in this world who can defeat you right now; it appears what Vanyar Queen said is right." Looking directly at Tristan''s eyes, he continued, "Let''s stop this fight and work together. Believe me when I tell you there are much bigger threats to face, and I certainly will need your help."

    At this, Tristan revealed a smile and said, "Of course I will help you.. Only if you beat me!"

    All of a sudden, Tristan''s body started trembling, which was then quickly followed by a loud scream by the former.

    "ARGGGHH!!!"

    The pain-filled scream was followed by blood spilling out from all over his body. The blood painted Tristan in red as they coalesced together and formed into arge, humanoid shaped figure.

    [Blood Legacy]

    ROOOAARR!!!

    The sudden transformation Tristan disyed immediately shocked everyone who spectated the battle. Some of those who were weak-hearted even fell unconscious when they heard Tristan''s loud roar.

    Not waiting for any signal, with the boosted strength the transformation had given him, the monstrosity which should be Tristan lunged at the unprepared king.

    Out of reflex, King Can swung the golden sword, only to let his arm be caught by the blood monster. The bloody monster showed a savage smile as he used his other arm to send a punch.

    BAMM!!!

    A muffled yet loud sound resounded in the air as Tristan''s fistnded squarely on the Arcadian King''s face. The blow was so strong that even with his [Armor of Earth] activated, thetter''s nose bled and the painful sensation lingered.

    Still, in disbelief with what was in front of him, the King received another blow. BAMM!!

    The third blow quickly came, but this time, King Can saw iting. He tried to catch it with his other arm, only to no avail when he found both of his hands gripped by Tristan''s monstrous hands. In response, he attempted to free them by force, only to hear a cracking sound.

    King Can grunted as he bore the excruciating paining from his hands. Realizing his attempt was futile, he decided to use both of his legs to kick Tristan''s head. He hoped this attack would allow him to get away.

    BAMM!!!

    The Arcadian King barely managed to escape from Tristan''s freakish grasp as Tristan was pushed back by the kick in the head. Even though he was able to escape, it came at the cost of his twopletely broken hands.

    Everything that had happened during thest few seconds took away theposure he had disyed earlier.

    "What the hell is this?!!!" shouted King Can as he red at the monstrosity that was Tristan.

    He could still feel his head spinning from the one hit he received earlier, and that was certainly not good news. He quickly cast a healing spell onto himself, and within a few seconds, his arms returned to their normal condition.

    Unfortunately, the fight wasn''t over yet.

    ROOOOAARR!!!

    Being influenced by the transformation, Tristan became enraged and roared loudly. He was angry that his prey had escaped from his clutch.

    The Arcadian King wiped the blood flowing down from his nose as he stared at Tristan. He looked shocked, but after that, a small smile could be seen hanging on his lips. It seemed he had decided on something.

    He started to chant a series of words and apanied it with gestures done by his hands. His hand movements caused motes of light to appear, and they were quickly arranged into some kind of a drawing, a formation of some sort.

    Tristan, who saw all of this clearly, would definitely not let the other party finish whatever he was trying to do. As such, he swiftly rushed forward, shaking the ground violently in the process.

    But suddenly, Tristan felt his body heavier and gradually came to a stop. He was being restrained!

    "If you can survive against this spell, consider yourself the winner!" the Arcadian King said with a smile.

    From afar, Tobias shouted his lungs out telling the king to not cast that magic, but Can ignored him and continued the chant. As the chant went louder, dozens of strings made of light started appearing around Tristan''s monstrous body and covering it like a.

    This was one of the tier 7 light element spells, the exalted [Celestial Binding]. This was the proof that the ruler of Arcadian actually had reached the boundary of stage 6 Katra.

    In a matter of seconds, Tristan was totally restrained by the weak-looking light strings and was barred from any sort of movements. As if that wasn''t bad enough, he could also feel the strings starting to press inward, giving his body a pressure and shing sensation at once.

    The light strings managed to cut through theyer of blood covering Tristan''s body. It seemed that the tier 7 spell was slowly dispelling Tristan''s transformation as one could see thetter''s monstrous figure bleeding profusely and gradually bing thinner.

    "Arrrghhh!!" Tristan screamed as he tried to use all his strength to fight back, only to be crushed in slow manner.

    "Do you give up now?!" asked the Arcadian King, half shouting.

    "NO! NEVER!" Tristan replied no less fiercely.

    At this point, the spell had started to make its way through Tristan''s flesh as blood started painting his skin in red.

    "Give up, and I will release you!"

    "NO! DAMMIT!"

    The reason for his stubbornness was because Tristan could see the other party was not in his best condition as well. It was evident that the spell had taken a toll on him.

    As for Tristan, while it was indeed surprising that such a spell was able to force him out of his transformation, he would not give in that easily.

    He felt he was still in the green as he had his Undying Body. Even though the excruciating pain was still there, he was not at risk of losing his life. Thus, he was able to keep going and even took another step approaching the king.

    Maintaining the chant, the Arcadian King approached where Tristan was with his golden sword in hand. He nned to cut and stab Tristan''s body to death because he realized thetter wouldn''t give up until the end of the line.

    "Last chance! Surrender!" Can said when the distance between them was only one meter.

    ring daggers at the Arcadian King, Tristan firmly said, "NO!"

    He was confident because he still had something he could rely on. As soon as he heard Tristan''s unrelenting reply, Can immediately barraged his body with countless attacks. shing and stab wounds appeared on Tristan''s body as Can barraged him with his sword.

    Not long after, as he felt grueling pain from the wounds all over his body, the long-awaited notification finally arrived.

    [Body''s condition has be critical. Host needs immediate treatment]

    [Restore health for 500 Blood Essence]

    [Proceed?]

    "Yes!"

    Tristan''s mangled body was gradually recovering to its normal state at the same time, Can finally dispelled his spell as he couldn''t maintain it anymore.

    ring at Tristan, the Arcadian King said, "You just can''t die, can you?"

    Tristan was ready for another round when the King suddenly coughed and spat out quite arge amount of blood. He seemed to be in excruciating pain and a few momentster when the coughing stopped he looked toward Tristan and slowly said.

    "Congrattions¡­ You won. Arcadia is now yours."

    ------

    Further away from the battle, Inside a room within the District O of the capital Arcadia, a device emitted strange sounds continuously.

    Tut! Tut! Tut!

    Then, all of a sudden, the noise turned into a voice.

    "Captain Sigfried of the Grey Wolf. This is the 201st Cruiser, Gctus. We have already entered the gxy. Over."

 Chapter 280 - Defeat

    "I won?! No! Don''t you fucking joke!! Fight me!" Tristan lifted his weapon again.

    He was shocked that the shitty King would just throw the fight and give up like that.

    Not that he doesn''t wish to win. He does! He really tried his best. But it just annoyed him that he didn''t really get a chance to put some really satisfying punch to the shitty King.

    Just a moment ago, The King did throw up arge amount of blood. But now he had already managed to stand up fully straight. His wounds have all disappeared as well, leaving him looking as healthy as the fight never happened. Now seeing the King''s calm gaze while saying he surrendered just irritated him even more.

    The King shrugged and answered. "No, I admit defeat.. You won fair and square! Your transformation is indeed very powerful, but that instant regeneration really sealed my defeat."

    Tristan gave a deep sigh. He knew that what the king was saying was a fact, but on the other hand, he had hoped the all-out fight to the death would at least end with the king sprawled out on the ground beneath his feet, lying helpless as Tristan unleashed all his pent-up anger.

    A momentter, Tobias and Serene approached the two of them.

    "What is going on?!" Serene couldn''t hide her utter shock and bewilderment, while Tobias looked calm, but was also sporting a heavy frown. Thanks to their enhanced senses, both of them could hear what the king was saying from afar. Though they had heard what happened loud and clear, Serene still refused to believe it.

    King Can merely looked at Serene and said "Congrattions, cousin, you are now Queen of Arcadia. Finally, your long-time childhood dream will finallye true."

    "Can, this is no time for jokes! What is the meaning of this?!"

    "What confused you, Serene?" The king shrugged and faced her. "I just lost fair and square in a duel where two equal bets were ced. Now that your husband has won, he is now the new ruler of Arcadia."

    While the two continued arguing, Tristan was busy processing what just happened. Can managed to cate his cousin with a few simple words, before he approached Tobias and the two seemed to argue about what such a bad idea this is.

    Tristan couldn''t hear clearly what Can was saying, but for a second, the court mage''s normally stoic expression darkened a little, before it returned to the usual calm one as if it never happened. Their conversation onlysted for a few minutes, before Can walked closer to Tristan and said;

    "Now, you are the ruler. Prove it to us, show how you can rule better than me like you said! Don''t make me ever think that the legendary blood elf is nothing but big words!"

    "No, I will not! you shall see!"

    Tobias approached, interrupted the king and said.

    "My king, what are you nning to do now? Don''t tell me you-"

    Can quickly stopped him and said "Tobias, I am not your king anymore. Do not desecrate the oath you made to my father and to the throne."

    The great wizard nodded in silence and gave Can a slight bow.

    Can looked upon Tristan once more. There was no hint of mockery in his gaze, only a sincere smile and a warm expression. "Arcadia is your responsibility now. I have ruled for 80 years,now let''s hope you canst longer."

    Right after Can finished speaking, he looked at Serene for a second, before his feet left the ground. He floated off the ground for a few seconds before flying away to the sky. In a way, he looked like a rocket.

    It suddenly hit Tristan that as the king was on Katra 5 or even 6, he must have an immortal body just like that of Janus. Then all the things the king said about Tristan winning due to his regeneration ability was nothing but a ruse.

    Besides, the king must have one or two tier 7 spells at his disposal. There was no way he could win if the king used them from the start.

    Tristan stared at Tobias, deep suspicion forming in his gut. What are they really nning?

    He took a deep breath and reminded himself, regardless of what the king is doing, he still won and he is now the ruler of Arcadia. Sooner orter, he will discover Can''s schemes.

    Not long after the king left, the Kingsde approached and Tobias introduced Tristan as the new king. Most were surprised. If they were like this, Tristan wondered how Uriel and the rest would react when they found out.

    Tobias came to him and hesitated for a second, before the wizard bowed as a greeting. "My King, I am Tobias, the court mage and the advisor of the king. It is my hope to be able to keep using my knowledge to advise you as the new king."

    Tristan immediately epted. Of course, blindly epting would be stupid, as he couldn''t know where the court mage''s loyalties truly lie. But right now, he was handed an entire kingdom and he knew almost nothing about its internal workings, so having an advisor would be a tremendous help. Besides, he could decide what to do with the mageter after he learned more about the kingdom.

    He smiled back at Tobias and said.

    "Yes thank you, Tobias, your counsel will definitely be needed."

    Tobias nodded and asked. "What do you wish to do now, my king? I suggest we head back to the capital right away."

    Tristan agreed with the suggestion, but first, he turned around, looking at the hordes of orcs who had turned restless after watching the fight without having their own piece of action. Tristan turn concern and thought

    "Now, what should I do with all of you orcs¡­"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 281 - Secure The Throne

    Even though the odd king of Arcadia had said that he was now the ruler, Tristan was sure it would not be that easy for him to securely sit at the throne. The process was totally not like what Can just did: announcing he was the ruler. He believed it would be far moreplicated.

    In Tristan''s book, a mere verbal promise couldn''t be taken seriously, especially when it came to this kind of important matter that could affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

    Therefore, heading as soon as possible toward the capital of Arcadia was certainly a sound choice and justmon sense altogether.

    At the moment, Tristan couldn''t help but think that wouldn''t it be amazing toe to the capital with ten thousand strong orcs at his back? Surely, no one would dare to mess with him when they saw the horizonpletely crowded by his army.

    Unfortunately, there was someone who vehemently opposed the idea.

    "No! Please, Your Majesty. This is a very bad idea!" said Tobias, the man who seemed to have a quirk toment on everything..

    To be honest, Tristan could actually agree with him in this matter. However cool it might be, bringing the horde to the capital was definitely not a reliable n. Not taking into ount the chaos they might cause with the Arcadian citizens who definitely disliked the green creatures, it would also waste the time he doesn''t have. It will take days, even weeks to reach the capital given howrge their army was.

    The idea was eventually altered quickly, and then it was settled that Tristan would only bring his closest confidants to the capital.

    Naturally, Serene became his first choice to apany him in the journey. As the princess of Vanyar Kingdom and cousin to the previous king, she would certainly be helpful.

    As for the second candidate, it seemed that he didn''t need to think much as Hererra quickly squirmed herself into the entourage. She firmly opposed the idea of parting with him, so the sorcerer would tag along as well.

    Next, Tristan thought about bringing one of the orcs in his entourage as the representative of the hordes. However, he hesitated between Karra and Ghral.

    Eventually, he decided to bring Ghral. Karra seemed to be a better option, but he needed someone he could trust and smart enough to handle the hordes while he was gone. Karrapletely fit that requirement.

    On the other hand, Ghral would certainly bring a ''better'' impression to whoever he would find in the capital.

    Lastly, Tristan''s eyes wandered around the room before stopping right where Uriel was.

    "Uriel, you areing with me!" said Tristan with a smirk on his face.

    "W-What!? ..Why?! No! No thanks!" Uriel stuttered as he replied. "I am fine here. You will also need someone to manage the town. In addition, I am still the mayor of the town of Erantell. I need to return and take care of them because I''ve been away far too long."

    It was apparent that Uriel was really nervous as he said those words. This was normal though, as his mind was stillprehending the fact that Tristan was now the king of Arcadia. As for the reason for his refusal, he would definitely prefer a quiet life in the town that he understood well than an unknown journey to the capital.

    Unfortunately, it seemed that Tristan was determined not to let him have his way. "No, Uriel, you areing with me." he said in a calm voice, "Do you think you can refuse me?"

    The fat elf let out a long and deep sigh as he knew he could only ept his fate. The other party could even find a way to force him to do his biddings when he was still a nobody, let alone now that he was the king.

    Right now, Uriel believed he could kiss his peaceful life goodbye.

    Tristan smiled faintly when he saw the man''s lifeless gaze. He knew he would need someone he could trust to manage all theplicated administration waiting for him in the capital, and who else was better suited for the job than Uriel.

    "But who are you going to appoint in charge of Caerleon during your absence?" Uriel quickly said, hope returned to his eyes. It seemed that the man still hoped Tristan would let himself stay.

    Tristan''s eyes roamed the room once more before finally finding his best choice. Without the slightest hesitation, he pointed his finger at the person.

    Seeing that he was being pointed at, the man''s face immediately lost all color.

    "Seth, you are in charge now."

    "..." Uriel waspletely speechless at how nonchnt Tristan was.

    "Me¡­?" said Seth with an expression of disbelief. "Really?"

    Silence enveloped the room as everyone didn''t know what to say. They were all shocked by the unexpected development. On the other hand, it took Seth a few seconds to digest what had just happened.

    "Don''t worry, Seth. You have Gazef and Karra to help you." Tristan said. "You will be fine."

    Momentster, everyone in the room could see a grin forming on Seth''s face. The man subconsciously celebrated!

    Deep in his heart, he was crying with joy. Apparently, it was true that Tristan thought of him as a friend - or at least that was what he had in mind at the moment.

    All of a sudden, Seth''s disposition turned serious and loudly said, "Sir, Yes Sir- I mean, Yes, My King! I ept your decree!"

    Tristan knew that with the city basically already under his control, there won''t be much for him to do. He just needed to appoint someone he could rely on to be the one in charge.

    Seeing Seth who was almost lost in happiness, Tristan quickly reminded the man that the most important thing he needed to do was to make sure the ten thousand orcs were well fed. He also needed to make sure that the orcs and Caerleon''s citizens don''t kill each other.

    Tristan''s words brought Seth out of his reverie as he turned pale once again. He finally realized that Tristan just gave him an important responsibility.

    Ultimately, with the addition of Astrid, there were five people who would apany Tristan to the capital.

    The group walked towards the north gate and boarded the flying boat that was parked there while being escorted by the Kingsde. The moment they entered the ship, a dark-skinneddy weed Tristan''s group with a smile.

    "An ounder who bes the king; how amazing. Wee aboard, My King." said Zoe, the co-pilot of the flying ship Firefly, with a smile.

    The Firefly quickly took off and headed towards the capital.

    With his eyes closed and his arms crossed, Tristan couldn''t wait to see his little sister again.

 Chapter 282 - Breaktrough

    Prontea

    Capital City of Arcadia Kingdom

    Inside a huge building surrounded with tall white walls, a group of young cadets has been busy training their magic. The facility stood right next to the Arcadia pce.

    It is the Kingsde''s headquarters, a ce where all chosen special cadets were trained in hope that they would make it as a Kingsde member and be one of the protectors of the kingdom.

    Inside, multiple small ss rooms could be seen, and most of them were filled with a person and a training dummy to facilitate a personal training time for each.

    In this ce, they were expected to adhere to a certain standard. Advanced hand to handbat is a minimum, coupled with advanced weaponbat, survival skills,bat tactics, basics for espionage, and most importantly protection detail. After all, there is a reason they are known as the king''s sword and shield.

    Inside one of the ss rooms, one particrly beautiful girl with dark brown hair and blue eyes was busy having a private training session with one of the most prominent figures in the facility..

    [Bright Shield]

    Bammm!

    Multiple colored projectiles were shot towards her from all directions, while the girl was busy dodging and blocking some of the iing bullets with the light element shield.

    "Too slow! Cast faster!"

    Three ball-shaped projectiles buzzing with electricityunched at her sides, and she was forced to dodge one while creating a light shield to block the other two.

    Bam! Bam!

    A loud explosion could be heard, strong enough to shake the room slightly.

    "Very good!" The woman nodded, while the girl fell on her knees sweating. She had spent most of her time practicing and finally, her efforts bore fruit. She had managed to pass the level three projectile challenge.

    She was still panting when she looked at the woman and said. "Master Cecil, let''s continue to the level 4 test right away!"

    The one teaching her was Cecilia, known by her title as the Arcadia Starlight. She was themander of the Kingsde.. The woman shook her head and said. "No, I think this is enough for you today."

    "No, master, I am still too far behind the other cadets. I don''t want to always best!" The girl replied with a frown. She might as well have done everything except outright kneeling to her master.

    The master asked her to check her improvement, and her stats were disyed in front of her eyes.

    [La ¨C Human]

    [Battle power ¨C 32 points]

    [Spirit force ¨C 142 points]

    [Magician Rank 3 ¨C High Stage]

    The master has been checking on her progress daily, and in thest month, she has been improving by leaps and bounds. King Can did order the Kingsde to give every resource best suited for her, and since then she has been consuming high quality spirit potions every few days. Unfortunately, those potions would work differently for each person, and La''s results were surprising, to say the least.

    "Master, but I only need 8 more points, then I can try to breakthrough to rank 4. Please, master. I don''t want to disgrace your name and be the weakest one in this ce."

    Indeed, La is the only rank 3 magician among the Kingsde cadets. There was indeed abat specialist who has less spirit force than her, but he has 4 times her current battle power. In other words, she was still deadst here.

    Once again, La opened the manual for spirit force requirements to break through and let out a long, tired sigh.

    [Spirit Force 150 ¨C Rank 4 Early Stage]

    [Spirit Force 250 ¨C Rank 4 Mid Stage]

    [Spirit Force 500 ¨C Rank 4 High Stage]

    Many cadets were in the early stage, while she herself needed to reach a mid-stage at least for her to be considered as a proper member of the Kingsde. Later on, when she reached the high stage, she could be a captain.

    As for rank 5, it was an elusive rank, as manybatants stopped at rank 4 high stage. The amount of people with that rank in the whole Arcadia kingdom could be counted on one hand.

    "Master, you think I didn''t hear their whispers? You have no idea what it''s like to be called the golden girl¡­ You know, some even thought that I am the King''s illegitimate daughter! Argh! Oh how I wish to teach those pricks a lesson!"

    La started cursing up a storm, but instead of saying anything, the master merely offered a listening ear. The woman knows a lot about the girl, and behind the violent temper and foulnguage, she was kind at heart. The girl reminded the woman of her younger days, where the most important lesson was:

    "Being a magician is not all about spirit force."

    Master Cecilia smiled and showed the same [Bright Shield] spell to La. It was a lower-tier spell, but it can be cast in smaller sizes, big enough to block the ball''s trajectory yet not costing as much energy. With the smaller size, she could create a dozen of them without the need to dodge the 10 quick-moving projectiles at all.

    "You see, La, if you have enough control, even with your current amount of spirit force you can finish the level 6 test easily. Not everything is about spirit force, and not every problem has to be solved with more powerful spells. You would do well to always remember this, as we need to always keep our wits about us when we''re on a real battlefield."

    Master Cecilia dissipated the bright shield, leaving it to turn into motes of quickly-dimming light before disappearing entirely.

    "I understand, Master. Let me do the level 4 test now."

    Master Cecilia decided to indulge her and let her try, and she summoned a rain of projectiles with very tight dodging spaces, likely to discourage her from trying what she did earlier. To her surprise, La took the advice she gave and cleared the level 4 test on her first try. It was even more impressive, since the girl was still worn-out from the previous one.

    While the girl still stood in disbelief when Cecilia announced her result, the bracelet on themander''s arm shone with a white light, an indication of a new message for her.

    "Are you being called, Master?"

    "Yes, in fact, all of us are being called. The King has returned, and he wished to address all of the Kingsde, let''s go." Cecilia nodded.

    "I understand." La walked behind her, as the two of them exited the personal training room.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 283 - Assembly

    It seemed that it was actually quite unusual for the King to call out all the members of the Kingsde like this, and it was even more so for the cadets to join the assembly.

    La could see it clearly from the expressions on the faces of the other Kingsde cadets. It was apparent that a lot of them had never even been in the same room as the famous King Can of Arcadia.

    All fifty cadets in their identical white uniforms approached the grand assembly room trying their best to look confident in the King''s presence, but as soon as they entered the room, they realized that there were also others who were also summoned apart from them, all waiting for the King''s arrival.

    La, as someone who had been staying in the capital city for approximately five months now, got the chance to know about some of these present famous figures, although it was just their names.

    The group of knights in full te armor were the Arcadian Knights. Each of them was gathered from the best town guards from all the other cities, and every one of them was abatant at leastparable to a silver adventurer. As a whole, they had been rigorously trained to fight within the cavalry.

    Looking at these knights somehow reminded La about Barry, the Erantell captain who had always dreamt to join the knights. .

    The second group in light armor and purple robes were the Arcadian Mages. These magicians were selected from the list of magicians who graduated from the magic academy, the ce La studied before she joined the Kingsde. They were in charge of managing the town''s mage guild, led by Tobias, the grand wizard himself.

    Even among these two groups, the Kingsde was still considered the most elite out of them. After La and the other cadets arrived and took a spot in the hall following the lead of Commander Cecilia, the actual members of the Kingsde began entering one by one.

    Each squad of the Kingsde had ten to twelve members, and each was led by a captain. There were a total of ten squads, and among those ten squads, squad one to squad three were led by amander. Squad two was led by Commander Cecilia, and another one was the group that just came in. It was the third squad led by Vain, the Night Owl.

    Amongst the members of the third squad, La recognized three of the newest members: Elyon, nis, and Sindur. They were the three Vanyar Elves who also recently joined the Kingsde. But unlike La, who could be said to be the weakest one among the cadets of the Kingsde, those three were undoubtedly top cadets. In less than a week, they were able to sessfully be epted to the prestigious third squad under Commander Vain.

    The third squad came together with the fifth squad and the seventh squad, the squad that saved La from the Barbarian''s attacks, the squad led by Captain Reyna.

    It appeared that the grand assembly room was already full, and all of the people present were very important Arcadians. Those who were not present at the moment despite being important enough to be summoned were either sent on an important mission or were stationed in other cities, thus making them unable to attend. Even so, it did not matter all that much as more than half of Arcadia''s top fighters were gathered in this one ce.

    La was still enjoying observing the crowd when the three elves approached her out of nowhere.

    "What is it this time, Sindur!?" La asked in annoyance. It really seemed that Sindur, this elf, really seemed to like to cause trouble for her!

    "Ah, I''m just surprised to see that you''re still here, little girl."

    "What''s that supposed to mean!? You ugly elf!"

    Sindur found the sudden insult to be slightly upsetting, but he only continued to smile before saying, "Yes, I heard from a message that your brother, the mighty blood elf, is making trouble in the south?"

    Hearing his brother mentioned that way, La couldn''t help but ask, "What happened? Tell me!"

    Compared to when she first asked Sindur in annoyance, her speaking pace this time was noticeably faster, clearly showing how worried she was.

    "Ah, you poor little girl. I heard that the king himself had to personallye to take care of the problem. I assume that he came today with some news of your brother¡­ you know¡­ some news of his death! Hahaha!"

    "You''re messing with me, aren''t you!? There''s no way I''m going to believe that! Especially when it''s from your mouth!"

    "It''s true though, I heard it from themander himself. If you still don''t believe me, you can ask my two honest friends here, they''ll tell you about it," Sindur said while pointing at his two friends, Elyon and nis.

    La nced at the other two elves. The elf girlfortingly said, "It''s all right, La, I am sure that your brother is fine. You shouldn''t worry too much."

    Hearing herforting words only made Sindur burst outughing once more. "After what he did? Absolutely no way! Suits him for taking my princess from me!"

    Before anyone could say any more, a voice announcing the king''s arrival resounded. Everyone present promptly stood in line to wee their king. First, they could see the Grand Wizard Tobias walking in with solemn steps. Second, out of everyone''s expectations, they could see arge orc walking into the grand assembly room followed by two beautiful girls. This caused the people present to be filled with surprise and confusion, but it did notst long asst but not least, Tristan, the white-haired elf, entered the grand assembly room.

    Seeing her brother safe and sound, La was filled with happiness. She was about to scold Sindur and that dirty mouth of his when she realized that the elf was in shock as his eyes were glued in Tristan''s direction. And when he finally saw Tristan taking a seat on the Arcadian throne, he was left speechless with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

    "What is going on!?" Sindur definitely could not believe his eyes. He thought, no, he hoped that he was currently dreaming or hallucinating, but as if to crush that hope, the Grand Wizard stood and loudly announced in a clear voice,

    "You are now in the presence of Tristan, the new King of Arcadia!"

    Amidst the crowd, Sindur looked back at the grinning La. He saw her looking back at her, she made a gesture with her finger to her neck and said with a gloating smile, "You''re dead now, Sindur!"

 Chapter 284 - Arcadia Palace

    Tristan had finally arrived at the Arcadian Pce. Seeing the familiar ce, he looked around before walking out of the ship with Tobias in front of him.

    To him, the experience felt very unique. After all, thest time he came here, he was humiliated by Can, but now, only a few months after that, he returned as the king of Arcadia. To him, this difference felt satisfying.

    His presence, along with hispanions'', caused every pair of eyes around to stare at them. This was especially the case for therge orc, as the attention of the people present could not help but be drawn to the orc''s conspicuous appearance. Not to mention, it was very unusual for an orc to appear in Arcadia.

    When he entered this cest time, he only went to see the throne room, but this time, he was brought through a series of stairs into a private quarter. It was one of the smaller rooms in one of the highest ces in the pce.

    Tristan walked around the room and enjoyed the scenery of the city through the ss.. Meanwhile, he could see Hererra was much more excited to see the ce than he was as she started to skip around to the other room.

    "I''m going ahead to check if the room is safe," the girl cheekily said to justify her actions.

    Serene, however, still found the situation surreal.

    "I reckon that this is not the King''s quarter?" asked Tristan. Although this ce was amazing, he did not believe that this was the King''s quarter.

    "Indeed this isn''t. This is the King''s private area for his special guests. As for the King''s quarters... No one in the pce knows that you have be the new king, so preparations still need to be made."

    Tristan nodded in understanding.

    Even Tobias, the great wizard, also seemed to find the situation confusing. He briefly looked around the room before asking, "What do you wish to do first, my King?"

    Tristan thought for a short while before replying, "Same as Caerleon, I guess. Introduce me to the team and then tell me about the problems we are currently having. Also, please arrange for me to meet my sister. I want to see her." While speaking, he made sure to slightly lower his volume to avoid getting the attention of the others.

    "Understood, I shall see to it as soon as possible." Tobias respectfully responded before going out, leaving him as he had to prepare for the grand assembly. Meanwhile, Tristan directly went to check the data about the kingdom. In the process, he was helped by Uriel, who seemed to understand the way around the ce.

    Uriel gave him some kind of electronic tablet, and when he activated it, a panel appeared in front of him.

    [Arcadia Kingdom]

    [Number of cities: 28]

    [Number of viges: 214]

    [Total Poption: 521,390]

    "This is the quick summary ofst year''s census data." Uriel, the fat elf, briefly exined.

    Looking at the massive number of people he had to manage, Tristan did not worry. While it was true that that number of over 500,000 was a hundred times more than Caerleon, when he thought of how Earth had over seven billion people and even the state of Florida itself had more than 20 million people, Arcadia felt much more manageable.

    Tristan browsed around the information that was prepared for him. He paid attention to the geography of Arcadia, the city location, and much more. Looking at the data, he noticed that the whole seemed to only be about a fraction of the size of Earth.

    Next, he checked the list of people in charge under him.

    He had 5 ministers; the Minister of Coins, Minister of Development, Minister of Health, Minister of Education, and Minister of Defense. Seeing the data of these people, it seemed that these ministers were more like the king''s assistants, where each department had its own staff to help them with their respective duties.

    Besides the ministers, there were also 28 mayors who ran the cities and five diplomats whose job was to run around managingmunication for the King. This reminded him of Agoon, who was killed while he was with him in Forlorn. Which meant that there were only four of them left.

    Just as he was about to read about the defense forces, Tobias returned to inform him that all the elites of Arcadia had gathered. Tobias also warned him that, unlike orcs and elves, humans are far harder to deal with. They would not easily fall in line for him.

    "Don''t worry, Tobias, I know." Tristan simply replied.

    He was then guided into the grand assembly room. From the size of it, he could see that this room was made with the intention to fit at least a thousand people. There were a few hundred people gathered, and most of them were in uniforms identical to the group they were in.

    He could see the ministers standing in the front line and three groups of uninformed people; the Arcadian Knights, the Arcadian Mages, and the Kingsde.

    Even though this was just an assembly room and not the throne room, to have a stranger like him being shown to the seat on the center stage caused all the people gathered to be filled with surprise. From there, he could see that some people also had confusion on their faces, while some others had a hint of displeasure on them.

    To clear up the situation, Tobias directly announced his identity.

    "You are now in the presence of Tristan, the new King of Arcadia!"

    As soon as the words came out of Tobias'' mouth, the hundred people could be seen to fall into even deeper confusion. The few in the front line even found the situation to be outrageous, while some within the Arcadian Knights and the Arcadian Mages were filled with disbelief.

    "Tobias, what is the meaning of this!?" one of the older-looking men in knight armor questioningly shouted.

 Chapter 285 - Arcadia Force

    The assembly room they were currently in was mostly filled with knights in identical te armor. The only difference he spotted among them in terms of attire was the clothes under their armor. In the crowd of Arcadian Knights, one group had blue clothes under their armor while the other had red clothes.

    He had read the data about the three divisions of the Arcadian Knights. From what he could see, it seemed that only two among the three divisions were gathered in this assembly room.

    He turned to look at themanders of the two divisions.

    The one who was outspoken in front of the whole mass was themander of the blue division named Sterling. He was a senior Arcadian knight. As a senior knight, he had quite the influence among the elites of Arcadia. No wonder he dared to speak that way despite Tobias having announced that Tristan was the new king.

    Themander of the red division, however, seemed to be quite the opposite.. He was a young and good-looking knight with blond hair. If he did not look closely, he might have mistaken him as a girl. And contrary to themander of the blue division, he did not seem to care very much about the announcement of the new king.

    Each division of the Arcadian Knights had 2,000 to 3,000 men; they were the main powerhouse for any wars involving Arcadia, and Tristan himself was a witness to this. He had seen how their cavalry charged at the barbarian tribe, leaving behind a bloody trail of corpses on the path they went.

    Sterling, the oldmander, questioned further. Not only did he very obviously show his dissatisfaction, but he alsopletely ignored the new king.

    "Tobias, do you have any idea how outrageous those words are!? How can the position of Arcadia''s king be reced so easily!? Not to mention, to apletely unknown individual! Tell us, what happened to King Can!?"

    Seeing the oldmander''s relentless disy of disagreement annoyed him.

    "This is all that shitty king''s fault," Tristan grudgingly thought. If Can truly wished to surrender the throne to him, he should have handed it over by either issuing an official statement or letting him beat him into a pulp in front of the whole kingdom.

    But instead, he surrendered the throne without saying anything to his subjects. This really made things difficult for him..

    "Either way, I should just make the best of the situation," he thought to himself.

    Despite how violent he was feeling at the moment, he was aware that it would be in his best interest to be patient and see how things would go. He silently observed the crowd once again, taking notes of the reactions of these "Arcadian elites".

    Tobias firmly exined, "It was King Can''s wish to hand the kingdom to Tristan."

    With those words, Tobias took out the gold emblem of the king, showed it to them, and handed it over to Tristan. And without showing any signs of doubt, Tristan calmly took the gold emblem.

    Tristan never knew that there was such a thing. It appeared that the old wizard liked to y tricks on him, too. Tristan quietly whispered with his expression unchanged, "Why didn''t you mention this to me before?"

    Tobias calmly answered in a low voice, "My king, with all due respect, I highly believe that if you were to show it yourself, there are bound to be some people suspecting that you stole it."

    Tristan thought about it for a while before nodding in agreement.

    With the golden emblem handed over to Tristan, the announcement of him bing the new king became much more convincing to the people present. After all, there was no better way to show the handover of the throne than with the gold emblem of the king itself. Meanwhile, Tristan was d that the Arcadians did not have a crown as the symbol of the throne as it would be too troublesome to have to wear a crown here and there.

    Even though the gold emblem appeased most of the people who were previously in doubt, Sterling was still not satisfied. On the contrary, the oldmander seemed even more discontent.

    From the way the oldmander acted, Tristan could see how softly Can led his people in the time of his reign. This made him think that this had to change, but for now, he needed to stay smart to avoid furtherplications.

    After all, in order to run this kingdom smoothly and properly, he would also need the strength of these people. And unlike the orcs, these people would not simply ept someone as their king just because of strength.

    Tristan once again checked the information on the full force of the Arcadian fighters.

    The three divisions of the Arcadian Knights had a total of 6,000 knights. Between the three divisions, one was stationed at the north of the kingdom, one at the south, and one at the east to guard the shore.

    The Arcadian Mages had more than 300 mages spread all over a dozen big cities throughout Arcadia. Most of them were in charge of taking care of the Mages'' Guild. As for the leader of these mages, there were a total of five senior mages who mostly stayed in the capital and served as teachers for the mages academy. These five Wizards were under the direct supervision of Tobias.

    And finally, the cream of the crop, the Kingsde. There were only 100 of them plus 50 cadets. They were led by 3manders and 7 captains.

    Tobias began introducing the twomanders who were currently present, Commander Vain and Commander Cecilia. As for the first squad, the squad and itsmander were currently on a mission in the northern city, hence their absence in the assembly.

    The Kingsde, the Arcadian Knights, and the Arcadian Mages were separate units under centralized control by the capital. As for the rest of the arcadia forces were the guards under themand of the mayor. numbering more than 25,000 all over Arcadia.

    Those were the entire Arcadian fighting forces.

    After they were all introduced, Tristan could tell that even though the gold emblem could officiate his position, it could not force these people to be loyal to him. In fact, as expected, they were extremely far from having any loyalty to him.

    Tristan was currently plotting a n to handle this matter as soon as possible.

    Seeing Tristan''s serious expression made Serene worry. She just hoped that he would not n anything simr to what he did with the Forlorn Elves.

    After Tobias finished introducing him to them, Tristan noticed someone familiar among the crowd of people. It was La, his sister, but before any of them could say anything, another person hurriedly barged into the assembly. It was a skinny man with noticeably strange hair.

    Although Tobias did not expect the man''s arrival, he still calmly introduced him, "This is Professor Emmet, the genius from O district."

    The Professor hurriedly cut him off, "Tobias, where''s the king...? We have an emergency¡­" The man hastily looked around as he spoke, seeming to be in a great hurry.

 Chapter 286 - Threat

    Currently, there was a situation happening in the assembly. Several people in there were looking awkwardly at each other while one man was throwing his eyes around swiftly, seemingly searching for something.

    After a while, the man finally returned his attention to the person whom the person he was looking for trusted.

    "Tobias, where is Your Majesty, King Can?" asked Professor Emmet, the known Genius from the O District. The man''s words were filled with confusion, for his eyes did not catch the image of the person he was looking for in the room.

    Tobias coughed slightly, to ease the awkwardness. "Emmet, here is our new King, Tristan." He said as his hand politely pointed at Tristan.

    The man was obviously shocked by the revtion as not only was it sudden, it was also unexpected. This also seemed to make him hesitate to speak about what he wanted to report earlier..

    Tobias obviously noticed the other party''s hesitation. Hence, he took the time to approach and talk to the man about the so-called emergency he spoke about.

    As Tristan had no prior contact and knowledge about this man called Emmet, he let the two old men talk with each other. In the meantime, he called out one of the Kingsde cadets from the group, a young girl with dark brown hair, toe approach him.

    Seeing that Tristan beckoned her toe over with his hand, the girl walked over to him looking confused. She was dazzled, or rather, bewildered by all the weird yet strong people around his brother.

    Unable to hold her curiosity anymore, she eventually decided to let it out.

    "What exactly did you do, brother?" La asked. "..You are the King now? I mean, the King of Arcadia?"

    Tristan couldn''t help but smirk when he saw the cute look of confusion on his sister''s face. He nodded his head calmly, but the grin on his face didn''t go away, instead widening.

    La, who saw her brother''s nod of affirmation, became excited. "Wow! This is sleek as f''ck!"

    The smirk on Tristan''s face became a gentle smile as he saw the mischievous disy of his sister. It had been a few months since thest time they had talked face-to-face to each other, and he was d that the girl looked cheerful as always and more importantly, safe.

    At the moment, all the elites were still standing and waiting in formation, and some looked extremely bothered. But Tristan didn''t give a damn. He was the King, and as such, they would wait until he was done.

    He saw the old knight once again getting impatient. The man seemed about to cause more trouble when Tobias abruptly stepped forward, startling him and the others as well.

    The old wizard, who had previously beenpliant to him, suddenly stood in front of everyone and said, "Everyone, we have a potential crisis. Contact all your members to be ready at their station."

    Tobias then dismissed the assembly but called themanders to stay in the room. All of this had happened without even asking for Tristan''s approval, and because of that, it was only natural for him to be angry.

    "What. The. Fuck. You. Are. Doing. Tobias!!?"

    Tobias seemed to have expected Tristan''s reaction as he turned and said, "I really apologize, My King. Time is the essence. I will exin."

    The previously grand assembly turned into a small one with Tobias'' dismissal, where only the highest level members joined the conversation.

    "What other outrageous thing are you nning now, Tobias?" said Commander Sterling, crossing his arms. The tone in his words clearly expressed his dissatisfaction toward the old wizard.

    Tobias, however, only shot a serious nce in response, which quickly made the old knight turn silent. Seeing that the old coot had decided to shut his mouth, he then turned to the fuming Tristan and started to exin.

    "The previous ruler, King Can, has always been concerned with the new threat that he knew woulde. But he, or rather, we didn''t realize it woulde sooner than expected."

    Seeing the baffled look on Tristan''s face, Tobias proceeded to exin about the Ounder District that Can had specifically set and prepared for dozens of years. He also didn''t forget to convey what Professor Emmet had just told him to everyone in the room.

    As Tobias'' exnation finished, a loud sound suddenly resounded through the room. Everyone quickly turned to the source, and saw Commander Sterling''s disbelieving face.

    "What are you saying, Tobias?! Threat from the sky!? Armies of Ounders!!?" Commander Sterling shouted as the disbelief on his face grew stronger.

    "Sterling, I know you have actually also seen the signs of this. So, let me assure you. This is real." Tobias'' voice was calm, but everyone could feel the seriousness in it. He then turned to everyone and said, "Therefore, I want you all to get your posts ready as soon as possible because this is probably going to get really bad soon."

    The five senior mages present easily agreed and readily followed Tobias as thetter was their leader. The Kingsde also had no issue as they were and would always be ready to protect the throne.

    The only issue was the knights, who had many troops to mobilize. Ironically, their strongest suit, which was their number, was the reason for that. Their big number meant preparation would take a lot of time - that they currently didn''t have.

    "What should we prepare, Tobias?" asked Commander Cecilia of the Kingsde.

    "For now, just go to your own dedicated station.." replied Tobias. He then nced at Tristan and continued, "Until our new king has studied the situation better."

    Eyes returning to Tristan, the old wizard asked, "Will this arrangement be eptable to you, My King?"

    Of course, Tristan was smart enough to read the situation. He, also, believed this so-called threat from the sky was no other than what Chieng the space knight had told him. Depending on how big of a force and how fast they woulde, this could even be an emergency situation to the entire.

    Knowing that he had not enough information to determine the best course of action, Tristan naturally nodded his head. He agreed with the way the old wizard handled the situation at the moment.

    Right afterwards, the assembly ended. All themanders quickly left the assembly room as they needed to make haste to their respective stations.

    Tristan was eventually left with hispanions, La, Tobias, and Professor Emmet.

    "Now that we''re the only ones here, tell me what exactly is going on."

    Emmet noticed the somberness in his king''s words, therefore he quickly replied. "Come, Your Majesty. Please follow me right away. We are going to the O district."

    Tristan nodded his head in affirmation. He then turned to La and said, "You are not leaving my sight. Come with me."

    "Huh! I actually think I know this O district better than you, brother." La quipped while sticking her tongue out at him.

    The group quickly departed for their destination, making their way to the separate district on the other side of the capital city.

    When he stepped foot into the O district of the Arcadia capital city, Tristan quickly realized what kind of ce this was.

    It was like a different world, where so many highly technological items were seen around. From digital screens to hovering vehicles. Tristan''s eyes couldn''t help but light up when he saw all the technological wonders beyond the Earth''s era.

    O District, an Ounder District. A ce where King Can gathered all of the ounders he had found.

    Some would think of this ce as a prison. Some others would say it was a sanctuary for them, as most of the ounders were simply lost in this world.

    Professor Emmet led the group to a building situated at the center of the district.

    Considering it was a ce they were brought to by a professor, Tristan assumed it to be some kind of technological department or something - a ce where all kinds of technologies were researched. Hence, it surprised him to find the ce as big as a hangar to be more like what he had seen in detective films back on Earth - a ce where they put lots of information around the room.

    Entering the ce, Tristan was immediately greeted by a myriad of pictures. Rows of documents were stacked on the tables, while the walls were decorated by many sketches and drawings.

    He also saw an acquaintance, Captain Reyna of the Kingsde, as well as her squad were already present in the room, together with a few other people who were obviously not fighters.

    As usual, Tobias was the one who exined about the situation.

    "This here is the task force created to study potential threats from outsiders."

    Professor Emmet, who had unknowingly left the group, returned with a box with a design that reminded Tristan of a radio transmitter.

    Tristan raised his eyebrows in response, but his question was soon answered when Emmet turned it on.

    "Captain Sigfried of the Grey Wolf. This is the 201st Cruiser, Gctus. We have already entered the gxy. Over."

    Afterward, Emmet added

    "These are their recordings from four hours ago, I have reason to believe their arrival will be in matter of hours"

 Chapter 287 - Spaceship

    "All right, let me get this straight. You''re telling us a spaceship that can send down 500 space knights will arrive in a few hours?" Tristan asked in bewilderment.

    "Yes," the entric professor hastily replied. He added, "Also, this type of ship can destroy the city without the need to actuallynd!"

    Tristan could feel a headacheing. He once again cursed at Can in his heart. This shitty king! The man definitely knew this wasing. Can must have left him in charge as he had other ns. That, or knowing about the potential of the enemies that were about toe, Tristan believed that Can chose to run away with his tail between his legs.

    Many of the people that came with Tristan such as Serene, Herrera, and even Tobias himself found it hard to process such information. But for Tristan, not only had he seen spaceships before, but he had also seen enough science fiction television series to imagine what was going toe.

    Hearing their conversation, La curiously asked, "Wow¡­ Brother, is this like one of those-sized ship that can destroy a in one shot?"

    Tristan decided to ignore his sister''s remark which only made him feel worse. He turned to look at Emmet and asked, "Any confirmation about the speed and firepower this cruiser Gctus has?"

    Hearing his question, Professor Emmet''s eyes lit up in tion. Unable to hold himself back, he happily said, "Tobias, I find this new king much to my liking! With Can, I had to exin for weeks until he could barely understand what a spaceship is!"

    Tobias briefly mentioned how Tristan was an ounder. This took them aback. After all, Tristan was in the body of an elf. If someone were to tell them that he was a native of this world, they would believe it without doubt.

    With the mention of his body, La suddenly noticed that Tristan had lost the human part of his face. She wanted to know what that was about, but she understood that it was not the time.

    With Tristan''s question, Professor Emmet introduced the other dozen men who were not part of the Kingsde within the room. With a simple introduction, Tristan quickly realized that they were all ounders who probably had seen spaceships or space knights before.

    One of the introduced people took a drawing from the wall and showed it to Tristan.

    "Cruiser is considered a medium starship," he informed before showing him the equipment that was known to be attached to the cruiser ship.

    "Fortunately, starships are mostly utilized for army transport with more room for people while battleships have more firepower."

    [Rail Gunn - Burst high-impact projectiles]

    [Auto cannon - Rapid explosive shots]

    [Ion ster - High energy st]

    Tristan did not feel any familiarity with those weapon names, but he could clearly feel that they were not anything that would be fortunate about.

    But despite not knowing about the weapons listed, Tristan was still smart enough to understand the meaning of the professor''s remark. After all, no matter how strong 500 space knights were, they still would not beparable to 500 cannons that could shoot from the sky. Hence it was fortunate that it wasn''t a battleship that came.

    Having received the answer to his previous question, Tristan immediately moved on to the next one, "What about Arcadia? Does Arcadia have anything capable of handling such forces?"

    "My king, you have seen our forces, have you not?" Tobias answered. But it was obvious that Tobias did not understand his question.

    Tristan calmed the irritation in his heart before exining his question, "What I mean is if the kingdom has any means to shoot that ship to the ground."

    Tobias thought for a brief moment before shaking his head. Even magic will be limited against such flying steel, not to mention fighting such things using bows and arrows. Even if they were enhanced with magic or were made out of magic, they still would not be able to put up a resistance.

    Tristan took another deep breath. It seemed that Can was really trying to kill him with these fighting odds. He silently cursed Can once more before something he had previously seen came to mind.

    "What about ships? I''ve seen the Firefly ship, do we have more of those?" Tristan turned to look at Professor Emmet again and asked, bearing a hint of anticipation.

    Professor Emmet let out a disappointed sigh before regretfully exining, "In thest 30 years, we have found a total of five spaceships. Even so, the only spaceship we seeded in fixing was Firefly. As for the other four, we do not have enough parts to fix the others enough for them to be usable, so they are basically junk."

    Seeing Tristan''s disappointed expression, the scientist quickly added, "But since I was tasked to create new weapons for Arcadia, I have been collectingser guns and creating our own prototypeser guns as well. We have 300 of them in our inventory" The scientist paused after realizing something. "Unfortunately, while these weapons can reach a pretty good range, they surely do not have enough to hit a spaceship from the ground."

    Hearing this, Tristan sighed yet again. "No ships, no cannons, and no turrets to defend the city, while those space knights wille in hours."

    "So what is your decision? what should we do?" asked Emmet. Tobias also joined him in waiting for Tristan''s answer.

    Going back to the information, Tristan still had more questions about the cruiser ship that needed to be answered before he could make any decision.

    Which part of the ship is the weakness? What kind of defensive system do they have inside? How strong is the leader? He had so many questions, yet there was no one among these dozen people able to answer these questions. He realized that these people were all just victims of the space knights; with this, something suddenly came to mind.

    "Hey! I remember that Can captured my space knights. Where are they?" Tristan quickly asked.

    "Do you mean the four space knights he brought from Vanyar?" the old wizard asked back to confirm.

    "Yes, those four!" Tristan replied without dy.

    "Ah, they are currently locked up in O district''s prison. Can and I have tried to interrogate them, but it seems that they have something that can stop my spell from probing their mind," the old wizard answered, falling into deep thought as he remembered how his spell did not work.

    Hearing this, the corners of Tristan''s mouth curved into a smile. He confidently said, "Fortunately, I''m not that ipetent Can. I can do better."

 Chapter 288 - Prisoners

    ''If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.''

    This renowned sentence that Tristan saw and read more than once echoed throughout his mind as he looked intently at the situation he had at hand. He knew the stakes had just risen to a whole new level altogether, and if he was not careful, he would certainly once againnd himself into suchplications.

    For these kinds of enemies, Tristan knew he had to be smart fighting them. Otherwise, he would be the one obliterated and be left with nothing behind.

    Therefore, what he should do first at this time was gather more information. And who else would give the best information other than one of their own.

    If his guess was on the mark, the person that was being mentioned on themunication device should be none other than the space knight captain who was currently in captivity. In fact, Tristan was pretty sure about this assumption of his.

    With that thought in mind, Tristan swiftly ordered Professor Emmet to bring him to his objective..

    "We will swiftly head to the transition facility, Your Majesty," said Professor Emmet.

    The group swiftly departed, making their way to the so-called transition facility. As they walked through the street of O district, Tristan could see Serene seemed to be in some sort of deep thought. Hence, he couldn''t help but ask her about it.

    "What''s wrong? Something on your mind?"

    Serene turned her head in surprise as she didn''t expect Tristan to suddenly question her. A faint smile unknowingly graced her lips.

    She quickly schooled her expression and replied, "It''s nothing, really. It''s just.." She momentarily stopped in her speech, eyes gazing to the direction of Vanyar Kingdom. "..me and the Queen, we knew that Can had always been fascinated with the outsiders; we just didn''t know the reason why. We never realized that such threats existed."

    "That''s actually a good question, Serene." Tristanmented. He then looked upon Tobias and said, "I think now is a good time to speak about what Can''s real n is."

    Tobias looked a little hesitant at first, but eventually, he answered. "Can went to seek the High Elves. They are, after all, considered to be the strongest beings on the entire."

    Tristan gave a nce toward Serene and his wife nodded her head, confirming what the old wizard said. With this, it confirmed that the shitty king once again yed him. For that, he nned to make the other party regret giving the throne to him while he was gone.

    Not long after, the group finally reached the ce Professor Emmet mentioned. The ce was exactly something that Tristan expected for a location where captives were held.

    It looked exactly like a fortified prison, with its high walls and refined steel doors. As the ce had restricted ess, only Tristan, Tobias, and Emmet went inside while the others could only wait outside.

    There, he saw a corridor of cells where many people were being held. Among them, the four space knights were being separated into four different cells that looked like a small room.

    "You! You''re finally here, Blood Elf!" shouted the man with a scar on his face.. It was the space knight captain, Sigfried.

    He then tried to look beyond Tristan, as if seeking for something. "Are you looking for Chieng? I am sorry, but he''s already dead."

    The other space knights, who could definitely hear his words, immediately turned rowdy with the sudden news of the death of theirpanion. Captain Sigfried, however, only appeared to be frowning. The frown didn''t evenst for more than a few seconds.

    Hearing the angry shoutsing from his subordinates, he surprisingly shouted at them to shut up. Afterwards, he took a long, deep breath before looking intently at Tristan''s eyes.

    "At least tell me this. Did he die bravely?"

    Tristan''s face turned serious as he recalled what happened back then. "Yes, he did." He somberly replied as he gazed back at Sigfried. "He died protecting me."

    "Good.. that''s good." muttered Sigfried. "So you came to take more of us? If so, may I suggest my sergeant Bradley in the cell over there? He really can''t stand another day of not kicking ass. If he doesn''t fit your requirements, then what about my strongest man Cekotei? ..As for the onlydy member here, I have to say I''m sorry. She''s not avable until she gets her legs back."

    "Captain! What are you saying?! It''s clear that I''m the strongest!!" shouted Bradley from his cell.

    "That''s true, but you are too stupid!"

    Tristan shook his head as he watched the farce happening before him. He really wondered if all the space knights were like this. They didn''t seem afraid of death, not even the slightest inkling of it.

    If that was indeed the case, five hundred of these people would certainly be troublesome, especially when they were fully equipped and prepared.

    In the middle of the farce with his sergeant, Sigfried finally noticed the two old men following behind Tristan. All of a sudden, an ted expression appeared on his face and the man started tough.

    "One is the capital''s strongest wizard, while the other is the renowned professor! Hahaha, can I guess that finally, my reinforcements havee?" Sigfriedughed madly as he spoke. "Hahaha, you are all doomed!!"

    It was just as if God had listened to his cry, Tristan suddenly felt something high above in the sky of the capital city. Seeing how Tobias'' face turned pale quickly, he knew the man felt it too. The three ignored the cackling man and quickly went outside to see what was happening.

    A huge mass of steel could be seen descending from the sky, its shadow looming over the sky of the capital. Even from a distance, Tristan could see its appearance, which proved its gigantic size.

    It should be at least the size of Earth''s aircraft carrier, or one of those five-star luxury cruise ships that he saw in a tourism brochure - only flying and covered with armor ting.

    The sudden appearance of it quickly shocked the citizens of Prontera, even those who lived in the O District. Tristan could only imagine how the situation looked with the residents of the capital city.

    "Arrrghhh! They havee already!!" shouted Emmet, panic was prevalent in his voice.

    Tobias, who was stunned for a while after seeing such a sight, suddenly turned to look at Tristan. The man then said, "My King, what is your order?"

    "Tobias, I order you to protect the city how you see fit. However, I warn you to not attack them unless it''s absolutely necessary! Your priority is to stall for time. Do you understand?!"

 Chapter 289 - Contact

    Prontea

    The proud capital city of Arcadia was the home to more than two hundred thousand Arcadian citizens. It was the first city that was established as the foundation of a treaty between human and elf races two thousand years ago.

    Situated in the center of the vastnd of Arcadia, Prontea was the heart of the kingdom itself, and was also considered to be the heart of the continent due to its geological location.

    It was undeniably thergest city of the Arcadian Kingdom, as a third of the entire poption of Arcadia lived in the city.

    At this moment, the sky of such a city was shrouded in ck, as the unknown spaceship gradually made its descent. The sudden appearance of a huge mass of steel managed to stop all activities happening in the city, as if time had stopped.

    The people had seen the steel bird that their king used from time to time. However, the one they were seeing at the moment was at least 100 times bigger than what they usually saw. Hence, the reason for their stupefaction.

    The sight of the unfamiliar gigantic steel bird naturally caused a strong wave of intimidation in people''s hearts.

    As expected, many citizens quickly panicked. They immediately put an end to whatever they were doing and went indoors.

    Of course, there would always be the curious ones among themon folk. Those kinds of people decided to find the highest ground they could reach or went to the top of their buildings, all to take a clearer look at the thing that came bearing down on the city.

    The situation turned even more intense when the town guards and even the knights rode around the streets while telling the people of Prontea not to panic and go inside their homes. They were instructed to stay there until further notice.

    At the pce, on the other hand, the elites of the kingdoms were once again gathered to be briefed about the situation the kingdom currently had at hand.

    Three of the five senior mages came, while the other two stayed at the magic academy to protect it if any crisis arose there.

    Cecilia and Vain, the Kingsdemanders who always stood by at the pce, naturally attended the meeting as they waited for their orders.

    As for the knightmanders, there was only Garson of the Red Division who epted the summon. It seemed Starling, as usual, was undependable when they were needed the most.

    Standing before these elites was the famous figure of the Arcadian Kingdom, the one known as the Great Wizard, Tobias. He would be the one to exin and manage the situation, as per the current king''s order.

    "Master Tobias, where is the King?" asked one of the senior mages, anxiety was evident on his face. "What should we do now?"

    Tobias turned to the man and calmly said, "He''s nning something at the moment. As for now, we are given orders to stall for time."

    Upon hearing it, Commander Cecilia decided to speak her thoughts about the current matter.

    "Tobias, do we know who we are dealing with? What is their intention?" asked Cecilia to the old wizard. "I believe that the best course of action should be to openmunication with them, to learn about their true intention ofing here. I mean, they might not even have ill intentions towards us."

    The words that Cecilia uttered actually make a lot of sense. By the fact that many who heard it nodded their heads, agreeing with the notion. Tobias himself also only heard about these space knights from the professor, so he was not really sure if those people really came with ill intentions.

    The new king did order them to stall for time, and opening amunication could be considered as such. Therefore, it didn''t take long for Tobias toe to a conclusion.

    "Alright, that''s what we''re going to do." Tobias said. He then turned to one of the Kingsdemanders. "Vain, you are the best scout among us. Do you have any idea on how to get more intel?"

    The man called Vain was renowned among the peers as Vain the Night Owl. He was, in fact, one of the strongest people in the room, probably only second to Tobias.

    His moniker came from his reputation for being able toe in and out of the enemy territory, the Dark Elves and Aesirs, undetected. It was uncountable how much information the man had collected from those two territories, and how much it had helped Arcadia. Therefore, it was no wonder he was the best candidate for this job.

    In response, the Kingsdemander calmly nodded his head. He epted the task and would find a solution for it.

    Tobias, however, would definitely not hang his hope on the man alone. After all, despite his illustrious reputation, the opponent they had to face this time was something they encountered for the first time.

    He further brief Cecilian and the mages about other way to handle the situation

    -----

    Not long after, from the tower situated just next to the royal pce, a dozenrge birds could be seen flying to the sky. People dressed in simr white uniforms were seen sitting on its back, with myriad kinds of weapons each on their side.

    These people were proud elites of the Arcadian Kingdom, the third squad of the fabled Kingsde. Apparently, they rode the mages'' eagles as means of transportation as they closed in on the spaceship.

    Due to the location where they departed from, the citizens in the city could clearly see the sight of the dozen eagles flown heading in the direction of the unknown steel bird. As a result, cheers began to appear throughout the city.

    "That''s the third squad!"

    "Commander Vain!"

    "Aahh! Commander Vain is the one handling this matter. We will definitely be fine!"

    "I love you, Commander Vain!"

    There were three new members within the twelve of the Kingsde''s third squad who were currently flying. They were the three peopleing from Vanyar: Sindur, Elyon, and nis.

    Naturally, all the other nine people of the squad had the same strength as the three. Some could even overpower the three in a one-on-one fight. To put it simply, this squad consisted of the best from the best.

    The man who flew at the front, who was wearing all-ck clothes and radiating faint pressure, was none other than Vain the Night Owl, the leader of the Kingsde''s third squad.

    Themander led his men, as the group made their way to the objective with confidence.

    They flew across the sky, cutting through the wind as they got closer to the hovering spaceship. Slowly but surely, they started to feel very miniscule as theypared the gigantic thing in front of them.

    "What do we do now, Commander?"

    "Are we looking for a way to enter this thing? Should we spread out, Commander?"

    Vain raised his hand, giving a gesture to not do anything. He then said, "You all wait here. If something happens to me, do not do anything and just return to the pce."

    "Yes, Commander." replied everyone in the squad without exception. They all understood that if even theirmander was unable to handle the situation, neither would they.

    The group was just hovering in the sky, about a mile away from the spaceship. They all stood by while watching the eagle ridden by theirmander approach the ship.

    "What do you think themander''s n is?" said Sindur to the other two.

    The two elves could only shake their heads because they didn''t know either. Unexpectedly, it was the vicemander of the squad who answered their confusion.

    "You three shall see how great ourmander is. He always has a brilliant n toplete the mission." She said. "As for us, we are here just to add more pressure to whoever is inside that spaceship."

    Sindur was actually disappointed when he heard the vicemander''s words. As he failed during the gauntletst time, he wished this time he would seed. In fact, he wanted to earn more merit in this mission, so that he could give more of a good impression to the Arcadian people. Unfortunately, the situation didn''t allow him.

    However, not long before Vain arrived in front of the spaceship, the squad was quickly startled when they saw multiple machines seen on top of the ship move. They were all aiming toward theirmander.

    "This is not goo-!" shouted Sinder.

    He didn''t even have the chance to finish his words before he and the others saw theirmander being sted repeatedly by the machines, which apparently were some kind of weapons. Sindur could only watch as numerous explosions materialized where Commander Vain was, leaving only ripped parts of flesh scattering over the sky.

    The whole squad was shocked by the unexpected development. The vicemander quickly shouted, "Retreat! Everyone, retre-"

    SPLAT!

    She didn''t finish her words before her head burst apart like a melon.

    "AAAAAA!!!"

 Chapter 290 - Terror

    The numerous machines that were seen on top of the spaceship continued to rapid fire projectiles towards the flying squad. Caught off guard by the sudden aggression, the vicemander who flew at the front of the group became the first victim of the bombardment.

    Her head was sted by an explosion, and the blood sttered all over Sindur who flew nearby her. Following the colorful ssh of red was the high-pitched scream filled with horror and disbelief.

    AAAAAA!!!!

    Looking at the gruesome sight in front of him that could give anymon folk trauma of their lives, Sindur quickly screamed and cried like a little girl. It was Elyon, hispanion, who quickly grabbed the shocked man while using his defensive skill [Greater Stone Skin].

    Sindur didn''t realize he just escaped from the death''s maw because he was still shaken by what he just witnessed. Elyon''s quick action had saved and also managed to block some of the projectiles with his massive frame, leaving them pretty much unharmed.

    Elyon was prepared himself to receive another brunt of attacks when ayer of water sphere enveloped him. nis also had her own share of reaction as she casted the water spell [Water Barrier], around them, giving them an extrayer of defense.

    "Let''s go!" Elyon said as he jumped onto the eagle Sindur rode and ordered it to descend. They had to leave the sky as soon as possible because they would only be the other party''s target practice if they stayed.

    The remaining members of the squad also casted their own defensive spells and began to run away from the sky. It was clear that they hade to the same conclusion that Elyon hade to.

    Sindur, whose body Elyon currently held tightly, could clearly hear the other squad members'' scream as he flew down with Elyon and nis.

    The situation quickly turned into the worst possible as blood temporarily dyed the sky with its red and lifeless, disfigured bodies dropped down into the ground with each sound of explosion. The Kingsde''s third squad was doing its best to escape from the firing range that was called the sky.

    Twelve people headed onto the sky, but only five returned with their lives intact.

    This scene of ruthless ughter could be seen entirely by the citizens of Prontea who were at ground. The stark contrast between the red blood and blue sky further enhanced their experience as they watched the massacre. Watching directly how their champions were killed so easily made the citizens fall into a state of fear.

    Tobias and the other elites who watched Vain and his squad were also shocked to see the scene from the pce. The only projectile they ever saw was the rifle that was discovered from the ounders, but what they were currently seeing was on a different scale altogether. They had never seen a machine that allowed such rapid-fire ability; they were not ready, so were the Kingsde.

    "Commander Vain!!" shouted Cecilia as she saw Vain''s eagle sted by the projectiles. "How.. How can this be..? Th-this is my fault!" Guilt swiftly enveloped her because she was the one who suggested opening upmunication with the other party.

    The room immediately became silent. They were dumbfounded to see one of their best and his squad literally obliterated in the sky. Eventually, Commander Garson of Red Division decided to break the silence as he spoke in a calm manner.

    "At least we now know their intentions."

    That statement was clearly the truth. But it also meant one thing - disaster.

    Tobias quickly wrecked his brain, trying to think of a way to handle such a threat. He quickly discovered his options were limited as long as the other party was still in the sky.

    The only n he could think of at the moment was to send all rank 5 magicians, who had Immortal Body, to attack the spaceship. They would depend on the best fighters the kingdom had. However, this n would leave the capitalpletely open to the enemy. Therefore, he decided to put this n aside for now while thinking of something better.

    While still busy dwelling in his thoughts, Tobias'' attention was caught by something. Rather, his senses caught something.

    His heart beat increasingly fast as he looked up to the sky, where the spaceship was. He could perceive a massive amount of energy being gathered inside it, and with what it had disyed so far, this definitely bad news.

    "Something''s going on!" Tobias shouted to his peers. "Be prepared!"

    Just like what Tobias worried about, everyone saw the front part of the ship suddenly started to light up. In an instant, a huge beam of energy shot through the air, heading directly toward the pce - to where Tobias and the others were.

    "Watch out!!!" shouted Tobias when he saw the blinding light at the front of the spaceship. s, the warning came quite toote as the energy beam was simply too fast. Itnded where the group was and instantly blew half of the pce apart.

    KABOOOMMM!!!

    Tobias had reacted fast enough to cast his best tier 6 defensive spell, and therefore, he survived the st with only minor wounds. However, he saw one of the senior mages disintegrated by the beam in an instant. The man didn''t have the chance to scream.

    Great fear could be seen in the old wizard''s eyes. He had been living for almost a thousand years, but it was only now he saw such destructive force. He turned around and looked at the destruction the beam had done.

    From atop of the half-destroyed pce, he saw hundreds of houses that were in the direct line of the st burned by zing mes. Chaos wreaked havoc on the streets as thousands of people screamed and ran for their lives.

    He couldn''t believe it. The strength of the enemy''s weapon was beyond hisprehension.

    ------

    Meanwhile in the sky, just below the gigantic spaceship, a cloud of ck smoke could be seen flying against the wind. It slowly crawled to the bottom of the ship until it finally entered a certain hole that was opened right after the st.

    The ck smoke made its way through theplicated and multiple shafts, and finally arrived at a room inside the ship. After flying around the room for a while, it eventually coalesced, forming into a figure of a man.

    Cecilia would definitely be relieved if she saw this man''s face. It was none other than Vain the Night Owl, who was presumed dead. It was always his n to use his [Shadow Form] to infiltrate the ship, in case the other party attacked. However, he didn''t expect how decisive the enemy would be and almost died from the st.

    The moment he reformed back to his human body, rage was evident on his face. Even though he was in [Shadow Form], he did see how the ship killed his squad and sted the royal pce until it was almost unrecognizable.

    Even so, Vain quickly suppressed his emotions as he readied himself. He summoned a de that was giving off dark sheen with his dark magic. It was his treasured weapon, Abyss Cutter, that was strong enough to cut through tier 1 and tier 2 artifacts like butter.

    Without further ado, he began to sneak around the spaceship. The interior of the spaceship was apparently a little low on visibility, which was perfect for his [Hide in Shadow] spell. He activated it without hesitation, as being discovered would immediately spell doom for him.

    Being the known expert in intel gathering, Vain slowly walked around a little as he tried to understand the spaceship''syout. To his surprise, the ship was bigger than he expected. After a while, he finally found a group of people dded in steel armor.

    Looking at them intently, he was sure these people must be the space knights

    Therge steel armor was definitely intimidating, but not for Vain. With a raging heart burning with hatred, he sneaked up on one of the knights before lunging at them from behind.

    To hisplete astonishment, the group of knights turned around at the same time when his de hit theirpanion.

    "There''s the rat!!"

    "We found him!"

    Those were what the space knights said as they quickly fired their weapons at Vain.

    Vain reacted and was fast enough to dodge the first volley of attacks, only to be shot by another in his back. He was surrounded. That was when he realized that he was actually not the hunter, but the prey.

    Multiple weapons were fired at him. Vain could only watch as his vision was engulfed by blinding lights. In less than a second, his bloodied body fell to the floor.

    Vain the Night Owl didn''t even have a chance to injure a single space knight before he fell dead on the floor.

    The space knight that Vain attacked came close to his body and kicked it. "How stupid!" He said as he gave the lifeless body one more kick. "These aboriginals really have no idea what thermal vision is, do they? Hahaha."

    "Squad 210 to the Bridge. The intruder has been dealt with.. Over."

 Chapter 291 - Galactus

    24 hours before the attack of the Arcadia city,

    In the ck darkness of space, a cruiser ss starship had juste out from hyperdrive as it zoomed into a new gxy at the speed of light.

    On the bridge of the spaceship were a dozen ck uniformed humans hunched over behind their individualputer screens, operating the ship with intent looks on their faces.

    "Captain, we have sessfully entered Gxy D-762"

    "Well done, proceed with scanning"

    There are 9 known realms in the universe, each with its own thousands of gxy. This particr one resided within the Chaotic ones.

    It was considered a chaotic realm as it''s not considered a part of any of the human upied realms, nor was it part of any of the elven realms.

    "We have allocated thest known location of Prometheus ship of the Grey wolf"

    "Alright send a message and set course to location"

    "Yes captain"

    "Captain Sigfried of the Grey Wolf. This is the 201st Cruiser, Gctus. We have already entered the gxy. Over."

    Within a few hours, the space cruiser Gctus was finally hovering just out of orbit on top of the of their destination. Themunication officer, though somewhat relieved that they had arrived, nced slightly anxiously at his leader.

    "There is still no sign of reply, Captain, but the message was confirmed to be transmitted."

    The captain named Shale Jenkin was a man in his 50s who wore a simr rigid ck uniform as his subordinates, but adorned with goldences instead as a way to signify his heightened position.

    From his seat on the center of the tform, he was trying to ess the data from the panel in front of him, when suddenly a shining cube began to hover in front of him, bobbing up and down in the air. As he touched it lightly with his fingertips, information started to materialize inside of his mind.

    8753 - ss L]

    [Elves - Lower Realm]

    From the information he had just received, he knew that the was an elven-upied one. But since this ce was located within a gxy that was tucked away in one of the corners of the realms, he believed that the information within the cube could be outdated.

    He then confirmed their mission once again, going over it in his mind as he ced his fingers on the cube.

    [Objective one: Find Grey Wolf Elite Unit]

    [Objective two: Capture Curssac the goblin scientist - Dead or Alive]

    The captain then re upon the skinny men next to him and said,

    "Major this objective is definitely unworthy for my crew, what is exactly that you were looking for?"

    The major answer without even took ce at the captain

    "Captain Jenkins, that is not true, no objective is too low for the Alliance, we shouldplete any task given with our best capability."

    The captain was annoyed with such an answer, the major could just said it was ssified.

    Although the objective appears to be insignificant, ever since the Magus Alliance had started to expand its borders, a space cruiser such as Gctic always had its primary objectives on stand by.

    [Primary objective: Find new settlement]

    Hence they were scouring the far and usually untouched corners of the realm.

    With this information in mind, he then ordered his crew to do a quick scan of the in front of them, and in the process, he found that it did have a moderate amount of lifeforms residing within it, those of which consisted of both humans and elves, among many other creatures living alongside them.

    There were two main continents, one which was mostly upied by humans, while the other had elves living amongst humans as well as a mixed poption.

    Seeing the data that wasid out in front of him, the captain let out a long sigh.

    "That''s a shame," he remarked, a solemn look on his face.

    To be thorough, the captain then gave the crew the orders to check the surrounding gxy for any trace of the elven presence, but the strangely has been abandoned for quite a while"

    The information seems too strange for Captain Jenkins but not enough to hinder his next n.

    "Bring the ship to enter the." the captain said curtly.

    "Yes, captain."

    Right away, the ship dropped into the''s atmosphere.

    But as they entered, the crew immediately began to lose bnce, realizing that the ship was shaking harder than usual.

    "What''s going on?! Report status!" The captain eximed.

    "We have just passed some kind of energy barrier, captain, but no damage, nothing to worry about."

    "No! Start a secondary analysis on the energy barrier."

    "Yes captain, right away."

    Such analyses usually took hours to conduct, but at the moment, they were already inside of the''s atmosphere. This meant that whatever the barrier was, they were already inside it.

    "Maximum scan; trace for the objective."

    "Yes, captain, we were unable to find the Grey Wolf ship, but we found a trace of their powered armor. They are currently at the center of the human-elf continent."

    Hearing this, the captain smirked. "No surprises there. These elves are always causing trouble. Head directly to the signal."

    "Yes, captain."

    The ship then flew directly towards the target before descending from the sky on top of therge city. The biggest one in the entire continent.

    "Scan for threat analysis."

    "Yes, captain."

    This particr scan took them a while. It would analyze any living lifeform and technological advance within such vicinity. When the data came out, the captain was a little surprised.

    [Threat Level 3]

    After seeing the threat level, the captain turned slightly tense. He look upon the Major next to him and said,

    "Do you have anything to share before we proceed, Major?"

    The major shook his head and at the same time, they saw a dozen iing targets came towards them.

    "It''s a low-level bird type monster with fighters rank 6 to 8 riding on it, Captain."

    The captain can see a group of humongous flying eagles with people riding on their backs from the ss view of the bridge.

    "Captain, what are your orders?"

    The captain took a deep breath; he knew what he should do. A Lower Realm world, with a kingdom where humans lived alongside the elves, must be dealt with decisively.

    The captain even saw that three elves were among the group of fully armed individuals that came approaching on top of the eagles.

    "One of them came to approach us Captain, a saint realm individual."

    The captain stood up from his seat, a slight smirk on his face. "Light it up."

    "Yes, captain! Activating the rail gun! Fire!!"

 Chapter 292 - Bombared

    When the captain saw the level three threat, he immediately knew that he had to be cautious.

    The threat level system was made as a way topare the strength of surrounding opponents to the strength of the space cruiser''s standard crew.

    The cruiser itself had a standard of a hundred space knights and four hundred space troopers as fighting force; there were also 10 saint-level officers and normally, the cruiser would also have three magus-level leaders including himself.

    The lower the threat level, the less likely it was for the cruiser crew to face danger. A level one threat meant that it was almost harmless, while a level two threat meant that although there was still a risk, the danger was minimal. As for a level three threat, it meant that there was a moderate risk of danger.

    The system determined the threat level of surrounding opponents by calcting the strength of the surrounding fighters detected coupled with the technological advancement of the opposing side.

    Captain Jenkins normally would not bat an eye when he saw a level three threat as he himself had seen several level four threats before. However, this was a lower realm world with lower-level technology. To find a level three threat in a lower realm world despite the low level of technology could only mean that a certain amount of high-level fighters were present.

    Therefore, when he saw a saint-level fighter approaching, he decisivelymenced an attack.

    There''s no need to be soft with a world that tolerated living with elves, he silently thought to himself.

    "Quickly scan for high-level individuals," Jenkins sternlymanded.

    "We found 6 high-level individuals. Four of them are at magus level and the other two are at saint level, all gathered in therge building up ahead," the officer on the bridge reported after a moment.

    "Good. Commence the ion ster toward them!"

    "Yes, Captain!"

    The captain could see the major who was standing next to him hesitating, and he could more or less tell what the major wanted to do. The major was thinking of stopping him, but in the end, he decided that it was better not to do anything at the moment. After all, although it was true that the major outranked him, the major already said that he came along just for observation.

    [Recharging ion ster...]

    [Ion ster will be ready in 10, 9, 8, 7¡­ 1.]

    "Captain, the ion ster is ready to fire!"

    "Fire!" Jenkins immediatelymanded.

    Right at this moment, the ship shot a high-energy beam, causing half of the pce and a part of the city to be blown to smithereens.

    "Captain, report. One magus-level target has been destroyed," the officer reported with satisfaction.

    However, contrary to how the reporting officer felt, Jenkins actually felt unsatisfied when he heard the report. Although he did not say anything, Jenkins expected more of these high-level fighters to be eliminated before sending his team to the ground, after all.

    This line of action was a guideline to be followed when facing low realm worlds and high-level fighters. By showing the technological advancement they hadpared to the people of these low realm worlds, the chance of these locals submitting without trouble would be much higher.

    Seeing that not enough impact was created, Captain Jenkins gave out another order.

    "Shoot the cannons toward the pce!"

    "Yes, captain!"

    In total, the ship had eight auto cannons installed on its top and bottom. All eightrge tube-like machines rotated altogether, aiming at the same target. Immediately after, those eight cannons shot at the pce building at the same time.

    BAMM!! BAMM!! BAMM!!

    The sound of explosions thundered in the sky followed by a high explosion bombarding the pce. Everyone from both the attacking ship and the pce below could see that the pce was about to bepletely destroyed when all of a sudden, they saw that the explosion shot was stopped by an energy barrier in the sky.

    Behind the energy barrier, three people were flying in the air, stopping all the auto cannons'' attacks.

    "Reporting, three magus-level individuals stopped the cannons'' shots, Sir!" the officer hastily reported. Surprise could be seen clearly on his face.

    "I can see that," the captain simply responded. To him, the action was something predictable. Seeing this response from them, he knew what to do next.

    "Change targets to the surrounding of the city," hemanded in a low voice.

    "Yes, Captain!"

    When the cannons started to aim toward different areas of the cities, the three magus-level fighters could be seen rushing to separate ways, doing their best to block the shots that were about toe. Unfortunately, in contrast to the eight cannons, there were only three of them. Despite their attempt, the three magus-level fighters were unable to stop all the shots.

    The cannon blew up different parts of the cities, bringing terror and screams to the people.

    A flood of people was seen disorderly rushing out of the city. There were even a group of knights in blue among them, charging out of the town.

    Seeing the chaos, Captain Jenkinsughed out loud. "Hahaha! Do you see now, Major? They will eventually surrender like this."

    The major smiled in response and generouslyplimented, "Very good, Captain. Impressive."

    Within a few minutes, one of the officers came and reported to him, "Captain, the ion ster is ready."

    "Good! Aim directly at that old-looking magus, he seems to be the strongest among them."

    [Recharging ion ster...]

    [Ion ster will be ready in 10. 9, 8, 7¡­ 1]

    Before the captain could give his order, themunication officer suddenly hurriedly shouted:

    "Captain, we received a message from the city!"

    "Ah, so they do have a way to send messages. What is it about? Are they surrendering already?" Jenkins condescendingly asked. After all, with the current situation, it was only expected that the other side would surrender to minimize their casualties.

    But contrary to his expectations, themunication officer responded to him, "No, Captain! It''s a message from Captain Siegfried of the Grey Wolf!"

 Chapter 293 - Chase

    "This is Sigfried, captain of the Grey Wolf. Authorization code A-85439, calling for the captain of the space cruiser Gctus. Over."

    "I repeat, this is Sigfried¡­"

    The message was yed on the bridge room, clear for all to hear. The moment he heard it, the captain immediately turned to one of his officers, who was currently checking the authenticity of the message in the database.

    "The authorization number and the voice match those in the database, Sir. It is indeed Captain Sigfried." said the officer after the result was out.

    Upon hearing it, the captain returned his gaze to the screen. "Put it up on the screen." He ordered.

    "Yes, Captain." The officer replied. After a while, there was still nothing disyed on the screen. "Captain, it seems there''s no video, only audio."

    The captain nodded his head and began to speak. "This is Captain Jenkins of the 201st space cruiser, Gctus. Report your status."

    There was a slight dy, where only static sound was heard. But it didn''t take long for a cheerful, energetic voice to be heard in the bridge room.

    "Good to hear from you, Captain Jenkins. I have three of my crew with me. We were captured by the enemy, but god damn you came at the right time, captain. Your attack gave us the opportunity to escape." The voice said. "Anyway, we are ready and expecting the extraction point, captain. Over."

    The voice was very convincing. However, it sounded a little too coincidental. Being the cautious person he was, Captain Jenkins thought for a moment before saying, "Captain Sigfried, hold your current position. We will finish cleaning up first before extracting all of you out of this godforsaken."

    By cleaning up, he meant killing more of the other side''s top fighters from behind the weaponry of the spaceship before sending the ground troops. This way, the risk would be minimized and the sess would be maximized.

    Picking up the surviving Grey Wolf Unit at this time, in the middle of such a fierce battle, would only create unnecessary risk.

    With that dangerous possibility under consideration, it didn''t take long for the decision to be made. Captain Jenkins was about to ry the order to send another volley of the cannon and ion ster when Sigfried''s voice once again heard in the room.

    "Captain Jenkins, there is no point in destroying the city at this time. The king has fled, leaving his people to fend the danger by themselves. You should chase him while he''s still not far away. Hence, the kingdom has already fallen."

    The words spoken by Sigfried sounded interesting, it sessfully piqued Jenkins'' interest. "Tell me more."

    Just like before, the static sound rang out for a while before Sigfried''s voice was heard again.

    "I saw a thousand knights fleeing towards the north. You should see a mass of cavalry soldiers on your radar. the king is with them."

    Hearing that, Captain Jenkins immediately gestured with his hand to his officer, who swiftly proceeded to check the radar. A whileter, the result appeared and reported to him.

    "It''s true, captain. The radar detected a massive number of life signatures heading north. They are currently at the grid coordinate of 30,20." The officer said as he turned to Jenkins. "What''s your orders, captain?"

    Captain Jenkins turned his gaze outside once more, to the view of the city engulfed in mes. Seeing the ck smoke nketing the sky, he thought he had done enough, that he had sown deep fear in the people below.

    What Sigfried said was true. It would be more beneficial for him to chase after the fleeing king.

    "Head toward the north right away!"

    "Yes captain!"

    It took the ship a minute before it started flying toward its intended direction. However, it also needed only one minute to reach over the sky where the running group of horses were. From high above the air, the thousand of knights looked exactly like a group of ants.

    Through the radar, the people in the ship were able to discern the power level of the people below. Even though there were a thousand knights in the group, the radar only detected one saint-level fighter among them. An old man who rode at the forefront of the group.

    "Your order, captain?"

    Looking at the screen that disyed the cavalry group, Captain Jenkins sent out the order.

    "Fire at will."

    Outside of the ship, the machines on the spaceship began to make a lot of noise as they prepared their shots. It didn''t take more than two seconds for them to start distributing hell upon the people on the ground.

    BOOM!! BOOM!!! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

    Hundreds of knights were instantly blown to pieces as they were being bombarded by the cannon from the sky. Meanwhile, another hundreds were heavily injured, being thrown from their horses and unluckily stampeded by those behind them.

    The cavalry formation was quickly divided and scattered away.

    Just within the minutes after the bombardment arrived on the ground, one whole battalion of the Arcadian strongest knights was left with less than half of its previous number. Thendscape also underwent a major transformation, where countless pits and craters decorated in red and body fragments could be seen everywhere.

    Satisfied with the destruction seen on the screen, Captain Jenkins then ordered the deployment of the ground troops. In a matter of seconds, the airlocks of the spaceship were opened as groups of space knights were sent down to the ground.

    Five groups of space knights, for a total of fifty figures. They all were equipped with their power armor and weaponry as they dove down from the spaceship. The Arcadian knights who were on the ground could see numerous ck dots appearing in the sky and heading towards them.

    There were only fifty of them, but these figures that were sent by Captain Jenkins were the famed space knights. They were the elite of the elite human fighters; extensively selected and rated individuals from numerouss. They were also being enhanced heavily to boost their physical potential, not to mention wearing one of humanity''s greatest inventions: the power armor.

    Rain of bullets continued to fall down as they fell from the sky and used the jetpack on their power armor to soften their descent. The Arcadian knights who already fell into chaos became even more devastated with the arrival of these space knights.

    "Who are you people!!?" screamed the leader of the Blue Division knights, Sterling.. He was shocked that being the first one to retreat from the city will be chased by them.

 Chapter 294 - Guardian

    Sterling, one of the threemanders of Arcadian knights mustered all the strength he could and led a charge with his dozens of trusted aides.

    It was a powerful charge as it was done by armored horses. It even managed to wound a few of the space knights. Unfortunately, these armored horses were unable to match the firing line of the space knights. The space knights were even strong enough to punch the horse using their power armor, causing both the horse and the rider to fall to the ground.

    The fate of the knight who fell from their horse needed no further boration. The moment they hit the ground, they were quickly shot mercilessly by the space knights. Of course, there were some who were agile and capable enough to recover before being shot.

    It was clear to see that the Arcadian knights'' equipment, tier 1 armor, and weapon, were no match against the high-pration projectiles and explosive bullets the space knights utilized. They were just ughtered by thetter, like livestock.

    "Take formation!!" shouted the old knight who had just lost his mount.

    Dozens of knights swiftly took action as they moved and formed into the formation they were familiar with. The shield wall, the battle formation they were proud of and had proven effective against barbarians and orcs.

    But this time, behind the shield they raised, these knights were actually feeling afraid. Apparently, the explosive bullets previously sent by the flying fortress up in the sky had broken their spirit.

    Sterling noticed his knights'' condition, so he shouted. "Don''t be afraid!! Fight! Fight and you will live!!"

    The man spoke those words with such passion that he did not even notice the small cylindrical object flying towards the formation while making a sound that cuts through the wind.

    Swwiiisshhh!!

    ¡­

    KABBOOOMMMM!!!

    A loud explosion appeared at the center of the formation, in the middle of the knights. When the smoke dissipated, the aftermath was apparent. Simply put, it was a massacre.

    One rocket, that was all it took for the space knights to instantly break the other party''s prized formation. As if that wasn''t bad enough, those who survived the st were immediately trampled on by the space knights as they charged through with their power armor.

    In the end, a thousand knights in the group were either incapacitated, dead, or seriously injured; and all this happened in just a few minutes. The old knight didn''t want to give up until the end and continued to fight valiantly.

    Commander Sterling was one of the greatest fighters Arcadia had and this was proven by the ability he disyed. When the hail of bullets stormed upon the old knight, it only managed to destroy his armor, but was unable to prate his skin.

    "A saint level fighter!" said one of the knights.

    The old knight, afterall, was the known Guardian. A level of fighter that culminated and maximised the highest potential of his physical body, instead of their magic. When a magician would receive the Immortal Body when they reached rank 5, a guardian would get what was called the Unbreakable Body. It has the toughness of rank 4 [greater stone skin] spell without the need of using the spell.

    [Raging de]

    The old knight utilized a battle art to enhance his sword and fought relentlessly using his sword and shield artifacts, sending the space knights flying around until he was thest man standing.

    Seeing that all of his men had fallen, he loudly let out a rage-filled roar. "Arrgghh!! I will make sure to take down as many of you with me!"

    As the space knights were ordered to capture the man thought to be the king of Arcadia, they were unable to use lethal approaches on Sterling.

    "Give him to me!" said one of the space knight squad leaders.

    The space knight took out a chainsword as he rushed at Sterling. With the enhancement given by his advanced powered armor, he managed to match thetter in one on one battle.

    nk!! nk!

    Loud sounds of metals shing resounded through the air as Sterling and the space knight squad leader fought each other. It was an interesting and fascinating fight to watch.

    The fight between the two continued on for several minutes. Seeing that the matchsted too long, the other team leaders immediately took advantage of the opportunity when they appeared to shoot the electrical at Sterling.

    The quickly enveloped the old knight, as millions of volts of electricity flowed through the old knight''s body. Even so, Sterling remained standing. The squad leader quickly fired another one to finally make the old knight fall to the ground.

    "You are taking away my fun!" said the squad leader, who fought Sterling.

    The squad leader who subdued Sterling chose to ignore the other party as he turned his eyes away. Using themunicator in his power armor, he said, "Objectivepleted. Target captured, over"

    "Affirmative. Take the captive to the holding cell."

    When the battle was over and they were rounding up those that were still alive, the space knights suddenly saw a flying ship heading toward them. This sudden appearance of an unknown flying ship had certainly been seen by Captain Jenkins who was at the bridge..

    "Huh?! How surprising. They also have a ship."

    "What are you saying? What can such a tiny ship do to us?"

    "Captain, the ship is apparently under the control of the Grey Wolf Unit. They are asking for permission to board the cruiser."

    Right now, Captain Jenkins wasn''t too suspicious anymore because of the information Sigfried had given him earlier. Even so, he wasn''t rxed enough to just let it board. He checked on the people inside the ship and found there were four humans and an elf.

    "An elf?" muttered Jenkins in bewilderment.

    He ordered his officer to openmunication with the flying ship.

    "Captain Sigfried, why do you have an elf on board?"

    "This is my prisoner, captain," Sigfried replied. "I brought him here because I''m sure you want to talk to him."

    Captain Jenkins fell into thought, It was just one elf. The power scanner said it wasn''t even an elf magus, just one as strong as a saint level fighter. Being overly cautious as usual, the captain asked for the identity of the elf. But unexpectedly, the major who had been very quiet suddenly spoke up.

    "I''d like to speak with this elf and Captain Sigfried. Please let them in, Captain Jenkins."

    The ship was authorized to enter and as it safelynded in a medium-sized hangar,

    Captain Sigfried came out of the flying ship, following behind him was a white-haired elf.

 Chapter 295 - The Plan

    When the spaceship encroached the sky above the capital, Tristan had specifically instructed Tobias to do anything in his ability to dy the other party as long as he possibly could. However, it seemed the famed old wizard had failed rather spectacrly in the task.

    He could tell from the loud sounds of gunshots and explosions heard from the outside, despite the fact he was currently in the underground, in the prison cell of O district.

    Against such an enemy who were equipped with advanced technologies beyond this, Tristan knew he needed to depend on his wits, and not his brawn. He had to think of a shrewd and acute n to solve the problem.

    Fortunately, he had enough of those, especially with the myriad skills he had in his repertoire.

    Tristan walked forward and stopped in front of a cell, the one that was holding the space knight captain with a striking scar on his face.

    "I have decided who I''ll be taking, captain." He said with a smile. "This time, I will choose you."

    [Blood Seal]

    [Human]

    [2,000 blood essence required to proceed.]

    [Sealing sess rate: 38%]

    It was painful for Tristan to see such a high amount of Blood Essence and low sess rate. However, he was then reminded thest time he scanned the man, the sess rate was only a mere seven percent. It seemed his decision to upgrade the skill, twice at that, had enhanced the probability into quite a decent number.

    He then checked the amount of Blood Essence he currently had and his current blood pool. After all, he would not be able to cast [Blood Seal] on Captain Sigfried if the number went past the limit.

    [Blood Essence 34,210]

    [7,100/10,000]

    It was really unfortunate that hisst trip, or rather, campaign against the orcs in the Chaotic ins did not him much Blood Essence. Instead, the augmentation of Ghral had taken quite a lot of space from his blood pool.

    Luckily, he still had enough leeway to take over the space knight captain.

    Without further ado, Tristan immediately willed the skill to take effect upon Captain Sigfried.

    [Blood Seal]

    [Blood Seal failed]

    "Fuvk!!" Tristan cursed loudly as he saw the failed notification. It couldn''t be helped though, as every time the skill failed, he would lose ten percent of the [Blood Seal] cost, which in this case was 200 Blood Essence.

    It took Tristan two more tries before the skill was sessfully applied as he watched the mist smoothly enter the space knight captain.

    Naturally, the other space knights who witnessed all of this happening did not remain silent. They banged on their cell door and shouted at Tristan as loudly as they could.

    "You!! What the fvck did you do?!"

    "You fvcking elf! Get away from our captain!"

    They were about to hurl more insults and sharp words at Tristan when Sigfried suddenly opened his mouth.

    "Be quiet, soldiers! Do not disrespect the master!"

    Complete disbelief was visible on their faces as they heard their captain''s words.

    "M-Master!??"

    "Captain!! You are being controlled!! Resist him!"

    "Fvck!!"

    Tristan obviously decided to ignore their threatening words as he asked someone to open the Sigfried''s locked cell. The moment the cell door opened, Captain Sigfried immediately give a little bow and paying respect to him. Finally, therge burly man was his.

    Humming as a form of acknowledgment, Tristan quickly thought of a possible n as he questioned Sigfried. Thetter answered all the questions he asked; all the possible scenarios and strategies space knights used as per training they had. He also did not forget to ask for information on the spaceship currently in the sky.

    From what Sigfried had told him, Tristan realized that destroying the spaceship with this''s current technology was a mere pipe dream, a near impossible task to aplish. Not only because of its very hard exterior hull ting, there was also a defensive barrier mechanism, an energy shield on the spaceship that apparently would be able to block most attacks.

    The more Sigfried told the details about the standard cruiser ss spaceship and its weapon arrangement and capability, the more worried everyone became. However, it wasn''t the case for Tristan. The more he heard how devastatingly destructive the spaceship was, the more he wanted it.

    Truly a dangerous thought.

    "Alright. I''ve heard enough," Tristan said. "In your opinion, what''s the best strategy to take over the ship?!"

    The words uttered by Tristan immediately shocked everyone. As for Sigfried, he said that the task was not impossible at all. But first, he needed to be able tomunicate with the other party for the n to begin.

    Hearing that, Tristan quickly took out a storage ring and retrieved themunication device he took from the ship''s crash site. The previously brokenmunicator was somewhat usable, as Chieng had partially repaired it.

    With this important factor, Tristan''s crazy n to take over the spaceship was quickly formted and implemented.

    The main idea of ??the n was to deceive the other party and let Tristan enter their spaceship. However, after the brief interaction with the other party, it was clear that the captain of the spaceship was not an easy figure to deal with.

    Knowing the ship was about to send another volley to the capital again, Tristan came up with a new n when he received a report that the Blue Division knights had run away from the city.

    This new n of his would devour the lives of hundreds or even the thousand of Arcadian knights, but desperate times required desperate measures. It was clear that unless more blood was shed, that captain named Jenkins would not believe the words Sigfried spoke.

    ¡­

    "Sess!" Tristan thought as he watched the spaceship leave the capital''s skies, chasing the cavalry unit led by Commander Sterling.

    Tristan''s n had managed to prevent the enemy from attacking the capital again and, hopefully, somehow gain a little bit of trust from the other side. Now, he just needed to make one final push, to get him inside the ship.

    Requesting an extraction point within the city would be harder for the other party as there were a lot of risks involved, but outside of the city would be a different matter.

    With that in mind, the next n was to make it look as if the Grey Wolf Unit managed to hijack the flying ship, and thus, be able to approach the spaceship in the sky.

    But for the n to work, he needed all 4 crew to join him together with Sigfried. After all, it would be too suspicious if only him and Sigfried were present on the Firefly. Unfortunately, Tristan didn''t have leeway in his blood pool to convert and [Blood Seal] all of them.

    "Professor Emmet! When Can brought these men here, did theye with their suits?"

    As it turned out, there were two powered armors that were still functional and ready to be used.

    At first, Tristan wished he could just bring any human with him. Unfortunately, that idea was immediately extinguished by the fact that these space knights had specialized imnts sticking out of their skin. Hence, there was a high chance their cover would be blown out immediately.

    Now, with two functional power armors, Tristan could bring two people together with him and not get caught.

    After much thought, he finally decided on the people he would bring on this dangerous, almost-suicidal mission. First, was the strongest human that was currently avable, Captain Rayna. While the other would be the pilot of the Firefly, Wash. After all, Tristan knew nothing about flying a flying ship.

    For the third one, Tristan decided to bring the wounded female space knight.

    Due to theck of imnts, Rayna and Wash would not be able to use the functions of the power armors. But it was still possible to merely wear it.

    Before they left, Zoe the co-pilot and wife of Wash warned Tristan to not let her husband in harm''s way, which he nodded his head to.

    After everything was done, the Firefly finally departed from O district and quickly headed toward the hovering spaceship.

    "Ahhh This suit stinks!" said Wash as he drove the Firefly.

    Ignoring theint he heard, Tristan said to himself, "Hopefully this n will work.."

    Everyone in the Firefly was nervous as they watched their flying ship gradually approach the gigantic spaceship. Tension rose to its maximum when there was no replying from the other party, but they quickly rxed when the Firefly was allowed entry.

    As they hovered in the sky waiting for the spaceship to open its door, Tristan''s eyes were attracted to the many Arcadian knight''s lives lost on the ground. For a moment, he was tempted to jump down and extract all of them. However, he quickly restrained himself.

    He had to be patient, to make sure his n went perfectly. He also consoled his urge of his by repeatedly thinking there should be much more inside the spaceship. Much more Blood Essence waiting for him to be harvested.

    As Fireflynded on the spaceship, Tristan walked out with chains in his hands.

 Chapter 296 - The Tactic

    A group of space knights walked forward and approached Sigfried.

    "We are here to escort you to see Captain Jenkins," said one of the figures to Sigfried.

    There were two squads of the prominent space knights and about fifty space troopers standing in front of them. This entourage was the escorts sent to wee their arrival. All of these people were led by an officer, a bald guy in a ck uniform standing behind the troopers who weed Sigfried and Tristan.

    Even though they had been informed that it was an ally who was on board, these space troopers didn''t let their guard down at all. Tristan could literally feel their sharp gazes all over him as Sigfried led the group out of the Firefly. Truly, a highly disciplined troop.

    "Alright, troopers. You can lead the way." Sigfried said as he nodded. "But please take good care of one of my men here. She''s badly injured."

    The space trooper who greeted Sigfried turned his head and looked at the officer. The man nodded and made a gesture. Immediately after, a few of the space troopers swiftly entered the Firefly and came out carrying the unconscious female space acolyte.

    The reason Tristan brought the female space acolyte was to fill in the remaining one man of the Grey Wolf Unit. So naturally, he had already drugged her enough to make her unconscious to not ruin the n.

    And like what Tristan had hoped, the presence and current condition of the female space acolyte had sessfully made the weing group divided. A dozen space troopers led by five of the space knights were off the equation as they needed to escort the female acolyte to their medical facility.

    It seemed what Sigfried told him was true, that a space acolyte had quite a standing within the human alliance. This information was evident by how carefully they were treating her at the moment, despite her current state of unconsciousness.

    The current situation was pretty good to Tristan''s n, because it would be easier for the n to work the less people looked after them.

    In the end, fifteen space knights were tasked by the officer to escort Tristan and the others, leading them away from the hangar. Meanwhile, the rest of the space troopers were ordered to stay and secure the Firefly.

    As they were escorted out of the hangar, Tristan didn''t waste his chance to observe his surroundings. He finally realized how big this spaceship was, as the hangar inside it was as high as a four-story building.

    At the moment, Tristan and the others, who were surrounded by the space knights, were walking through a futuristic-looking corridor as they were led to a ce. From here on, Sigfried previously said everything would be unpredictable.

    Apparently, their destination would bepletely dependent on Captain Jenkins'' objective.

    They would be brought to the brig if they were suspected by the other party, where they would be interrogated. If Captain Jenkins held no objective from them, these space knights would lead them to the officer quarter. Meanwhile, if the man trusted them enough, they could be led to the hub of the spaceship, the bridge.

    Sigfried, however, couldn''t be sure of what their objective was. Thus, the reason for his early warning. Moreover, Tristan hadn''t heard the word of blood elf being said nor mentioned so far

    This meant that these people came here for one reason only, Captain Sigfried.

    However, Tristan didn''t want to let his fate in the hands of chance - whatever their objective was.

    When the n was formted, Tristan set their priority as the spaceship''s engine room, instead of its captain. This was out of the norm as any strategist in a battle would always advise to handle the head of the troops, which in this case, Captain Jenkins. But, he felt that solution wasn''t correct for a situation such as this.

    The worst case situation in Tristan''s book was not a situation where the captain of the spaceship suddenly brought hundreds of fighters surrounding him. No.

    It was a situation where the environment itself was against him.

    Having the spaceship standing on the opposite side of him was a nightmare of its own. Tristan clearly didn''t want to find himself in front of a tightly closed door, facing a defensive mechanism, and worst of all, being unknowingly taken into outer space and whisked away from the.

    Therefore, he had to take over the engine room at all costs.

    As the one who knew the cruiser ship''s standard blueprint, Sigfried was the focal point of the n. Earlier, Tristan had instructed him that as soon as they reached the area closest to the engine room, the man would give him a signal.

    "You are Sigfried of the Grey Wolf, aren''t you?" said one of the two space knight squad leaders escorting Tristan and the others.

    Sigfried turned to the person speaking and replied, "Yes, I am."

    "Wow.. You are a famous figure, captain." He said. "How did you end up so far from the frontline?"

    Sigfried decided to ignore the man''s question, but the other party apparently didn''t stop. He looked at the two people walking behind Sigfried, Rayna and Wash, who were supposedly the members of his unit.

    "I''m sorry. I guess you don''t want to talk after losing your unit members¡­ again."

    Thement was followed with a mockingugh, but Sigfried maintained his silence and expressionless face.

    It seemed Sigfried''s indifferent attitude irritated the squad leader, as the man decided to bother Rayna and Wash who were under cover.

    "Don''t you guys know who your captain is? He is a legend among the ranks of space knights."

    While Rayna and Wash kept their mouths shut, the other squad leader chose to join the party.

    "Yeah, sure. Legend of keep losing his men, that is."

    Fortunately for Tristan, under the influence of his [Blood Seal], Sigfried was able to control his emotions better. He remained silent despite the mockery, and continued to ignore the two.

    The first squad leader was about to continue his act when his associate, the other squad leader, suddenly shouted, "Stop!"

    The man turned around and said, "I just realized none of you have spoken all this time!" This was directed at Rayna and Wash, who were still hiding behind the power armor.

    "Open your helmet!"

    Seeing that the two didn''t answer nor budge, he quickly raised his weapon and said, "Open it, NOW!"

    The first squad leader also became alert as he raised his weapon, followed by the other space knights.

    In the midst of this tense situation, to their surprise, neither of them spoke. Instead, it was the chained white-haired elf.

    "I really wish we could have gone further, but I guess this is as far as we can go."

    Before they could question what the white-haired elf meant, the space knights were dumbfounded by the scene that unfolded before them. In the blink of an eye, half a dozen boomerang-like des were formed around the elf and flew toward the surrounding space knights.

    Swish!

    ¡­

    This was reality, where things didn''t always go as nned. There was nothing Tristan could do when this happened, other than adapt and improvise.

    The moment he realized their cover was blown, Tristan swiftly activated [Blood Synthesis] and created six familiar-looking des that wereparable to tier 3 weapons. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he immediately ordered his des to go towards their target.

    The space knights who were caught off guard were immediately dealt serious damage by the des. The power armor that they wore was unable to stop Tristan''s des. As a result, they easily cut through the protection the armor provided and hit the space knight inside.

    As the result of Tristan''s sudden attack, five of the six space knights walking in front of him were either killed or incapacitated. In the meantime, the only one who was barely able to dodge the deadly attack was moderately injured.

    Tristan turned his gaze to the surviving space knights and said, "How amazing. You can dodge my attack at such close range."

    On the other hand, Rayna and Sigfried also did not remain silent. They quickly lunged and attacked the closest space knight to them. Meanwhile, Wash dropped his body to the floor, giving his best not to be conspicuous.

    Recovering from their dumbfounded state, the rest of the space knights quickled aimed their weapons toward Tristan and the others.

    "What is the meaning of this, Sigfried?!! What are you doing?!" shouted one of the squad leaders as he was tackled down by Sigfried. Even though he currently didn''t wear his power armor, the scar-faced captain was still strong enough to bring and hold the man down.

    While the other space knights were hesitant on what they should do, the officer on the back, however, was the decisive kind. He immediately sent down the order.

    "Shoot them all!!"

    Rain of bullets flew through the air as the corridor suddenly turned into a battlefield.

 Chapter 297 - Blood Paint

    Tratatatatatatata-

    Countless bullets were fired at the flying blood knives as well as the white-haired elf who was controlling them.

    From what they knew, the bullets fired were armor-piercing bullets enough to destroy the Arcadian knight armor, but not enough to go through their own powered armor.

    With this information, Siegfried quickly used the body of the other squad leader as cover. As for Rayna of the Kingsde, and Wash the pilot, the two were wearing powered armor that was hard enough to deflect the fired bullets. Thanks to this, they were unscathed¡­ for now, at least.

    nk! nk!!

    Rayna could hear the sound of her armor cracking due to the bullets, and the same sound could be heard from her surroundings as well. She could tell that the powered armor they had would not be able to hold the bullets for long.

    Fortunately, Tristan''s [Blood Synthesis] came in time to rescue them. Tristan swiftly created a shield of blood for them, immediately blocking the iing projectiles.

    The people on both sides were astonished by the scene in front of them. Just when they thought that it was going to end soon, out of nowhere, they saw blood hovering in the air and instantly formed into shapes that covered most of the hallway to block the bullets.

    "What kind of skill is that!?" the officer in ck uniform shouted. In all his years on the battlefield, not once had he seen a skill like that.

    After blocking the bullets, the hovering blood that was previously protecting them began to turn into des once again and flew towards them.

    The officer, who was a saint-level fighter, quickly cast his own magic. [manipte metal] Right after, the bullets that filled in the floor hovering in the air forming into multiple metal spheres. As soon as they were formed, the officer used them to block the iing des.

    Crack! Crack!!

    Unfortunately, the difference in strength was unbelievable. Even though the officer expected there to be a gap in their strength, he never expected the power gap to be this big. All the metal balls that the officer formed could only be the first attack and when the blood construct returned. The spheres werepletely destroyed, catching the officer off-guard and rendering him speechless.

    The moment the officer was in shock and confusion, a blood de silently flew toward his back, swiftly cutting his head off from his body.

    The officer''s head was rolling on the floor followed by screams from the rest of the space knights. More blood des began flying toward the rest of the knights, charging at them mercilessly.

    The surviving space knights decisively tried to dodge the flying des by following its trajectory. Unfortunately, in such small corridors, none of them were able to dodge fast enough to sessfully escape from Tristan''s des.

    One by one, the limbs of these space knights were chopped off. Some had their arms cut off, some their legs, while others their head. Blood sttered all over the gray tunnels. Witnessing the horrendous scene, thest space knight standing gave up fighting and tried to run away, only to be attacked by Kingsde captain Rayna''s thunderbolt. With that, he fell lifelessly to the ground with a stunned expression.

    "That should be all of them!"

    Within just a few minutes, 15 space knights were turned into corpses and the hallway that was previously spotless was now painted red with blood.

    Siegfried took the time to take one of the squad leaders'' powered armor and put it on himself to improve his fighting power. This way, at the very least, he would be able to survive longer.

    While waiting, Tristan did what he enjoyed doing the most. He raised his hand, and red mist started to gather into his palm.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [3,000...]

    [4,000¡­]

    [A mix of 4,500 medium-quality blood cells were found.]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [3,100 Blood Essence has been gained.]

    Now that he already got what he wanted, he turned to Siegfried and asked, "Siegfried, which way to the engine room?"

    The blood-sealed space knight did not dare dy and quickly answered, "This way, Master."

    -------

    The incident was clearly captured and shown on the disy screen on the bridge.

    "What kind of magic is that!?" Captain Jenkins shouted in disbelief. Never once had he expected that there would be such an ability, magic that controls blood making it able to pierce their proud power armour.

    There was also thest word he heard the space knight captain called the elf ''Master''

    Captain Jenkins could not believe that a captain and squad leader of a space knight would betray them.

    "Is this some kind of mind control magic?" he thought to himself

    These space knights were all heavily trained to never surrender or be threatened by the enemy no matter the threat or pressure. They also had been given imnts in their brains that would allow them to resist any kind of mind-controlling magic. Because of that, he believed it nearly impossible for such a thing to happen.

    Not only that, but it had only been a few months since they had gone MIA (missing in action). Within such a short time could a strong space knight captain really be converted? The mere thought really worried him.

    Seeing the images on screen, the massacre of the 15 space knights in the hallway really irritated him. Captain Jenkins unconsciously smacked his seat and gritted his teeth.

    Just when he was about to n for his next steps, he noticed strange movements from the person standing next to him. The major was anxious, and he was overly interested to see the elf on the huge screen from every angle.

    "Major, tell me if you know something!"

    "My apologies, Captain, what I have in mind right now is only a theory. But if I am not mistaken, you should send all of your best warriors to subdue that elf! No matter the cost!" the major hastily said, his face showing clear anticipation.

    Hearing the major''s response, Captain Jenkins immediately gave his orders, "Send squad 204 to 209 there right away! Also inform the Marshall"

    "Right away, Captain!"

    "Which way are they heading?" Jenkins asked. He wanted to be sure of his opponents'' moves to make his.

    "they are heading to the engine room, Captain."

    After hearing the response, fury took over him again. While gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, he muttered to himself in anger, "Who is this damn elf!?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 298 - Engine Room

    Beep!! Beep!!

    The sound of the rm could be heard along the ship corridor. Following the sound, a blinking light incessantly followed Tristan and his group''s every move.

    Every minute, they would be stopped by a squad of space troopers. Luckily, even though these space troopers also wore armor, the armor they wore was much lighterpared to the enhanced armor the previous space knights wore.

    Coupled with how they themselves were wearing the powered armor the space knights previously had and Tristan''s undying body, they were able to kill these space troopers much more easily despite their difference in number.

    Tratatatatatata-

    Stt!!

    Tristan great physical prowess gave him the speed to massacre a dozen of them within seconds, leaving a bloody trail of corpses on the path they went.

    "This way!!" shouted Siegfried, pointing toward his right following what he knew.

    However, just when they thought that the never-ending waves of space troopers were the most troublesome thing that could get between them and the engine room, more troublesome things greeted them.

    The area in front of them seemed like a maze with innumerable paths. Not only that, but the doors kept closing in on them whichever way they went. No matter how many times they changed paths to whichever direction, in the end, arge steel door would always block the path they were heading to.

    Seeing this unceasing blockade, Siegfried clenched his fists in annoyance and said to Tristan, "The engine room is just beyond this wall, there is no other path!"

    In response to Siegfried''s words, Tristan used the de he made out of his [Blood Synthesis] to charge toward the steel door. The steel door''s hardness surprised him.

    Contrary to his expectations, his blood de only managed to slightly scratch the steel door. Even though he expected the door to be strong, he thought that his de would at least still make a dent on it. Seeing this, he tried punching it with his maximum battle power. To his surprise, even his current maximum power was only able to make a shallow dent on the steel door. The steel door did not evene close to breaking or opening.

    Tristan''s disy of power greatly astonished the people behind him. But despite their surprise, they did not just stand still. They looked around to find anything they might be able to use to go through the door.

    Noticing the control panel next to the gate, Wash quickly rushed toward it and tried to ess the panel.

    Rayna, the Kingsde captain, was perplexed when she saw Wash running toward the control panel. She asked with uncertainty, "You know how to operate this kind of control panel?"

    The man checking the control panel simply replied with a chuckle, "Well, my wife Zoe and I used to be pirates, so¡­"

    "How long?" Tristan asked.

    Wash thought about it for a brief moment before replying with his brows slightly furrowed, "It''s prettyplicated, maybe around five minutes?"

    Under normal circumstances, five minutes would be amazing considering it was a control panel with high-end technology made in a higher-level realm world. Unfortunately, they did not have five minutes at the moment.

    Siegfried, who was standing guard at the back, raised the Gatling gun that he picked up from theirst battle and began shooting at the hallway behind them.

    Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-

    "They areing, Master!"

    "We don''t have five minutes," Tristan said with slight haste. He put both of his palms onto the surface of the thick steel door and quickly cast [Heat Touch]. Using the maximum amount of heat he could output to burn the door, he sessfully melted the area around his palms, creating a hole as big as his two arms. Seeing that this method worked, Tristan continued using [Heat Touch] a few more times, creating holes enough for him to tear open the gate with his strength afterward.

    Siegfried noticed that something was going on behind him, but he did not dare look back at the moment as he had to take care of the iing space troopers.

    Meanwhile, Wash was baffled when he saw Tristan straight-up tearing open the steel door. With an awkwardugh, he spoke in a slightly low volume, "Yes, that''s definitely faster, hahaha..."

    Following Tristan''s call, the group quickly jumped through the open hole and charged toward therge open chamber in front of them. Siegfried was taken aback when he saw therge hole with obvious traces of melting, but he did not let himself be left behind and quickly followed suit.

    The chamber in front of them was as big as the hangar. As they entered the chamber, they could see a glowing tube installed at the center. As they expected, some people had been waiting for their arrival; a squad of space knights and a few dozen space troopers

    Tristan knew that there were either still moreing their way or they were going to do something with the ship, hence he needed to clean up them quickly.

    He raised his two arms towards the defensive lines that had begun shooting their weapons. In turn, Tristan''s arms began glowing red, and suddenly...

    [Fireball] [Fireball] [Fireball]

    Kaboom!! Kaboom!! Kaboom!!!

    The enhanced fireballs were able to quickly break the defensive lines and vaporize the troopers who came in direct contact with them. Even the people behind Tristan were surprised. Shooting fire magic inside an engine room was definitely an insane thing to do. After all, there was a high chance that it would blow up the whole ship.

    Of course, the defensive crew also knew this. They were immediately put in a state of turmoil, quickly shifting their focus on putting out the fire.

    It worked exactly as nned. Tristan shot the fireballs close enough to make them panic while still avoiding the main engine. Meanwhile, as the defensive crew was in chaos, his flying des started massacring the guarding troops.

    More limbs were and blood sttered all over the engine room.

    The scene in front of them almost made Wash throw up, but Captain Rayna carried him to keep moving.

    "Here!" Siegfried shouted toward them. "This is the EM device! Without this, they won''t go hyperdrive!"

    That EM device was the first thing that Tristan took as a precaution.

    "Now, how do we make the shipnd?"

    "For that, we need to ess the propulsion engine. It''s in the room two blocks away from here!" Siegfried hastily answered.

    The number ofplicated things they had to do irritated him. After all, they did not have enough time to do all those. In a slightly annoyed tone, Tristan asked Siegfried, "Can''t I just blow up the main engine?"

    Siegfried quickly answered, "Yes, Master, that would be the fastest way to stop the ship. However, the explosion should at least be big enough to blow up half of the ship to crash it down."

    Tristan considered totally disabling the ship as n C, theirst resort. After all,pletely disabling such a good ship would be a great waste, would it not? At the moment, he still wished toplete his n A, total control of the ship.

    At the same time, he could see two doors around the hall slowly opening. This time, the ones entering were all space knights. As they rushed in, he could see that there were almost 50 of them. Among them, a certain space knight immediately attracted his attention. It was a space knight in ck armor.

    The ck armor did not fully cover the wearer''s body. Tristan could see the space knight''s face clearly; it was a bald man with a ring covering his forehead. From the man, Tristan could feel a power simr to Can''s level, and it seemed that the man did not bother to hide it.

    "That''s the space knight Marshal!"

 Chapter 299 - Threat

    The Marshal was the leader of a wholepany of space knights. It was a position that had ten squad leaders under itsmand. Most importantly, this position was only given to the space knights who had demonstrated their strength and had ster achievements in their service.

    An individual who was Tempered in the zing mes of war for dozens of years until he was able to push the peak limit of the human physical body into saint level. He has then given the best imnts and technologies avable. This had made those who held the position of Marshal one of the most advanced soldiers in the human alliance.

    "The hammer he is holding is a tier 4 weapon, Master," Sigfried said, telling Tristan about the opponent he would face next. "Please be careful."

    Previously, before they set their n in motion, Sigfried did say that normally there were three magus-level officers within a space cruiser. Hence, this guy in front of him was certainly one of them.

    Fifty space knight squads and their leader. This must be the strongest force this space cruiser had got to offer.

    The marshal could be seen confidently entering the engine room. s, his confident gait swiftly changed when his eyes saw what was presented before him.

    When he saw the numerous corpses of his men scattered around, the man undoubtedly became angry and shouted loudly, "Kill him!"

    Seeing someone who was undoubtedly the strongest fighter they had decided to send his own men to fight him actually made Tristan feel some respect for the man.

    This was what a goodmander, should do - using his resources to test the enemy''s strength, possibly tiring or even hurting him in the process where he just needed to swoop in for the win at the end. One of the many traits humans had that he both respected and despised.

    The fifty space knights brandishing their weapon at him didn''t scare Tristan. But, the situation could be messy for him in a matter of seconds, especially to the three people that came with him.

    Therefore, he quickly thought of a tactic as he told the others to step back, closer to the engine.

    As expected, all fifty space knights faltered in their tracks when they saw Rayna and the other two stepped closer to the engine. This became especially apparent when Tristan raised his hand and me started to burn on his palm.

    "Stop! Take one more step forward, and I will blow this spaceship up!" said Tristan menacingly.

    Looking at the fluttering me on Tristan''s palm, the marshal quickly raised his hand and told the fifty space knights to stop their advance.

    The man looked directly at Tristan''s eyes and said, "You won''t dare!! Blow the engine up and you will die along with us!"

    Following the marshal''s words were all the space knights raising their weapons and aiming them toward the group. Their aggressive demeanor, in spite ofck of actions, obviously told Tristan they want him to surrender.

    Tristan, naturally, would never surrender. However, he would also not be stupid enough to destroy the spaceship engine.

    Unlike one would expect, the reason Tristan didn''t want to destroy the engine was not that he was afraid to die. No, that waspletely wrong. He fully believed that the Undying quality of his body would sustain his life no matter how powerful the explosion was.

    The real reason was simply because he felt how pitiful it was to blow up such a well-functioning, engine. After all, wouldn''t this mighty spaceship be useless without its engine?

    At this moment, Rayna, who had been silent all this time, suddenly opened her mouth.

    "My King, I am willing to sacrifice my life for the sake of the Arcadian people. You have to do what has to be done! Do not hesitate!" She said so confidently that it stunned Tristan for a moment.

    Tristan was, in all honesty, baffled by her words.

    Wasn''t her job supposed to make sure he was safe?

    If so, why did she tell him to blow the spaceship up? Didn''t her words do the exact opposite?

    Moreover, Tristan would definitely not choose to sacrifice himself for the Arcadian. Not at all.

    However, her words also gave him an idea.

    Tristan turned to the marshal and shouted as if his life depended on it.

    "All of you bastards came, destroyed my city, and even killed my people!! I would rather die with the ship, along with all of you, than see more of my people die at your hands!!"

    As he shouted those words, Tristan increased the intensity of the me in his palm. A momentary sh of light appeared as the mes expanded exponentially, engulfing his hand whole.

    Seeing that, the marshal quickly stopped him. "Wait!! STOP!!!"

    Tristan begrudgingly turned his face to the marshal, while still maintaining the zing me.

    Extreme irritation was evident on the marshal''s face as he said, "Tell me what you want!"

    Tristan maintained the look of hatred on his face, but inwardly he was actually smiling.

    "I want to speak with your captain!!" Tristan said. "Also, let mypanions leave this ship!"

    Captain Rayna, who knew what sort of character Tristan had, was bewildered by what he just said. ''Die for the people'' and panion''; she truly couldn''t believe how shameless her new king really was.

    "NOW!" Tristan shouted when he saw the marshal didn''t budge. He also didn''t forget to light the me even more.

    "Huh! The captain is heading here shortly!" the marshal replied. "As for yourpanions, they can leave this room, but do not think they will ever leave the ship!"

    At this moment, all ns probably were not feasible anymore. Now, he just needed to make sure they got away, so as to not be a burden for what he would do next.

    It seemed his impromptu idea of threat worked; these space knights really concerned about losing the ship and being stranded on such a. Rayna and the other two swiftly headed out of the engine room, and the space knights quickly paved a way for them.

    Not long after, a man dressed in ck uniform embroidered with many emblems was seen entering the engine room. The figure should be the spaceship captain, Captain Jenkins.

    "I am Jenkins, the captain of the cruiser ship Gctus." He said as he looked at Tristan. "Who am I speaking to?"

    Tristan smiled as he said, "I am Tristan, the king of Arcadia!"

    This was his first time saying his recently-acquired title, and Tristan frankly felt the title feel a little bit off for him.

 Chapter 300 - Bluff

    "You are the king of the kingdom?" Jenkins asked. He could not believe that a king would go to such lengths. But soon after, Jenkins drylyughed as he realized something.

    "Ha. I see. So you''re the kind of king who''s willing to die for your people."

    Meanwhile, hearing those words from Jenkins'' mouth, Tristan onlyughed internally. The enemy was helping him make his lie much more believable.

    "I am already here, King of Arcadia. Now tell me, what do you n on doing now?"

    Now that the highest-ranking person in the ship, the captain, was here, Tristan quickly moved to execute his first n.

    [Blood Seal].

    Unfortunately, immediately after Tristan tried to use it on him, he was met with unpleasant news.

    [Unable toply.]

    [Target is beyond current capabilities.]

    Tristan reflexively clicked his tongue when he saw that his spell failed. "Damn¡­ that''s a shame," he unconsciously muttered under his breath.

    He was hoping that the captain would be one of those pencil pushers who had a high rank but low capabilities. Unfortunately, to be able to resist his stage 3 [Blood Seal], this man was at least as strong as Janus, if not stronger.

    Seeing Tristan inaudibly muttering after saying absolutely nothing for a while, Captain Jenkins asked with suspicion, "What are you trying to do? Are you perhaps trying to mind-control me as you did to Captain Siegfried?"

    Tristan did not expect that Jenkins would know about this ability of his, much less mention it. He slightly flinched in surprise, and it was quickly caught by Jenkins. That fleeting second gave Jenkins the answer he needed.

    "I see. It appears that you really do have the ability to control minds. I assume that you failed to use that ability on me. Well then, surrendering now would be a good idea, don''t you think?"

    Jenkins was confident that he had the upper hand. However, Tristan''s next move surprised him. Of course, with the impression he previously got from Tristan, Jenkins did not expect him to immediately surrender without a fight. Even so, he did not expect that Tristan wouldugh out loud at the mercy he showed them.

    "Hahaha! Captain, I didn''t expect you to have such a sense of humor. Now that you''re here, I can make sure that more of you will die here with this st. Captain, isn''t it you who''s supposed to surrender?"

    Tristan''s voice was clearly filled with confidence and mockery.

    While it was true that Tristan was willing to use that alternative if he really had to, he was only bluffing to see how they would react in the situation.

    Despite his words, the captain remained calm. Without haste, he said to the device in his hand:

    "Open hatch A-19."

    Right after Jenkins uttered those words, Tristan was startled to see the big steel wall behind him slowly open up. Behind it, he could see a huge pane of ss. Curious, Tristan carefully walked closer to the ss, and with a closer look, he noticed that the cruiser ship was already hovering on top of the Arcadian capital of Prontera.

    Captain Jenkin replied with a smirk, "I''m disappointed you thought so low of me. I already instructed the pilot to make sure we''ll crash toward your city if anything happens to the ship. I wonder, how many casualties will there be if you blow up the power engine?"

    Tristan was stunned for a second. He did not expect that the captain would not think of his own life. At the same time, the captain''s confident smile amused him.

    "Are you serious, Captain? Are you willing to go down in mes together?" Although the captain seemed confident, Tristan was still unconvinced.

    Unfazed, Jenkins simply answered, "You''re from a lower realm, so you probably don''t know this, but if my ship is here, it means the full force of the Empire is already behind me. We don''t mind being the first to die, we live and die for the emperor!"

    The captain''s eyes had no trace of hesitation whatsoever. Instead, Tristan felt that he was actually determined to bring them all down with him. At this point, Tristan was convinced that if the situation forced him to, the captain would not hesitate to drag them down in mes.

    "Very good, Captain! I''m impressed!"

    It appeared that Tristan could not bluff anymore. In all honesty, Tristan did not care much about the Arcadians who would die from the crash. Rather, he believed that crashing the cruiser ship onto the city would be more beneficial for him. Just like what he did in Caerleon, people ovee by fear were much easier to handle. Fortunately for them, Tristan never nned to blow up the ship.

    Seeing therge pane of ss, however, gave Tristan a new idea. He walked closer toward the ss pane and away from the powerful engine before casually asking,

    "How strong is this ss?"

    Captain Jenkins immediately shook his head in response. He could not understand where Tristan was going with this, and he did not like the feeling. "What are you trying to do!? There is no ce to run! No matter where you go, we will hunt you down!"

    As if not understanding where the captain wasing from, Tristan turned around and exined, "No, no! You''ve misunderstood me, Captain, I''m not trying to run! I was just wondering, is the ss strong enough to bear a bird''s crash?"

    Jenkins was even more confused by his question. "Are you crazy, elf!? What are you talking about!?"

    "Haha, of course not, Captain," he brushed off the captain''s remark about his sanity. Turning around, he pointed toward the sky and asked, "You see that? If it crashes here, will the ss break?"

    Seeing that it was actually such a mundane topic, the captain became bored with the weird talk. This elf must have something wrong with his head, he thought. He still could not understand why the major wished to speak to such an elf so much, and it baffled him.

    ''Does this elf really think a bird would be able to break the ss?''

    But before he could ridicule Tristan, he realized that something was actually flying toward the ss at a fast speed. However, it was not a bird.

    It was a red flying creature.

    "Dragon!!"

    Craaaackk!!!

    The ss pane was quickly broken by the red dragon with silver back; it was Narra, who came here following Tristan''s summon.

    As soon as the ss broke, the ship violently shook. Right after, they could feel a strong wind and themselves being vacuumed outward, causing many of the space knights to lose their bnce and fall.

    Tristan, however, simply red at the captain and said, "It''s toote to surrender now, Captain."

    [Blood Legacy]

 Chapter 301 - Battle At The Ship

    Aarrrghhhh!!!!

    Loud screams containing an indescribable horror and trepidation echoed through the air as everyone''s eyes caught the figure of the transforming monstrosity standing before them. Their thoughts went awry for a moment as they tried toprehend¡­ whatever that was in front of them right now.

    "What the hell is that thing?!!"

    "Shit! That''s a fucking monster!!"

    "What the hell are you guys waiting for?! Shoot it!! Fire! Fire!!"

    "Do not fire! I repeat!! Do not fire your weapons!"

    "Stow away your firearms and attack it using your melee weapon!"

    "Leader! That thing is an abomination!"

    "Just follow the order, trooper!!"

    "Sir, yes Sir!!"

    Chaos ensued among the space troopers as their mentality was shaken by the unanticipated monstrosity. Some who were terrified enough even identally fired their weapons and hit theirpanions. Fortunately, the space troopers only received minor and moderate wounds at most.

    On the other hand, Captain Jenkins was still in shock seeing the sight in front of him. It was evident that the elf had taken them by surprise, and seeded on it. The act of breaking the ss pane had caused turbulence and air vacuum that took away their bnce.

    Now that they had lost the ability to aim at their exact target because of the current environment within the spaceship, it would be too dangerous for them to shoot aimlessly lest they result in another friendly fire or worse hitting the power engine. Hence, he immediately ordered the troopers to not use their firearms.

    Jenkins'' face was grim as he knew the situation was far from over. In fact, he was right; it had just started.

    First, it was the red dragon that broke through the ss pane and entered the spaceship; the cause of their current predicament. Even though it was small, its flight was extremely fast and strength couldn''t be underestimated. He could only barely see its shadow before it crashed into several space knights.

    The dragon, naturally, immediately got ganged up and pummeled by the group of space knights.

    Narra, as the proud Bloodgem Dragon she was, was able to withstand their assault. She even sent a few more space knights flying in the process, straight to the walls.

    The next troublesome thing was the elf.

    At first, he thought of nothing about the saint level elf that boarded his ship. After all, what could a mere saint level elf do against his hundred elite troops?

    Unfortunately, he had been continuously pped on the face by the things the elf disyed ever since the beginning.

    The elf had a kind of strange magic that covered him in arge amount of blood and actually transformed himself into some kind of blood creature, granting him an unbelievable prowess to boot.

    In the matter of seconds, the monstrosity had wed its way past the space knight''s defensive formation. As he entered the ranks of the space knights, the elf didn''t even show the slightest bit of hesitation before he started to run amok and wreak havoc.

    Each and every attack he delivered could easily cut through the famed power armor suit and kill the space knight inside. The elf even bit one of the fallen space knights'' head off as if it was an apple.

    It was a massacre, at its finest depiction.

    The sight of body pieces scattered and blood sttered everywhere quickly unnerved the other space knights and troopers, causing them to subconsciously take a few steps back away from the source of the sight before them.

    However, they quickly realized that retreat was not an option for the space knights.

    "Kill it!! Kill whatever that thing is!!" shouted one of the five space knight squad leaders. The man didn''t even wait for hispanions before he dashed to attack Tristan in his [Blood Legacy] form.

    He tightly grasped the tier 3 artifact in his hand [Lightning Spear] as he searched for an opening on Tristan. The moment he saw it, he immediately grabbed the opportunity and bravely jumped toward the back of the monstrous red creature.

    "DIE!! You ugly creature!!" He yelled as he sent all the strength he could muster to the spear in his hand, sending it to the creature''s back.

    "AAARGGHH!!" A somewhat muffled, pain-filled scream was heard from the red creature''s mouth as the spear embedded itself onto its back.

    Tristan, who should bepletely encased by the ability, was certainly feeling the stinging pain, especially when the lightning current the spear carried entered his back upon its insertion. He immediately tried to send the space knight flying from his back, only for the man to push the spear even deeper into his body.

    This space knight squad leader was troublesome indeed.

    Eventually, Tristan decided to activate the innate ability of [Blood Legacy].

    In an instant, half a dozen long, razor-sharp, blood-constructed tentacles appeared on his monstrous body and quickly pierced the squad leader on his back. More tentacles began to pierce the man''s back before he was pulled away from the back he desperately hanged onto and split apart like a crab dinner.

    Blood sttered and painted all the space knights around, once again stunned a few of them, but quickly enraged the rest of them as well. Tristan was startled to see these armored troops didn''t care about their lives as they all rushed at him with weaponspletely brandished and killing intent apparent to see.

    They managed tond a few shes and stabs to his body as there was no way for Tristan topletely stop them all, in spite of his new addition of tentacles.

    While the space knights were giving their best to kill him, Tristan decided to study his current situation. Even though it looked like he was bleeding from the space knights'' attacks, except for the pain, their attacks didn''t actually injure him, much less kill him.

    On the other hand, his blood ws whose fingers were as long and sharp as a tier 3 artifact were able to cut through the power armor with ease, severing the space knights who surrounded him in their way. There were also his tentacles that kept hindering and obstructing the approaching space knights.

    Each time his attack went through, one space knight would fall and Tristan would be able to extract their Blood Essence, replenishing his reserve. Even though he didn''t have enough time topletely extract the Blood Essence from the dead bodies as he was still in the middle of a heated battle, each drop of Blood Essence was able to satisfy his urge for blood.

    RROOOAAARR!!!

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 302 - Battle At The Ship 2

    Right now, Tristan was so excited that he couldn''t help but scream. Every move he took would send a space knight into the afterlife, but those morons just kepting at him relentlessly.

    However, although he was now in a good situation, Tristan didn''t forget to keep his attention to that one figure in ck power armor, the Marshal. He was wondering when the man would decide to join the fray. But eventually, he didn''t care about the other party as he relished himself in the ughter.

    The situation with Narra was also not much different. She wildly flew around, grabbing one of the space knights and killing the unlucky person in the air with her raw strength. But, being in the air had made her a shooting target for the space knights as they had no risk of identally hitting the spaceship engine.

    Unfortunately, Tristan had no opportunity to tell her about that as he was also busy with his own battle. Either way, he let the matter be as he wanted to see how useful Nara was right now without clear instructions from him.

    While Tristan ced his attention on Narra for a moment, the ck power armor - the Marshal - apparently decided to lunge at him. Fortunately, he had expected the ambush.

    Tristan waspletely prepared for it. In a second, he turned his body and swung his two ws at the marshal, using the centrifugal force his body generated to further increase the impact of his ws.

    But surprisingly, the man was able to precisely grab the two sharp, menacing ws that came for his life. Even more surprising was the fact the man wasn''t getting pushed back and firmly held out against his monstrous strength.

    The man, of course, seemed to be using all his strength as the look on his face was exactly like someone who was having trouble throwing a heavy dump.

    Even Janus or Can could not outstrength Tristan when he was in this form. Therefore, he had to give the man credit.

    Unfortunately, it was time to put an end to this.

    Tristan utilized his tentacles on his back to pierce the man.

    nnkk!!

    The marshal was barely able to dodge as a bleeding wound was seen on his cheek. Then, the man suddenly shouted with all the strength he had as Tristan saw the object on the other party''s back burning wildly. It was a jetpack.

    With the momentum the jetpack brought, the marshal who still grasped Tristan''s arms began to push thetter back.

    "Amazing." Tristanmented. He was admiring his opponent. It was clear that he still underestimated the man, but even so, this was still not enough to defeat him.

    Currently, Tristan couldn''t push the marshal back because the force was too much. But the same could be said for thetter, as everything would end the moment the jetpack exhausted all its energy.

    However, Tristan quickly realized what the marshal wanted to do. He noticed that the man was actually pushing him toward the direction of the broken window. The man wanted to force him out of the ship!

    The moment he realized the other party''s intention, Tristan immediately tried to fight back. Unfortunately, the man seems to cast a skill as Tristan can suddenly feel his grip turn much stronger

    Craaakkkk!!!

    Tristan was sent flying out of the spaceship! Together with the marshal!

    The marshal finally let go of Tristan when they entered the blue expanse. He immediately utilized his jetpack to fly back to the spaceship, while Tristan was left in the air and decending to the ground.

    This was a brilliant move, really. One that even Tristan couldn''t help apuding.

    The veteranmander understood that Tristan was excellent in close quarterbat. Therefore, throwing him away from teh engine would be the best scenario to handle him.

    As soon as Tristan tried to gain his footing in the air, the marshal quickly took the huge gun hanging on his waist and started firing it at him. The space knights on the spaceship also participated by shooting their firearms at him from the spaceship''s broken window

    Trattatatatatatataa!!

    Multiple projectiles struck his body squarely, pushing his body toward the ground even more. It was definitely a disadvantage to fight in the air with his current form. Hence, Tristan was forced to deactivate his legacy form and casted [Blood Synthesize] to construct a foothold for him in the air.

    With the blood construct on his feet, Tristan flew back toward the spaceship while dodging all the projectiles sent toward him. He was about to reach the spaceship when he saw the ck uniform officer flew out of the window and hovered in the air, casting a magic spell.

    [Sonic Wind de]

    A saber-like wind de shot out from the magic circle and rapidly zoomed at Tristan. He could tell that it was a powerful spell. Therefore, he immediately leaped away from his foothold, just a split second before the said objectparable to tier 3 weapon being cut cleanly in half.

    Knowing it would be difficult to return to the engine room, Tristan created more foothold for him as he leapt onto them and headed to the top of the spaceship in flight.

    At the same moment when hended on top of the spaceship, the captain of the ship in ck uniform also came as if he was riding the wind andnded a few meters away from him. Behind him, Tristan saw two squads of space knights approaching closer with their jetpack and shooting some kind of cable to the ship''s surface. They slowly approached and surrounded Tristan from two sides.

    Apparently, the marshal wasn''t going to follow him here. The man probably decided to return to the engine room to make sure Tristan couldnt enter back while also assisting the rest of the troops against Narra.

    At that thought, Tristan looked around him and said.

    It seemed that the real fight would begin now.

 Chapter 303 - Battle At The Ship 3

    At this moment, the space cruiser ship was still hovering around Arcadia city. They flew so high up in the air, and the strong wind caressed Tristan''s face, but he did not seem bothered at all, so did the two dozen fighters on the surface of the ship. Especially the captain who was currently hovering in the air.

    The ship was huge, with a surface asrge as a football field to stand-in. Seeing the far end reach of the ship and the dozens of space knight, Tristan believes this will be his arena to fight.

    Captain Jenkins did not choose to attack right away. Now that Tristan no longer held the ship hostage by blowing the ship, he wished to know more of this strange elf he was fighting against.

    "Who are you, really? I have been fighting the elves for over 500 years, and I have never seen such magic!"

    The question surprised him. Tristan was sure that captain Siegfried and Chieng did exin to him that they have reported his existence and received a new mission to capture him, the blood elf. But it was a surprise that they only came for Siegfried, and it was as if they dont know about him at all.

    The captain realized Tristan''s expression to be a little strange and said "You are withholding some information. Tell me. Who are you?"

    Tristan merely shrugged and replied casually. "Didn''t I tell you already? My name is Tristan, and I am the king of Arcadia! Seriously, captain, do you have a memory problem?"

    The captain was still calm considering Tristan''s mocking answer.

    "You don''t even talk like an elf¡­ What are you?" Before Tristan was able to reply with an answer, the captain cut in. "Don''t bother, I will know it, one way or another."

    The captain looks toward the two dozen space knights that surrounding him and shout "Squad 208 and 207, you all spread out and make sure he can''t run away!"

    "Yes, captain!" The twenty-something space knights spread out to encircle him in a mid-distance.

    The captain pulled out his sword from his storage ring. The sword can be considered quite unique, it looks very thin and clear as ss, so clear that Tristan would not be able to see it were it not for the strange way light danced on the de. When the captain swing the sword, it also create noises that cut the air, indicated it was very sharp.

    From the captain attack earlier, Tristan can tell this man is a wind elements fighter, he probably also have other skill but believe speed will be his opponent main strength

    And as expected, the captain dashed at him swinging his sword with the speed of someone riding the force of wind,

    In response, to fight such an enemy he shouldn''t use arge weapon, hence Tristan raised his hand and formed his twopressed longsword made with his [Blood Synthesis]. He swung the two sword to stop the captain''s attack on its tracks.

    nk!

    Both weapons shed, throwing a deafening metallic ringing and sparks of fire, but the captain was able to quickly rotate his sword and counter. His second attack connected with such an amazing speed.

    nk!! nk!

    If Tristan used his favoriterge ymore, he would not be able to match the speed.

    nk! nk!

    Tristan never fought with a double-de fighter before, he was having a hard time following the two des that keep rotating. Unfortunately, although he matched the captain''s speed, he was unable to keep up in terms of technique.

    He also can see his blood synthesis weapon start to chip out each time he receives the attacks. The captain''s unique double edge sword was definitely a tier 4 or even higher grade weapon.

    Tristan was quickly pushed and when the captain saw an opening, he was using a battle art skill that quickly hasten his steps and reach out to cut his neck. Tristan was barely able to dodge, and have to give up his arm instead.

    St!

    The captain was grinning as he was able to cut off Tristan''s arm and it was thrown away to the air together with one of his sword and bothnding with a metallic ng a dozen steps away

    "Your sword skill is Terrible."

    The captain muttered, while turning around and dashing back to prepare for his finishing blow. However, Tristan will not just stand and receive the attack. He threw his other blood synthetic sword to the man and while distracted, he used his freed hand to cast [Fireball].

    The ball of fire were thrown in such a close distance, forcing Captain Jenkins to receive the spell with his double edged-sword.

    Kabooommm!

    The resulting explosion made a massive shockwave, throwing the captain back a few steps, but other than his burned uniform and singed hair, the captain was unhurt. He dusted off his clothes, like he was dealing with a particrly persistent pest instead of a proper opponent.

    Meanwhile, within the cover of the smoke and heat, Tristan used his [Blood Synthesis] to regrow a new arm for himself.

    The captain still appeared unperturbed despite seeing what Tristan was able to do. He merely looked at him up and down, like someone trying to appraise a rare artifact, and said,

    "You have a terrible sword skill, and you only cast low level spells, but both your physical strength and spirit power were off the charts. On top of that, you have the ability to regrow your limbs and regenerate wounds. I be even more curious about what you really are Tristan"

    Captain Jenkins moved with purpose, he walked so casually that Tristan did not realize he had nned to dodge toward the cut-off arm. He gives Tristan a nce before use the bracelets on his wrists to analyze the dripping blood.

    "I told you I will get your information one way or another"

    The man was a calcting one. He definitely deserves his position as a captain that controls the life of the whole spaceship.

    Within a second, the results came back, and the captain''s expression changed as he read the report projected in front of his eyes. "Blood elf? You are a blood elf?" Still unable to believe what he just read, the captain read a bit more of the information before he said.

    "Strange, I just received a new priority mission to capture you! Just what is going on here?!"

    Tristan himself did not know the answer, but he was interested to know, hence he decided to stop attacking and observe the situation. It was clear that the captain knows more information about himself than he does, and this might be a chance to know more about the blood elf body he was inhabiting without sacrificing himself too much.

    The captain however appears to be confused. He touched the device embedded in his ear and said.

    "Major, tell me! Is this elf is your mission? You better tell me your objectives now, over!"

    The situation actually make Tristan more curious,

    The captain once again touched his ear and said

    "Bridge, find me the major!"

    The confusion only made Tristan bored, and he shouted to the captain

    "Hei! Are we fighting or what!? If you are busy I can go do something else first!"

    Haven''t received the answer, the captain decides to once again focus his attention on Tristan

    "Priority one to Captured!, you are very special indeed! ...let me see how many limbs I could cut off from you till you are ready to be captured," The captain gave him a sadistic smile.

    Before round two was about to start, suddenly the ship shook, as a huge explosion from below wrecked it.

    KABOOOOOM!

    The explosion was so strong it shook the entire body of the ship and made the massive vessel veer off-course. Tristan had to steady his body right as the ship swerved to the side, sending the field they were standing on to a sideways position. Not only him and the captain, everyone else lost their bnce as well.

    Pitch ck smoke rose from down below, and the distinct smell of burning rubber, oil, and metal permeated the air. It was clear, a part of the ship was burning, and from the way the vessel shook every few seconds, it has sustained a massive damage.

    "What is going on down there?!" Captain Jenkins shouted. "Bridge, give me a status report!"

    Before the captain received an answer from hismunication device, ropes with hooks at the ends extended from the lower parts of the ship, before a dozen figures jumped up andnded right on the field they stood on.

    The space knights all have an enraged expression, and in front of them, the Marshall stood with his ck powered armor. With clear rage in his voice, he said to the captain.

    "The Dragon blew up the engine!"

    Hearing the words, Tristan could only gasp in bewilderment "What the fuck did you say?!"

 Chapter 304 - Battle At The Ship 4

    Tristan could feel the ship shake heavily as a mass of smoke blew from the deck below him.

    The panicked look on the faces of the captain and the rest of the space knights proved that they really had fallen into a crisis.

    "Bridge, what''s the status!" Captain Jenkins asked one of the space knights stationed there through his earpiece.

    After hearing the stationed space knight''s response, Jenkins unconsciously gritted his teeth in irritation. With his fists clenched, he turned to the remaining space knights and shouted, "The backup power won''t hold, we''re going to crash!!"

    The captain''s words added fuel to the already raging marshal. Never once had the marshal experiences such impudence from someone from a lower realm. To reduce his ship and knights to such a state!

    "The elf''s dragon also massacred dozens of my men!! You shall pay with your lives!!" the marshal raised his voice.

    He was about tounch an attack on Tristan when all of a sudden, he could feel something charging at him from behind. With his imnts and the technology on his suit, as well as his physical prowess, he was able to be aware of the danger. At that moment, a red flying figure entered his sight.

    The dragon threw up zing mes from its mouth. Although it seemed much like a group of mes, it was more of a powerful fire breath that threw up some kind of burning liquid. As the burning liquid touched the suits of a few space knights, the people present could see the suits instantly begin to melt.

    The suits of the squad that just arrived with the marshal swiftly burned on touch, and screams of pain could be heard as the liquid entered their armor. Even the space knights who did not get hit and only saw the me burning inside the suits felt as if they were also in the agonizing pain of being burnt alive.

    In the end, only a few of the space knights managed to stay alive, including the marshal. He could not believe how easily his space knights got eliminated by this dragon; they did not even get the chance to resist the burning liquid.

    "It''s still alive!!" the marshal shouted in bewilderment. On his reminder, he and the remaining space knights prepared themselves to fight the dragon once again, bracing themselves for whatever attacks the dragon mightunch at them.

    But to their surprise, instead of charging toward them again to finish them all, the dragon rushed toward Tristan as if fleeing.

    Tristan was about to scold her for blowing up the power engine, but he held himself back when he noticed something odd. The dragon was flying weirdly, as if she was injured.

    Meeting Tristan''s eyes, the dragon spoke to his mind:

    "I am sorry, Master, I can tell you are angry¡­ I used too much of my power. I want to help you more, but it will take some time before I can be summoned again."

    Right after she said those words, the dragon Narra dissipated into a blood mist.

    He almost forgot that the dragon was his summoning skill, it appeared that the dragon also had her limit.

    Tristan could not get angry at her. After all, he did leave her to fight against hundreds of elite fighters in advanced enhanced suits alone without much instruction. It was partly his fault that things went this way. He could only hope that the power engine was not damaged too badly so the ship could at least still be repaired after this battle.

    At the moment, with the ship shaking so hard, none of the space knights were able to fight. As for the captain, he was too busy giving orders through his earpiece, trying to salvage the situation to the best of his abilities.

    Unfortunately, even he could tell that the ship was going down. Although they might be able to dy it, a crash was inevitable.

    The captain appeared so upied with shouting and giving out orders to save the ship that he felt that he could take the chance and attack him directly. But that would absolutely result in the cruiser ship''splete destruction, and Tristan did not want that. With that in mind, Tristan decided to silently observe the situation and wait.

    Despite their effort to save the ship, it was still descending without any signs of slowing down. Meanwhile, Tristan was amused by the marshal''s unconcealed murderous intent toward him.

    At this exact moment, he could feel a different kind of tremble from the surface of the space cruiser. Before he could think about what could cause such a tremble, he heard a sounding from the back of the spaceship, around the hangar area.

    The captain was also surprised as they all saw a smaller ship slowlying out of the hangar and flying up to the air.

    The ship was approximately as big as Firefly. But unlike Firefly, the ship appeared to be much more advanced. It hovered in the air facing the group. Tristan thought that the ship wasing to help the captain, but to the surprise of everyone there, it quickly flew toward the sky like a rocket, leaving them all behind.

    "Major! What are you doing?! Over!" Jenkins questioned to his earpiece, demanding an exnation.

    ''What the hell is going on!?'' Even Tristan did not expect the situation to turn this way.

    "Major!! Major!! Argh!!! That asshole!" Jenkins swore in frustration. He racked his brain for a solution while continuously giving orders.

    The space cruiser was about to crash soon. Looking outside, Tristan realized something. The ship was heading toward a in just north of Arcadia City. It seemed that despite Jenkins'' previous words, he did not want to risk more casualties by ramming it into the city after all.

    Still, Tristan had no wish to take the risk of falling together with the ship at all. He quickly created a tform to fly and escape, but to his surprise, just as the tform was about to lift him off, half a dozen space knights who previously surrounded him were prepared with what seemed to be guns.

    They all shot from multiple directions at once, preventing Tristan from dodging and escaping. Tristan created another blood synthetic sword to cut thes off, only to find the quickly covering his sword and sticking to it like gum.

    A few of thes even managed to envelop him, enough to stop him from jumping. Unable to escape, he was forced to go down together with the ship.

    BAMMMMMM!!!

 Chapter 305 - Crashed

    All this time, the people of Arcadia, especially those who lived at the capital city of Prontea had been watching the gigantic steel boat hovering above their heads, situated high in the air.

    It was gone for a period of time, but when it made its way back and flew in the sky of their capital city, many of the citizens decided that it was time to leave the city. Especially, when they recalled what the ship had done to their strongest fighters.

    However, It wasn''t long until a rapid session of explosions appeared in the sky. It was at that moment they understood that there were people fighting on the ship. Therefore, they stopped what they were doing and looked up to the sky, trying to get a clear look of what was happening.

    "It must be our King, King Can! He hade and saved us!!"

    "We are saved!"

    Momentster, they saw smoke appearing and spreading on the huge ship as it started to descend to the ground, heading in the south direction of the city. This spectacle sessfully made all the people cheering in rejoice that the threat was gone.

    "He did it! Our king did it!! The Arcadian is saved!!"

    Shouts filled with celebration and salutation to the ruler of their nation resounded through the air as the huge spaceship continued its descent to the area located dozens of miles south of the capital city, slowly shrinking to a mere dot beforepletely disappearing from the vast blue expanse.

    The earth was shaking and fierce winds were blowing, which was then followed by such an ear-piercing noise as therge spaceship struck and slid across the ins. The spaceship crashed through dozens of trees and several huge boulders in its journey of gaining friction to stop itself.

    Most of the space knights within the spaceship were thrown and flung around, earning various degrees of injury. But all in all, it was a good crash. It was much smoother than what previously thought, which meant they had seeded innding the spaceship.

    Tristan himself was thrown and hurt, but nothing that his Undying Body couldn''t cure. When he regained his consciousness, he realized part of his lower body was still entangled by the. He had to utilize his [Heat Touch] to burn and get himself out of it.

    As he got up to his feet, the smoke surrounding the area also started to dissipate. Thanks to his enhanced senses, Tristan could tell that there were still many space knights alive. They were numbered in dozens and scattered around the crash site. With them were also Captain Jenkins and the Marshal.

    Even though he had recovered himself, Tristan didn''t immediately dash and attack them. Not yet.

    He found a kind of pleasant sensation as he watched the zing mes engulfing the few visible parts of the ship.

    Not long after, while still looking at the sight of the spaceship engulfed by the mes, Tristan saw Captain Jenkins standing in front of him. The man was trying to be as calm as possible, but he could imagine what the man was feeling right now in his heart.

    After all, Tristan had seen firsthand how angry his father was when he crashed their family car. Hence, he could roughly guess how furious Captain Jenkins was right now, with his ship wrecked like this.

    Turning his eyes to Captain Jenkins, Tristan opened his mouth. "You are stuck in here now, captain. On this." A smirk slowly formed on his lips as he continued, "Knowing how emotional you must feel right now, I will reconsider your surrender."

    Unexpectedly, Captain Jenkins wasn''t the one who lost his temper first. The man who dded in pitch-ck power armor, the marshal, was the one as he lunged at Tristan with a ferocious look on his face.

    However, a booming sound resounded in the sky before the two shed. The conspicuous sound certainly distracted them as the marshal stopped in his tracks.

    The marshal, Captain Jenkins, as well as the other space knights lifted their heads up to find the source of the sound. All of them were once again dumbfounded to see the small spaceship that had left with the Major on board just blown up in the sky.

    They watched as the debris and remnants of the familiar ship rapidly fell down from the sky. It was apparent that whoever was trying to leave with that ship had failed.

    "H-How could this be..?" Captain Jenkins muttered, confusion was evident in his voice. "What the hell is going on here?!"

    The man seemed to have finally lost his cool as he turned to Tristan and pointed his trembling finger at him. "Y-Your has some kind of defense system?! What is it?!!"

    Faced with the usation, Tristan folded his arms and casually answered, "Seriously man, I really wish I knew. In fact, I''m hoping that you can tell me."

    Captain Jenkins was so irritated by the nonchnt attitude he showed. At the same time, Tristan could see more space knights and space troopersing out of the mostly destroyed spaceship. Apparently, his surrounding area began to be swarmed by his enemies.

    "Captain, what are your orders now?" said the marshal while maintaining the hateful look he threw at Tristan.

    Captain Jenkins seemed to think for a moment before he gave his orders. "Marshal, you pick a few knight to look for the Major! In the meantime, I will take care of this elf!"

    "Yes, Captain!"

    The marshal quickly pointed some of the space knights around as they quickly utilized their jet pack to head toward where the small spaceship''s debris fell. But, just as they had gone a few meters, the marshal suddenly stopped.

    He turned to Captain Jenkins and said in a heavy tone, "Captain, it seems that enemy reinforcements have arrived."

    The marshal''s made Captain Jenkins turn his head. When he saw what the former saw, his face immediately turned grim.

    Tristan, on the other hand, smiled. "Finally, the only good news after a series of bad news I heard today."

    From the distance, dozens of huge eagles could be seen rushing toward the crash site. Further back, there were also hundreds of figures riding their horses and heading toward their location.

    They were the Arcadian wizards and Kingsde''s members - the Arcadian Kingdom''s ranks of bestbatants. The most problematic news for Captain Jenkins and the others were the three wizards flying through the sky, led by a familiar old man to Tristan - Tobias the Great Wizard.

    Tristan look toward the captain smiling as he spoke, "I don''t think you''re all going anywhere."

 Chapter 306 - Last Stand

    Looking at the rows of Arcadian fighters heading toward his location certainly made Tristan happy. Inwardly, he was nodding his head in satisfaction as he was pleased by how quickly the Arcadian troops were mobilized.

    On the other hand, the current development of the situation was certainly bad news for the space knights!

    "Captain Jenkins, you are the fastest among us." As he brandished his weapon, the marshal said. "You should be the one who goes and finds the Major while we hold them all here."

    What the marshal told him was certainly an option. As a wind element fighter, Jenkins definitely had the advantage above the others in speed departement. The man would definitely have a much better chance of escaping than the others, even if Tristan tried to stop him.

    However, the man seemed to be hesitating. He subconsciously clenched his fists as his gaze turned to his men, who were suffering from varying degrees of injury. Eventually, he turned to the marshal and said, "No. I will not go."

    "Captain!"

    "I said, no!" Captain Jenkins said firmly. "We will make our stand here, together."

    Knowing that the decision was final, the marshal took a deep breath and nodded at Jenkins, determination was apparent in his eyes. He turned around and quickly summoned the space knights who were still able to move before giving a sequence ofmands in session.

    Rying the orders to theirrades, the space knights started to prepare themselves. They took out their biggest guns as well as some mechanical parts that needed to be assembled.

    In a matter of seconds, Tristan could quickly see an iplete form of something familiar to him. It actually looked like the war turret he had seen back on Earth, but much bigger. The space knights were seen working together and constructing three of such an instrument.

    Of course, Tristan would not just watch and let them prepare the unknown weaponry. It would spell disaster if they managed to survive the Arcadian troops due to his nonchnt attitude.

    He quickly used [Blood Synthesis] and created another blood-synthesized sword. With a weapon in hand, Tristan lowered his center of gravity as he ced his right foot at the front and bent his two legs; posture for dashing. He was ready to start another massacre.

    "Hold up!" shouted Captain Jenkins as he swiftly rushed in between him and the turret under construction. Gasping for breath, the man said, "If you really are the king of the kingdom, we should talk!"

    "Huh!? Do you think I''m stupid?! You just want to stall for time!" Tristan replied in a mocking tone. "We will talk after I destroy those things!"

    Scorching mes quickly appeared in Tristan''s hands before coalescing into a ball that was twice as big as a basketball. Immediately after, Tristan threw it at one of the unfinished turrets. The fireball flew through the air, rapidly closing in on its target.

    Seeing that, Captain Jenkins immediately used his wind magic to enhance himself as he chased after the fireball and blocked it using his mysterious sword.

    BOOM!! Loud sound resounded in the air as the fireball exploded and pushed Jenkins back a step. Too bad, the fireball was merely a diversion as Tristan rushed toward the other unfinished turret.

    "Stop him!!" shouted Captain Jenkins, knowing he would not reach in time.

    Meanwhile, Tristan inwardly smiled thinking that he managed to easily destroy one of the turrets. Unfortunately for him, his smile was wiped off when a figure leapt in his path at a speed even faster than what Captain Jenkins earlier disyed.

    The figure was the marshal. Tristan could see the jetpack the man''s ck power armor had was burning ferociously, draining its energy in reckless abandon as he tried to push and bring him down. The man tried to do the same thing again!

    BAAMMM!!

    Loud heavy sound was heard as Tristan''s body was mmed by the marshal''s hands with all his build-up rage. As if that wasn''t enough, thetter held tightly on his target and continued to push as if his very life was on the line.

    When Tristan was trying to regain his bnce and fight back the marshal''s push, he suddenly saw arge hammer being swung at his face. The hammer was so fast that it produced sound as it moved through the air.

    SWWISSSHH!!

    Reflexively, he bent his back and dodged the first blow while parrying the second downward strike with his blood-synthesized sword. The moment the two weapons shed, the sword was instantly shattered apart. Tristan, however, took advantage of the residual momentum to take a few steps back.

    "Huh!! Slimy bastard!!" the marshal mocked. "Fight me bravely, not like a worm!"

    Realizing that he had no time to get close, let alone destroy the turrets that were almost ready, Tristan raised both his hands and casted [Fire Wall].

    In an instant, several walls of raging fire appeared where the three turrets were, which immediately rmed the nearby space knights. The space knights, evidently, were fast enough to evade the raging pirs of fire. However, the same couldn''t be said for the turrets.

    Unfortunately for Tristan, his n to destroy the turrets was thwarted by Captain Jenkins again. Before the fire could spread and do its intended purpose, Jenkins casted his own wind spell.

    Several strong gusts of wind crashed to the zing mes, extinguishing them in the blink of an eye. Tristan was dumbfounded as he watched his [Fire Wall] go poof in an instant. Then, his face turned grim as he looked at the turrets which were basically undamaged.

    His eyes shifted to the perpetrator. ''A strong wizard indeed, this one.''

    In the meantime, the marshal seemed to be raring for another fight with Tristan as his body tantly conveyed his intention to sh with him again. s, his idea was put into stop by Captain Jenkins as he shouted at him, "Stop!! Get back here!!"

    Tristan could tell that the two of them had simr strength. The marshal, however, immediately stopped his actions when he heard the order. Apparently, strength was not everything for these space knights; they respected orders.

    The reason Captain Jenkins ordered the marshal back was obvious.

    The three Arcadia Wizards had arrived; Tobias the Great Wizard, Commander Cecilia of the Kingsde, and one of the magic academy''s seniors, a middle-aged man named Faros. The three descended from the sky like rockets andnded right beside Tristan.

    "You came pretty fast, old man." Tristan said without turning his head.

    Tobias was anxious about the threat standing in front of him that he forgot the white-haired elf next to him was his new king.

    "Ah? Ah, yes, Your Majesty. We came here as soon as possible." He answered. "I see that you have sessfully crashed the ship."

    "That''s amazing, Your Majesty. The people of Arcadia are indebted to you." added Commander Cecilia.

    A few momentster, the sky above the crash site was quickly crowded by three dozen Arcadian wizards and Kingsde''s members riding the huge eagles. The shadow they casted together upon the ground managed to deter the space knights, as thetter slowly but surely converged on each other.

    Tobias quickly assessed the overall situation and said to Tristan. "My king, what is your order?"

    The other wizard who came together with Tobias and Cecilia seemed to be consumed by anger as he said, "Your Majesty, these people killed Wizard Laurel and Commander Vain! We must avenge them!!"

    Tristan didn''t take immediate action. He, on the other hand, raised his hand and told them to be on guard. The reason for that was because at the same time the Arcadian warriors arrived, the three turrets appeared to bepletely constructed and ready to be activated.

    Tristan, as well as the others, inspected the turrets carefully because they knew better than to underestimate the unknown instrument that these people were using. It was a standing turret-like instrument that was apparently manned by the space troopers.

    Right now, two turrets were aimed at them while thest one was pointed elsewhere.

    Tristan was waiting to see what the other party wanted to do when the turret that wasn''t aiming at them suddenly lit up. An ear-piercing, high-pitched sound rang out before it fired a bright beam of light at a boulder a few dozen miles away from their location, exploding it into smithereens.

    The abrupt shot instantly rmed everyone on Tristan''s side. Many that have gathered were high-level wizards, so they knew how strong that beam of light was. Reciprocating the aggressive attitude, Faros readied his lightning spell and was about to retaliate when Tristan once again stopped him.

    Ignoring themotion that his group had caused, Captain Jenkins walked forward.

    "That''s just a demonstration. The next one, however, willnd right at you!" He said. "I want to negotiate!"

    Upon hearing that, Tristan became annoyed. He really wanted to just battle it out, not that rubbish of negotiation. Therefore, he harshly replied.

    "No more talking! You already have your chances!" Tristan red at Jenkins as he created another blood-synthesized sword. "All of you either surrender or be buried here!"

 Chapter 307 - Last Chance

    Tristan was confident that he would be able to finish them all himself. It definitely would not be easy, but with his undying body, he believed that it was possible.

    Now, added with the three wizards and the dozens of Kingsde members, he would make sure that these space knights would not survive this battle.

    Judging from the way the captain spoke, Tristan knew that the captain also understood this.

    "Tristan! You and your Arcadian men better listen! We, the Omega Empire, are not to be trifled with! My men and I here are just grains of sandpared to our empire! We are the most fearsome force to meet in this war! Offend us and your little will perish!" Jenkins warned with great effort.

    Tristan only sneered at his warning. He did not know what that warning was to Jenkins. Who knows, it might be an actual warning or it might just be to stall time, but to him, it seemed like a desperate attempt to save himself and his men.

    Tristan did not bother concealing his expression or the sort, so how could Jenkins not notice? Seeing this, Jenkins continued,

    "Don''t be fooled! Within days, our armada will arrive here, and when it does, there will be at least 10 times the force you saw today! Carefully think about it, how do you think they''ll respond to your choice!? You can''t afford to offend us!"

    Tristan was slightly taken aback by his remark about the armada, but this time, he managed to hold himself from showing anything. As if to mock Jenkins, he simply asked,

    "Do you really think that will help you now?"

    But unlike how Tristan reacted to Jenkins'' words, Tobias, the old wizard, became hesitant. At first, he wanted to leave this matter fully to Tristan, but Jenkins'' words did not allow him to simply stay still and listen.

    "My king, this matter is¡­ I think¡­ we really should probably discuss this with Can first, I am sure he has some¡­"

    Tristan did not allow the old wizard to continue his words. He instantly rebuked,

    "Old man, have you gone senile!? They came down and attacked us even though we didn''t do anything to provoke them! Do you think that it will be any different next time? Do you really!? I say we show them that we are not someone to be trifled with either!"

    The old man was rendered speechless. He lowered his gaze, seriously thinking about Tristan''s words. None of what Tristan said was wrong.

    Tristan then slowly walked approaching the space knights. As if to remind them, he announced, "Your ships are destroyed and you''re all stuck here with us. You can''t run nor hide! I''ll say it once again; surrender now or die!"

    At that moment, the thousand Arcadian knights of the red division arrived, followed by the rest of the Kingsde fighters. Among them, there were also Tristan''spanions: Serene, Herera, and Ghrall.

    With this, Jenkins'' side had beenpletely surrounded.

    In contrast to Tristan''s side, Jenkins'' only had 30 space knights left standing and about 200 space troopers. There were probably some more they had not seen inside the ships, but even if that was the case, with the number their side had, Tristan was confident that the opposing side would not be able to do anything.

    "So, Captain, what do you say?" Tristan asked one more time as he casually walked closer to them, making the space knights and space troopers more nervous with each step.

    Jenkins was not much different. Seeing Tristan getting closer, he quickly warned, "If any of you take even a step closer, I''ll have you all shot!"

    As the captain said those words, all three turrets began to move and targeted the surrounding area, aiming at the forces who were surrounding them.

    Undaunted, Tristan did not stop walking. He only stopped when they were only a few steps away.

    In a voice enough only for the two to hear, he said to Jenkins,

    "Captain, you see, this is the difference between us. I don''t really care about the lives of my men, but you¡­ your actions so far have proven how much you do. So keep this in mind: Make one wrong move and your men will die. As for your three big guns..."

    A thin cloud of mist suddenly came out of Tristan''s hand. Jenkins was briefly puzzled, but realization quickly dawned on him. Too bad for him, when he realized what it was, it was already toote.

    Everyone on the scene was surprised to see all three turret guns simultaneously move to change their target. But unlike before where they moved to target the Arcadians, this time, the turret guns moved to target Jenkins'' back, toward the 200 space troopers.

    Seeing this, the captain''s face quickly paled.

    "No! How did you¡­?!"

    "Captain, don''t tell me you forgot. It''s like you said before; a mind-control spell. I can''t believe you''re so stupid, to leave your turrets to such weak-minded people despite knowing that your enemy can control minds. Shame."

    This was the reason Tristan kept walking closer to them; he wanted to use his [Blood Seal] at the three troopers who manned the turret guns. As soon as he noticed that those turrets were man-driven, the thought instantly came to him.

    In a louder voice, Tristan seriously said, "You turrets are now mine. If you don''t give up now, I will make sure all of your knights and troopers will die!"

    Although it seemed that those words were only directed at Jenkins, they were also for the space knights and troopers to hear.

    The marshal could not ept it. He leashed out, ready to kill Tristan, but just as he was about to attack, Jenkins''manding voice could be heard.

    "Marshal!"

    Hearing this, the marshal immediately halted and unwillingly backed down.

    Tristan grinned when he saw the captain''s response. "You are a smart man, Captain. Tell your men toy down their weapons and I will be merciful."

    The marshal was so enraged that he shouted straight away, "Captain! Don''t you do it! I''d rather we all die in a fight! We are ready!!"

    The captain, however, did not respond. He only looked at the wounded and dying men behind him. These knights and 200 troopers were his responsibility.

    To quickly close the deal, Tristan asked Tobias for a god stone binding, something the old man used on him before. And as expected, the great wizard indeed had it on him.

    "Wear this on your hand and surrender and I will not kill your men. Like you said, I will need you as a bargaining chip when your armadaes, so you can rest assured."

    "Don''t you do it, Captain!! Don''t!!!" the marshal at the back shouted toward him once again.

    "I''m sorry, Marshal, but we''ve lost."

    With those words, the captain wore the binding bracelet. And with that, he should be unable to cast any spells.

    Seeing Jenkins'' actions, Tristan silentlyughed. Even so, despite how favorable the situation was to him at the moment, he knew that he had notpletely won yet. To make sure that everything would go smoothly, he shouted to Jenkins'' knights and troopers:

    "Your leader has surrendered! All of you, put down all your weapons, now!"

    "Captain! This is not the way of the space knights!" the marshal shouted, his heart filled with unwillingness. However, the captain only stayed silent for a moment before saying, "This is my decision, Marshal."

    The marshal reluctantly let go of hisrge hammer and his gun and dropped them to the ground, and the rest of the space knights followed suit.

    Tristan, however, was not satisfied. With discontent, he shouted,

    "Your suits are also considered weapons, are they not!"

    Although filled with indignation, the space knights helplessly opened up their suits and climbed out of them one by one. With them out of their suits, Tristan noticed thatpared to the troopers, these space knights did look quite different. Other than the imnts they had, their bodies were mostlyrger. It certainly reminded Tristan about Chieng.

    Tristan had sessfully made all 200+ enemy units surrender. This scene made Tobias feel a new level of respect toward Tristan. Of course, it was not only him. The present Arcadian knights as well as Kingsde members were also witnesses to this.

    They were filled with disbelief as they witnessed their new king single-handedly tearing down the enemy''s entire ship with ease.

    But Tristan did not stop there. He walked toward the marshal, who had been ring at him with killing intent since they were forced to surrender. With a deliberate condescending look on his face, Tristanmanded the marshal,

    "You, kneel!"

    As expected, the marshal was not willing. With unconcealed loathing, the marshal spat toward him and refused, "Over my dead body!"

    Tristan only smiled in response.. Without hesitation, he swiftly swung his blood sword and chopped the marshal''s head off.

 Chapter 308 - Surrender

    Tristan''s action of killing the marshal took the people present aback. Some of the space knights rushed to attack, but without their suits protecting them, Tristan''s blood sword quickly shed through them.

    Jenkins was enraged. "Arrgggh, you bastard!!! we have already surrendered!!?"

    His reaction was to be expected. However, Tristan had to look ahead

    Tristan nonchntly replied, "Sorry, but I can''t let your marshal stay alive. However, you should calm your men down... else they give me a reason to kill all of them."

    Jenkins gritted his teeth. His clenched fists were trembling from the rage, but he could not do anything. He was sure that if he were to do anything that could be used as a reason for Tristan to kill all his men, Tristan would use it without hesitation. If he wanted his men to stay alive, he had to be careful of not only what he did, but also what he said.

    Not to mention, with the binding bracelet restraining hisbat ability right now, there was practically nothing he could do to save them.

    Just as he was about to say something, a voice whispered to him,

    "My king... they have already surrendered! This is not how we do things, and this is not right!"

    The whisper was from the anxious Tobias.

    "Tobias," Tristan spoke in a low tone. "The marshal will only pose a threat to us. He is an unnecessary risk.

    "You''ll thank meter."

    Hearing Tristan''s words, Tobias fell silent. Although Tobias did not agree with Tristan''s way of doing things, he could not disagree with his reasoning. After all, how could he not understand the troubles these intruders could bring? They did not know what other tricks these people had up their sleeves, so it was better to be safe.

    It could be said that Tristan knew about the space knights to an extent thanks to Chieng and Siegfried. These people were hard to deal with, and coupled with their imnts, it was quite likely that they would give him a lot of trouble in the future. For all he knew, the imnts could be a way for them tomunicate, a tracking device, or maybe some kind of weapon.

    More importantly, he knew Jenkins'' weakness and was able to control him by putting his men on the line, but the marshal was different. Without something to restrain him, he would surely make things difficult for him, one way or another.

    Now that he had gotten rid of the marshal, the threat of these space knights was pretty much already taken care of. Even so, he could not help but feel slightly disappointed when he saw the Arcadian knights moving to restrain the captives.

    Especially after he uses the [blood extraction] ability and receives thousands of blood essence.

    Capture or killing, When it came to these two options, he would always prefer immediately eliminating his enemies over keeping them as prisoners. To him, it was much better to just get rid of the root of the problem.

    However, in the current situation, it would be much more beneficial for him to use these guys as bargaining chips in case enemy backup actually came. After all, an armada with 10 times the force they had seen from these people was not something he would be able to hold up against on his own. Not with what he currently had, at least.

    Of course, that was not the only reason. He had another main objective he wanted to achieve by epting their surrender.

    Tristan looked toward the unbroken suits the space knights had previously taken off. There were about 30 of them, and he was happy to see that they were all in good condition.

    After admiring the suits, he had to proceed to his next objectives

    "Tobias," he called while turning around to face the old wizard. "Bring some people and look for the other ship''s debris. Find the one they called Major and bring him to me, preferably alive." While pointing toward the ce the debris from the other ne crashed.

    "Yes, my king." Tobias did not dare hesitate.

    Tristan believed that the man who ran away with the ship was someone important. With that in mind, he assumed that the man had capabilities at least simr to Captain Jenkins and had most likely survived the crash, so to make sure that the man would be caught sessfully, he sent Tobias.

    In the meantime, he instructed Faros to keep an eye on the captives with the thousand Arcadian knights and mages present. As for Tristan himself, he brought the rank 5 magician Commander Cecilia as well as the Kingsde fighters with him to search the inside of the ship.

    His main objective was on the lookout for useful things on the ship. Of course he was also hoping to find the threepanions that came with him to be safe.

    Thus, with that in mind, Tristan, Commander Cecilia, and three dozen Kingsde fighters went into the ship.

    Tristan and the group quickly searched through the huge ship. The ship had a few decks in it. Around them, they could see a few corpses, most likely because of the impact. The inside of the ship was such a mess that Tristan could only hope that some parts of it could still be salvaged.

    They also found a few wounded and alive space troopers and the Kingsde fighters who came with him quickly apprehended them.

    Andst but not least, they arrived at the most important ce for the ship, themand center; the bridge, Tristan also hoped to find Siegfried and the others here.

    When they arrived near the door to the bridge, they were surprised to hear the sounds of shooting. When they rushed to the bridge entrance, they could see Siegfried and Reyna, each taking cover from the people inside the bridge with the open doors. It seemed that like some of the other doors, the doors to the bridge were also jammed open due to the crash.

    "Siegfried!" Tristan called. "What''s going on?"

    Hearing Tristan''s voice, both Siegfried and Reyna immediately looked back. In response to Tristan''s call, Siegfried greeted, "My king.

    "We were nning to take control of the ship, but these officers were already inside when we got here."

    "How many?"

    "So far, we''ve only seen four of them," Siegfried answered.

    Looking inside, he could see that there were indeed four officers, each holding a staff that seemed to be their weapon. Two of them held their staff weapons as guns, while the other two each had a de on one edge of their staff.

    As they spotted Tristan, they quickly shot some kind of energy st from their staff weapon.

    Unfortunately for them, their shots were immediately blocked by Tristan''s shield of blood, allowing Tristan''s side to stay unscathed.

    "You¡­!" one of the officers shortly eximed. Although they expected that backup from one of their sides would arrive, they did not expect that it would be Tristan''s side, arge group of the enemy that came so soon.

    In turn, Tristan calmly walked toward the four officers with his [Blood Synthesis] ready. It was obvious who had the advantage now.

    "Your captain and his subordinates have surrendered. Surrender and we''ll let you live," Tristan said to the four remaining officers.

    Hearing his words, the four officers halted.

    The officers were doubtful, but the fact that Tristan was in front of them instead of Jenkins spoke volumes; Jenkins had lost. Not even their captain could win against him, much less only four of them.

    "Either you surrender or die here. Make your choice." said Tritsan giving no room to negotiate

    The officers were reluctant, but they were not stupid. Over half of them had already died. There would be no merit in uselessly dying.

    Although the officers did not talk to each other, they were in tacit understanding. They might be able to do something as long as they were alive. In the end, the officer who asked if Tristan was telling the truth stepped forward.

    "We surrender."

    Tristan simply said in response, "Good choice. Now, Drop your weapons."

    Following Tristan''smand, all four officers dropped their weapons, and a dozen of the Kingsde fighters escorted them out of the ship.

    Turning to the rest of the Kingsde fighters, Tristanmanded a dozen of them to retrieve the officers'' dropped weapons and the other dozen to continue searching the ship.

    Tristan then orders the kingsde to search the remaining part of the ship not to leave anyone hidden.

    Tristan then walked out of the ship ready to bring back the prisoners back to the pce when a member of the Arcadian Mages rushed into the ship and toward Tristan.

    "My king!" the mage eximed hurriedly.

    "What''s the matter?"

    "We received a message from Master Tobias, they found traces of a survivor from the crash and have given chase!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 309 - The Threat

    The surprise visit by the space knights called the Omega Empire ended with thousands of casualties to the Arcadian Empire, and not only that, it has also wrought massive destruction within the capital city. Bits of debris still rained down the ce, and ck smoke still permeated the skies of Arcadia. Lives were lost both from the attacks and the falling buildings.

    Thanks to what happened today, Tristan had decided to summon all the Arcadian elites to gather within the secondary hall. The ce was located along the western wing of the pce, and it was wide enough to house all of them while still letting them hear Tristan clearly.

    In total, the bombardments to the city and the attack killed 529 regr citizens of Arcadia, 42 town guards, 12 Kingsde fighters, and 1,839 Arcadian knights, which was the most among the casualties. The space knight attacks took the lives of almost all of the blue division of the knights, with most of the remaining ones gravely injured.

    These were the numbers presented to Tristan by one of the Arcadian ministers a day after the incidents.

    To be frank, hearing the number, Tristan wasn''t sure whether it was considered a lot or not considering the enemy lost one entirerge space cruiser and hundreds of men equipped with advanced weapons and suits.

    Aside from those, the most devastating casualty to him was the rank 5 wizard Laurel, one of the senior mages of the Arcadian Mage squad.

    As for Arcadian knightmander Sterling and Kingsde thirdmander Vain, one was found in the space cruiser''s brig while the other was dying while being treated in the medical bay. His whole body was full with bullet holes before Tristan was able to treat him.

    At the moment, bothmanders were able to attend the meeting mostly because of their new ruler and king.

    Commander Vain, the Night Owl, was currently kneeling gratefully, his head would probably touch the floor if there was no one else present. This was because when Tristan found him, he was basically only an inch from death. It was thanks to Tristan''s [Blood Synthesis] coupled with Cecilia''s healing magic that the man was able to be saved. His burns and wounds was so severe, not even Tristan''s [Blood Synthesis] was able to fully heal him.

    In all honesty, Tristan was initially reluctant to save the man. If it were not because of Cecilia next to him, he most likely would have let the man die then take his essence. However, seeing his attitude today, he was very satisfied. True loyalty was a rare thing in a massive kingdom like this, and Tristan needed all the help he could get.

    As for Sterling, the oldmander of the blue division¡­ he was lucky that Tristan was not the one who found him first, for he wouldn''t be so kind.

    "My king! Thank you for saving us all! I am immensely grateful that your strength has saved us! As for the knights of my division¡­ their losses are all my responsibility. I am willing to take any punishment."

    As they looked back, everyone in the room still could not understand why the space cruiser went so far as to chase the knights of the blue division to eliminate them, leading to the space knights'' defeat. However, none of the people who knew about it could care less to exin it to the oldrade.

    After all, how he just ran away from the battle could not simply be forgotten. Him, amander of the esteemed Arcadian Knights, giving in to cowardice and running away in the face of the enemies while those under him sacrificed their lives for Arcadia. It was a truly unforgivable sin.

    It appeared that as a good ruler, Tristan would need to give the old general the appropriate punishment.

    "Please, my king, I am willing to ept death to rid me of this shame." He said, while bowing as far as he could.

    In response to his willingness, Tristan smiled and announced,

    "No! For your punishment, you shall be demoted from your current rank. From now on, you are to follow me as my personal bodyguard."

    Nobody in the room expected such an answer. They thought that to punish the oldmander, Tristan would either execute him or Sterling as well. But he ept the punishment willingly and nodded without any sign of defiance.

    For Tristan, he thought such an old experienced fighter would be such a waste to be killed. His outspoken personality could be beneficial for himter on to rein in his more impulsive decisions. Besides, Tristan believes the old man would notst three months being his bodyguard and eventually his blood essence will be his. It was a beneficial arrangement all around.

    As of now Tristan was quite content with the blood essence he received after spending the whole day yesterday extracting from both enemies corpses and his allies.

    [Blood essence : 97.278]

    He managed to extract more than 60.000 blood essence overall. It was such a productive day.

    Now that the report was done, Tristan decided to proceed straight to the main topic.

    Tristan stood from his seat, his height making him look all the more imposing, before he spoke his intention while staring down to all of them. From his gaze, his seriousness was clear, and the room felt like it went several degrees colder.

    "Can has gone missing, and Tobias has gone chasing after one of the enemy who escaped. Either way you all are stuck with me and I expect you to have known about the threat that wille! I expect all of your cooperation toward the safety of Arcadia under mymand!"

    He pause for a second, looked around to see the reactions from those gathered, and narrowed his eyes.

    "Anyone who disagreed, can go fuck away from my kingdom!" He dered.

    Now that some time has passed since his announcement as a king, everyone has witnessed how different Tristan ispared to Can. Previously, almost none of those gathered in the room intended to fully listen to him, and those who did merely did so out of respect to Tobias and their previous king, Can.

    But after the battle it appears they really have no choice except to ept the new Arcadian ruler. This elf might have a questionable attitude and moralpass but his strength was undeniable.

    The fact that at a turbulent time like this, where a crisis of war spanning multiple worlds would threaten the people of Arcadia, they needed a king that is powerful, a ruler that would lead them to victory.

    Tristan himself can feel their attitude toward him has change. A hint of smile secretly shed on his face.

    Unfortunately now is not the time to shout victory. There was still casualties to deal with, and the main threat has not been vanquished yet.

    "Alright! Now listen! Our main threat will be the uing space knights that will undoubtedlye sooner orter. I am sure none of you all have any objection with this"

    Tristan called out the blood sealed space knight Siegfried to the front, introduce who Siegfried is and then ask

    "Tell me Siegfried, tell the other hear that with such condition, is this true that the enemy would came in such a bigger force or it was only a bluff?"

    The space knight Siegfried was a high ranking space knight after all hence he could predict from his previous experience. When a small team like him goes missing, the empire might not find it as something to be concerned about, but for a entire cruiser it would definitely raise a red g

    The space knight gave a little thought and said.

    "Yes when a cruiser goes missing they wille with at least half a dozen cruisers or even more. A threat that could neutralize a cruiser is a high priority threat."

    The words actually made all the people in the room look at each other, and a tense atmosphere descended among them. Half a dozen of such things could easily destroy all Arcadian towns within days.

    Tristan asked him again

    "Now Siegfried, tell us How much time do we have until theye?"

    "To get urate data for that question, we need to study the current armada deployment but if you have to give a prediction without that information. It will be a month or two at the longest."

    Once again, the elites of Arcadia kingdom stared at each other in shock. The blood sealed space knight has basically just told them that the greatest battle in the history of the kingdom''s existence wille to them in one month.

    "You have heard the man, and now I am willing to listen to your suggestions, what can we do to stop these new threats of ours, any idea?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 310 - Delegates

    Although Tristan did not really expect much, unfortunately, the discussion with the Arcadian elites brought no viable result.

    From the Arcadian senior mages, ministers, and even to the Kingde''smanders, none of them had ever even thought of a situation at this scale, much less personally go through one. Some of them could not even follow the discussion about the enemying from space.

    They had no idea how big the world was beyond the blue sky. Due to this, they could note up with an idea on how they should handle the uing situation.

    And just when Tristan thought it could not get any worse, more bad news arrived as Tobias returned empty-handed. He failed to find the man with the major rank.

    The man could even escape from a wizard as strong as Tobias despite being injured from the explosion. This meant that on top of their current predicament of no solution, they now had a dangerous fugitive on the run; someone with a skill level that only a few people in Arcadia could match.

    This could be disastrous. For all he knew, the man could already be nning a way to release the prisoners or trying to assassinate him. Nothing was beyond imagination since he had no information whatsoever about the man.

    With his imagination gone wild, Tristan looked at the dozens of Arcadian elites in front of him.

    "We need to increase the kingdom''s status to DEFCON 1," Tristan said after deep contemtion. Tristan was about to continue speaking, but realization dawned on him as he saw the confused faces of the people around him.

    Ah.

    These Arcadians had no way of knowing what DEFCON meant. With that realization, exining what it meant became the first step he had to take to reach his goal.

    Defense Readiness Condition. Abbreviated as DEFCON, it is a term used by the United States to prescribe levels of the state''s alertness. It certainly could not be copied to Arcadia, but Tristan could rte it with the current condition of the kingdom.

    Although Siegfried stated that it would take a month or two before the empire''s space knights arrived, he believed that everyone in Arcadia needed to be on high alert with the assumption that the space knights could arrive at any given time.

    With this in mind, Tristan told the ministers to at leaste up with ways to react, a step-by-step response procedure in case the first signs of trouble show up.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much more advanced Earth was in terms of management, this was not and had never been his forte, so at the moment, he currently did not have the time toe up with a system to manage 25 whole cities and a poption of over 500,000 in weeks.

    Hence, again, he needed to do what a ruler should do best: delegate.

    Tristan began exining to them what he hoped to achieve as soon as possible.

    First of all, they needed to increase themunication between the 25 Arcadian cities ande up with the fastest task force responder.

    Themunication''s tone was just not good enough. He needed all 25 mayors to be integrated with the oundermunication system, one with a fast two-waymunication voice and even better video. Information was king after all.

    Second, they needed to create their first responder team. A fly-ready team using either Firefly or the flying eagles, whichever one was the fastest to reach any emergencies. Of course, the task force would need to be led by someone powerful enough to handle most matters, so after some discussion, Wizard Faros was chosen.

    Andst but not least, the whole upgrade of technology and weaponry for the Arcadian defense system. The elites could not agree more about this as they had experienced first-hand how the space cruiser was able to attack them without any means to respond.

    Fortunately, the fastest solution would be the space cruiser that crashed south of the city. Aplete salvage operation of the space cruiser was a priority.

    For this operation, the task of leading it could not be given to anyone other than Professor Emmet.

    After careful consideration, Tristan turned to look at Professor Emmet and said,

    "Professor, You can pick anyone and any number you want to help you."

    Hearing Tristan''s words, the thin old man with weird hair responded with excitement, "Yes, my king!"

    A space cruiser from a higher realm. Previously, Professor Emmet could not even think of catching a glimpse of one, but now, the opportunity to observe it first-hand was right in front of him! Not only that, but he was even given the chance to study its construction to look for a way to salvage it!

    "Our first priority at the moment is to find a way to make the ship able to fly again. If you can''t do it within a week, then I want all the weapons in the ship to be scrapped and integrated into Arcadian technology, Turrets, guns, radars, anything and everything. Loot all the walls clean if you have to."

    Tristan''s words filled Professor Emmet with even more excitement. He was ted with how the new ruler understood how important the matter of technology was to their kingdom.

    Being alert and having better technology would definitely help them quite tremendously, but it was still far from enough. Tristan needed more manpower. As of this day, the number of people that he knew could actually help him was less than the fingers he had on one hand.

    Hence his next priority was to gather all of Arcadia''s strongest people to work together.

    "Any words from Can?" Tristan asked Tobias.

    "No, my king, no words at all," Tobias regrettably informed.

    If it were before, Tristan would be happy that there was no news about him. The longer he was gone, the better it would be for him. But with their current predicament, as much as Tristan hated the guy, now that their objectives intertwined, Tristan could use the help of someone as strong as him.

    "Do you have any idea what he wanted to do with the High Elves?" Tristan thought for a while before asking.

    The old wizard only shook his head in response. Although it seemed that the old wizard had no doubt about the authenticity of his response, Tristan did not believe it for even a second. After all, there was no way someone like Can would leave his people, the Arcadians, on their own without a word.

    Even so, Tristan believed that the old wizard had his reason for hiding it from him.

    He needed to find out why, and he would probably need to at this meeting.

    "So, Tobias, we''ll need to start gathering as many allies as soon as possible. Who do you think we should start with?"

    When talking about allies, there was nobody other than the Wood Elves. The Vanyar and the Forlorn Elves were pretty much already under his wing. Tristan needed to meet with the Ithilien and Mirkwood Elves to brief the situation.

    Knowing that Can was currently contacting the kingdom of the High Elves, Tristan asked, "What about the kingdoms of the other elves? How about the Dark Elves?"

    Hearing Tristan mention the matter, Tobias became slightly anxious.

    "My king, the High Elves have always closed themselves without any concern for what happens in the outside words. If even Can cannot bring back results, then it''s most likely that no one can¡­ As for the Dark Elves... they are definitely not allies to our Arcadia Kingdom. In fact, the Dark Elves have been at war with Arcadia for a very long time, bringing countless problems to the northern cities of our kingdom. It''s best we don''t make any contact with them, lest they decide to make our situation worse," Tobias exined.

    After listening to him, Tristan decided to ignore Tobias'' advice.

    "I''m sure today''s situation is different. Don''t you agree?" Without waiting for Tobias to reply, Tristan continued, "I wish to talk to them as well. Prepare the meeting."

    To put it simply, the space knights'' threat was not only to the people of Arcadia, but to every living species on this. It was time for these people to set aside their differences and work together to fight theirmon enemies.

    With this line of thinking, Tristan thought of a much more ambitious n.

    "Tobias, while you''re at it, contact the Asgardian as well, let''s see what they have to say about this!"

    The idea of bringing the kingdom''s number one enemy brought concern to everyone in the room. This was especially the case for Tobias, who was tasked to make it happen.

    "All right, you all have important things to do, so get on it!" Tristan said before looking toward Commander Cecilia.

    "As for you, Commander Cecilia,e with me. I''m going to need your help for the next matter."

    The next thing was to interrogate Captain Jenkins and his men.

 Chapter 311 - Interrogation

    Tristan brought hispanion, Serene, Hererra, and even his new bodyguard Sterling along with themander of Kingsde''s second group, Commander Cecilia the Starlight. Of course, his sister La tagged along with him.

    "Brother, Commander Cecilia is my master, she has been teaching me a lot of things and taking care of me for a while now!" La brightly spoke.

    "Is that so?" Hearing the wordse out of his sister''s own mouth, Tristan gave the beautiful blonde middle-aged woman another look and did his best to express his gratitude.

    Commander Cecilia was taken aback by Tristan''s sudden action, but she did not dare refuse it.

    Tristan knew that he had always had a soft spot when it came to his sister La, which was why things like thise a long way.

    Seeing Tristan''s sudden change of behavior toward Commander Cecilia, Serene and Herera both quickly took mental notes to be nice toward this little sister.

    "So, I heard that we are actually going to interrogate the prisoners. If that''s the case, why are we going to this ce?" Commander Cecilia asked.

    To the surprise of everyone following him, instead of going toward the Arcadian prison as they initially expected, Tristan brought the group to head toward O District''s prison, the ce where all the difficult ounders were put.

    This was all prepared by Tristan yesterday, and today, he was hoping to see the result.

    When Tristan and his group finally arrived, Rayna of the Kingsde was already there waiting for them.

    "Everything has been prepared as you asked, my king," Rayna reported as soon as they were in front of each other.

    "Good, thank you."

    Before he led the group into the room, Tristan remembered something. He turned to look at his sister and said out of worry, "It''s probably not a good idea for you to see this..."

    "Hm?" La did not expect Tristan to suddenly say this. "Why, brother? Are you going to torture someone inside? I''m not afraid!"

    Tristan only gave his sister a look before finally relenting, "All right then."

    With that matter out of the way, Tristan led the group to walk into a room with only a table and a few chairs on its sides.

    The room had huge ss tes with a view of another empty room. Through the ss tes, they could see that unlike this room, the other room appeared to be surrounded by steel walls.

    Not long after, Siegfried also came in and brought a man to enter the room with them.

    The man was none other than Jenkins, captain of the space knight cruiser.

    "Have a seat, Captain." Tristan pointed to the seat opposite the one he was standing behind.

    As he offered and the captain sat down, Tristan also followed suit and sat in front of him with Commander Cecilia next to him. As for the rest, they were standing at the back of the room.

    "What do you want?" the captain vigntly questioned.

    "I''m sure you know what I want, Captain. I need detailed information about your empire''s space knights. I already know most of them from Captain Siegfried here, but I still have a few unanswered questions, so I want you to fill them in for me."

    Hearing Tristan''s ''request'', the captain seemed calm, but he sternly responded,

    "No, I will not tell you anything!"

    Seeing the captain''s difficult response, Tristan could not help but sigh.

    "Don''t worry, Captain, I will waste neither your time nor mine. I have Cecilia here, and she will help me read your thoughts to get the answers we need. So whether you like it or not, you''re going to give us some answers."

    The captain could not believe what he just heard.

    "Hahaha! I am trained for such things. Unless the one reading my mind is at the level higher of me, there''s no chance for them to read my mind!"

    Tristan looked at Cecilia for confirmation, and the girl nodded in response.

    "He is telling the truth, my king. Unfortunately, although I am the best mind reader in Arcadia, I can only feel his thoughts and am unable to directly find a definite answer," Cecilia regrettably confirmed.

    Even so, Tristan still smiled. Fortunately, he had prepared other things in case something like this happened. He grabbed amunication stone and activated it.

    "All right, send the first one," he said to themunication stone.

    Right after he said those words, one of the doors of the room behind the ss tes was opened, and from it came out a man with a few small imnts sticking out all over his body.

    The man was none other than one of Jenkins'' space knights without his suit. And as expected, Jenkins quickly recognized the man as one of his.

    Seeing the man''s clueless look as he walked into the room annoyed the captain.

    "What are you nning on doing!?"

    Tristan grinned when he saw the look he expected on the captain''s face.

    "You must have been very bored being locked up all day. I came to give you some entertainment."

    At that moment, another door opened, and this time, Jenkins could see arge orc with brownish skin walking into their room. It was Ghrall, Tristan''s strongest orc; an Overlord.

    The orc''s entry shocked the captain. It seemed that he had seen such an orc before, for him to recognize it.

    "Proceed!" Tristan ordered to themunication stone.

    With thismand, Ghrall slowly approached the space knight. The well-trained space knight was able to dodge the orc''s first charge, but Ghrall easily grabbed the man afterward.

    With the orc''s tworge arms, the man was unable to resist at all. The orc then easily twisted the space knight''s arm and pulled it apart from his body.

    Blood sttered as the knight screamed in agony.

    At that moment, Ghrall wrapped the man under his arm, silently waiting for Tristan''s next orders.

    It was at this time that Tristan calmly turned to the captain who was trying his best to remain calm. Jenkins'' expression remained solemn, but his whole arm was trembling.

    "Captain Jenkins, my first question is, who is the man that was under the fleeing spaceship, the one you referred to as Major?"

    Jenkins held out his anger as he persisted, "No¡­ I will not answer your question!"

    Tristan only smiled in response. Of course it would not be that easy.

    "That''s too bad!" he said before speaking to themunication stone once again, "Do it!"

    "Wait!! You don''t have to do this!! Wait!!" Jenkins'' voice was filled with urgency. He wanted to plead for mercy, but therge orc had received the message.

    "Ghrallll!!!" the orc screamed as he split the man''s neck from his body.

    The space knight''s body instantly dropped lifelessly to the floor, his eyes wide open.

    He was dead.

    Seeing one of his men die so tragically in front of him filled him with rage.

    "You!! You bastard!! I will not answer your questions!!!"

    However, unlike what he expected, Tristan simply replied in aid-back tone,

    "Haha, that''s fine. This is just the beginning, Captain. I hope you''ll be entertained."

    Tristan grabbed themunication stone once again andmanded, "Send the next one."

    The one entering the room was also another space knight, but this time, it was one of the squad leaders. The man had a simr tattoo on his neck, showing his rank among the space knights.

    Those who had been a private, a sergeant, or a lieutenant long enough would receive their own personal ship tomand, and in turn, they would also receive the captain status.

    The one Ghrall was going to face next was a squad leader, which meant that the man was a space knight who was at least a lieutenant in rank.

    The man had dark skin with a build slightlyrger than normal, andpared to he had more imnts as well as tattoo markings. The man was supposedly at the same level as Siegfried, and Tristan could see it from the calmness he had while facing the orc. The quality of his demeanor was clearly different from the previous knight.

    Seeing the dead space knight on the floor, he merely showed an expression of disgust.

    Tristan did not want to waste any time. With themunication stone in hand, he quicklymanded Ghrall to start fighting.

    The orc warlord charged at the man, and the man swiftly dodged. He even managed to cast a low-tier spell on himself.

    [Windwalk.]

    It was a low-tier wind magic that gave extra speed to the caster. With this, he managed to dodge a few more of Ghrall''s attacks.

    "Interesting," Tristan muttered with an intrigued smile.

    Unlike howid-back Tristan was, Jenkins could not maintain his calm when he saw Tristan muttering to himself. "What are you trying to achieve!?"

    Tristan, however,pletely ignored the captain and continued enjoying the fight in front of him.

    Bammm!!!

    The king was able to hit Ghrall''s stomach, pushing the orc overlord a step back.

    It seemed that even without the admired power, the squad leader still had a strength rivaling that of an orc champion.

    Seeing the scene unfold in front of him, Tristan became curious. ncing at Sterling who was standing behind him, he asked,

    "What do you think? Can you defeat that space knight, Sterling?"

    The oldmander was a man with the title of guardian, which was a title given to Arcadia''s strongest non-magic fighter.

    The oldmander honestly replied, "I can see that his physique is not yet at the level of unbreakable like mine, but those things all over his body, they must be the things that boost his strength. It would not be easy for me to win if I were to fight that man."

    "I see. Interesting."

    After five minutes, the man finally got caught, and Ghrall quickly grabbed his leg and broke it so that he would no longer be able to run.

    Seeing that the fight was over, Tristan looked toward Jenkins.

    "Your great space knight lost! Now, make your choice. Do you want to answer my question or do you want the man to die?"

    As Tristan said those words, his mouth formed a wicked smile.

 Chapter 312 - Interrogation 2

    Jenkins could feel his nails digging into the skin of his palms. Never once in his life had he even imagined that he would be cornered like this, not to mention that it was because of someone of a lower realm.

    But he could not deny it. Rationally thinking, it would be best for him to stay silent and wait for the empire''s armada toe and annihte these people, and that would only be right. Confidential information regarding their empire should stay confidential.

    But he could not do that.

    There was no way he could let his men die just like that. Not when he had a way to save them.

    "...Major Patton. His name is Major Patton."

    He gave in. After all, it was just a name. He did not think that it would be considered a betrayal of the empire nor the major.

    However, unlike what he expected, Tristan''s smile instead turned into a frown.

    "Captain. You never fail to disappoint me. I thought you were smarter than this. Isn''t it obvious that I want more than just his name? Or are you making fun of me?"

    Tristan already knew beforehand from Siegfried that it was unusual for someone with a position as high as a major to be in such a ship and take part in a mission targeting a lower realm, so there must be an important reason behind it. That was the information he wanted to know.

    "What''s his mission?" Tristan asked in a low voice.

    "I don''t know his mission" Jenkins almost instantly replied.

    "...Ha. Do you really think I''d believe that?" Tristan pressed the matter.

    Tristan turned his eyes to the orc overlord. He was ready to order Ghrall to crush the squad leader in his hands.

    Jenkins immediately startled, he turn panick and said

    "I''m telling the truth! I really wasn''t told anything about his mission! I swear! He was specially assigned by the higher-ups! He is not part of my crew, and I have no idea what he intended bying aboard my ship!"

    Tristan looked back at him.

    "So you have no idea what he''s after? Not at all?" Tristan looked at the man in suspicion.

    It was then that Commander Cecilia of the Starlight interrupted him. "My king, with all due respect, although I am unable to clearly read his mind, I can sense that he was telling the truth."

    Tristan simply gave an empty smile toward Commander Cecilia. "Thank you, Commander. While it may be true that he was telling the truth, unfortunately I am not satisfied."

    Tristan once again looked at the captain.

    "Even if you weren''t told anything about his mission, I''m sure a smart man like you would at least have a guess as to what his mission is about. I am sure he did spill one or two things about his intention didn''t he?" Tristan asked threateningly, his eyes on the squad leader in Ghrall''s grasp.

    Jenkins hesitated. While it was true that he was not told a thing about the major''s special mission, he did have a suspicion of what it could be.

    "He... seemed to be nervous and slightly excited to see captain Siegfried was¡­ It even more apparent when you show up.. The blood elf! Although I don''t know the details of his mission, I reckon it has something to do with you¡­ Blood elf, that is."

    This information wasn''t something unexpected for Tristan, but for everyone else in the room,mander Sterling and Cecilia both of them was stunned

    Tristan smiled hearing his response. "See, Captain? I knew you would know something!" Tristan cheerfully said before continuing, "So, what do you know about these blood elves?"

    Although Jenkins could feel that Tristan was mocking him, he did not say anything about it.

    "Everything I know about them is the same as what I read in the empire database," Jenkins answered.

    Tristan understood that the captain was suggesting for him to search the spaceship database to know. He only hoped that it was not so heavily damaged that he would not be able to ess it. Before Tristan could say more, Siegfried''s voice sounded from behind him.

    "My king, if you would like to ess the database, I suggest you use the captain''s ess code. It has more information that only high rank such as him knew"

    "Captain?" Tristan looked back to the captain and questioned.

    Jenkins was slightly annoyed. He red at Siegfried as he said with disgust, "I have never seen a mind-control magic turn a space knight into such a loyal dog!"

    He was hoping that Tristan would only be able to ess the general database, but now with the ess code mentioned, revealing it would mean trouble for the empire. Ultimately, giving the captain''s code to unauthorized individuals could be considered as high treason.

    This devastated him, but in the end, he chose not to do it.

    "No, I won''t tell you my code!"

    Tristan sighed in response. "That''s too bad, Captain. I really don''t want to do this, but you leave me no choice."

    Tristan touched themunication stone and ordered, "Do it."

    At that moment, Ghrall quickly snapped the helpless squad leader''s head.

    With this decision, Tristan could hear irregr breathing aside from Jenkins.

    He turned toward the direction of the sound, and as expected, it was La. Her eyes were wide open and she had a disturbed expression on her face.

    When their eyes met, Tristan could see that she seemed to want to say something, but no words came out of her mouth.

    Although Tristan was a bit worried, he decided to ignore it. The girl must learn that with their current condition, such things were necessary.

    With this in mind, Tristan returned his gaze to the captain, who was clearly enraged.

    "Arghhh!! I already told you everything I can! Stop this madness!!" the captain screamed. After everything he told him, he still killed his squad leader. He could not hold back anymore.

    "Captain, calm down. Don''t worry, there are still more interesting things to see, so just rx a bit and reconsider my question."

    Still with themunication stone in hand, Tristan ordered, "Bring in the next one."

    This time, the one who entered the room was a man in ck uniform, this man is one of the bridge officers of the space cruiser. The sight once again enraged the captain..

    After the door closed once again, Tristanmanded, "Start."

    Hearing Tristan''s order, the orc overlord shouted his battle cry and quickly charged toward the man in ck uniform.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 313 - Interrogation 3

    Seeing the ce he was thrown into and the orc in front of him, the officer in ck uniform quickly understood the situation he was in.

    Despite seeing the giant orc charging at him, the man did not budge from his position. It was unknown when he prepared, but just as Ghrall''s grip was about to reach him, the man''s hands suddenly burned in mes and he blew up a powerful fire spell, throwing Ghrall a few meters back.

    Seeing the fire that was glowing with ck smoke gave Tristan a slightly peculiar feeling. This somewhat interested him, and the more he observed it, the more interested he became.

    He quickly asked Herera about it, his mouth unconsciously curving into a smile, "What fire magic is that?"

    Surprisingly, neither Hererra nor Cecilia had any idea what kind of spell that ck fire was. They had never seen such a spell before. Commander Ceicilia exined, "My king, I have no knowledge of that strange fire. In all my life, I have never seen such a thing."

    Serene, however, felt as if she had ever heard of a description matching the fire in front of her. Although she was not sure, she still said to Tristan, "I think I heard the dark elves mention it before. If I''m not mistaken, it should be one of the lost fire magics, the hell me."

    Just as Tristan was about to think more about it, he heard a small mockingugh from Jenkins'' direction. Looking his way, Tristan realized that Jenkins, who was previously in a state of panic, was now smiling without restraint.

    Tristan frowned seeing his smile.

    "What''s so amusing?"

    "Hahaha! You people of the lower realms, you don''t even know about the hell me. It might be a rare spell for you people, but it is, in fact, a verymon spell for the empire. After all, it''s only a measly rank 5 fire spell, not even worth talking about," Jenkins ridiculed.

    "Only a rank 5 spell?" Tristan was surprised. The highest level of spells he could use at the moment was only rank 3, and Arcadians mostly only had rank 5 spells from the wood elves, so rank 5 fire spells were very rare for them. And yet, the captain mentioned such luxury so casually, even saying it was not worth talking about.

    Tristan''s train of thought was quickly cut by Ghrall''s scream.

    "Ghrall!!!"

    The orc overlord was screaming in pain, but it onlysted for a few seconds. Not much longer, he looked back toward the officer as if he was never hurt. This scene also surprised Tristan.

    Once again, Ghrall charged toward the officer. But this time, knowing that the human mage could cast such mes, Ghrall was more cautious.

    Sterling was amazed by Ghrall''s fast recovery. The old knight had fought several champion orcs throughout his life and he was proud that he was able to kill a few of them. Even so, he could clearly see that the orc in front of him was different.

    Noticing Sterling''s reaction, Tristan asked out of curiosity, "What is it? Tell me."

    Instead of Sterling, it was Cecilia who answered, "I am sure that Commander Sterling was simply amazed by the orc''s skin. Even though I can tell the strength of the spell, it''s amazing to see that the orc could easily sustain it."

    Before Cecilia could exin further, Siegfried interrupted, "Master, please allow me to exin.

    "I realized that the orc overlord must be something new on this, but I have been fighting against this highest evolution of orcs all my life. I can still handle going against a few war chief orcs, but an orc overlord is very much different. They are much harder to fight as their skin has a very high resistance toward magic."

    Hearing such facts, Tristan was quickly ted. He found one more thing he loved about these orcs.

    The fight inside the room between Ghrall and the space knight officer became even more intense. From their previous moves, it seemed that Ghrall was a mage''s most fearsome nemesis, especially in a closed room such as this.

    The officer used multiple more hell mes, which enraged Ghrall even more. He seemed to be in pain, but those mes were unable to stop him.

    Seeing the fight slowly weighing toward the orc, Jenkins was furious. "Stop this instant!!!"

    In the battle, with Ghrall charging at him again, the bridge officer turned into mes as the orc''s two hands reached him, engulfing both of his arms as if alive.

    The orc screamed in pain once more as the fire covered his entire body, but Ghrall did not let go. On the contrary, his grab only tightened even more.

    With a battle cry, Ghrall activated his [Combat Berserk] skill. WIth his improved strength, the fire mage did not have a chance of escaping.

    When it turned into a battle of strength, the fire mage was not a match against the orc overlord at all.

    Tristan turned back toward Jenkins as he asked, "Looks like one of your men lost again, Captain. Now, what''s your decision?"

    The captain silently looked down. He fully regretted his decision of surrendering. He should have listened to the marshal. He should have at least fought this bastard to the death.

    "No? Captain, are you sure!?" Tristan mocked.

    Tristan''s arrogance finally broke him. He could no longer hold his rage. "I will kill you!!! I will fucking kill you!!!"

    To his surprise, at that moment, Tristan responded, "Oh? That''s not a bad idea. How about this, I''ll give you a chance to kill me. You and I will fight next. If you win, not only can you save the rest of your men, but you''ll also get to injure or maybe even kill me. However, if you lose... either give me the ess code or I''ll immediately kill all of your men without exception.

    "What do you think, Captain? do you agree?"

    The usually calm captain replied, his eyes full of determination, "I agree."

    Hearing the captain''s reply, Tristan grinned in satisfaction. He ordered Siegfried to release Jenkins'' god stone binding, and the enraged captain impatiently walked into the room.

    Before he entered the room, he spoke to themunication stone in his hand, "Make sure to record everything in detail. Don''t miss anything."

    "Yes, my king," the person on the other side responded.

    Without anyone else''s knowledge, there was another room that had been recording and analyzing the details of the previous fights.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 314 - Duel

    From the start, the reason Tristan put the prisoners in the Ounder district instead of the Arcadian prison was to analyze and study the opponent''s battle strength or special skill and spells, like the rank 5 fire spell they witnessed just now.

    Professor Emmet and his team members had prepared the room in advance not only to record the enemy units'' movements, but also to scan the strength, speed, and spirit force of each of them.

    The previous bridge officer of the Omega Empire''s magic spell gave out amazing data on his physical strength in rtion to his spells. This was especially the case for that ck [Hell Fire] me. If what Jenkins said was true and that spell was actually considered to be a normal spell among the people of the empire, then Tristan would need to analyze it as the standard of his future enemies.

    Tristan also wanted to use this chance to further analyze the strength of his newest warrior, Ghrall. So in reality, whether Jenkins chose to answer his questions or not would not make any difference. One way or another, Tristan would make sure that these fights would still happen.

    Siegfried had previously exined to him that a standard cruiser would have approximately 400 space troopers, 100 space knights, 10 space knight squad leaders, and 10 officers.

    With the information that has been gathered so far, Tristan would have collected all the strength levels of each powerful individual on the ships.

    With this, he would be able to evaluate the standard fighting force of a cruiser.

    Now, thest data he needed was the data of the captain himself, a man with strength rivaling that of a Magus.

    Tristan entered the room to see that Jenkins was already agitated and ready to fight.

    With a piercing re, the captain said to him, "Even if you lied and would not release my men regardless of this fight''s result, at least I''ll have the chance to kill you!"

    The previously calm andposed man had turned into apletely different person from Tristan''s incessant taunts.

    Tristan, however, still kept his cool and rxedly replied, "Come on, Captain, there''s no way I''ll let you kill me so easily."

    The captain was getting ready to attack when Tristan stopped him with a hand gesture, "Wait a moment."

    Jenkins wanted to ignore his act of dying the fight. However, he reflexively stopped in his tracks when he saw someone enter the room with a certain something.

    The person was Siegfried. In his hand was a sword, which he handed over to Tristan without dy. It was a double-edged de, the captain''s tier 5 weapon. Siegfried then casually walked out of the room, not wanting to be involved in the two''s fight.

    Holding the weapon in his hand, Tristan swung it around a few times and scrutinized it. Meanwhile, seeing the captain''s weapon being wielded by Tristan like that, the captain felt even more irritated.

    This bastard''s audacity.

    "You have a really good weapon, Captain," Tristanplimented with a smile. However, the next thing he did surprised the fuming captain.

    Tristan threw the weapon in the captain''s direction.

    Although Jenkins was slightly caught off-guard, he still managed to nimbly grab the sword. While the captain checked his sword''s condition, Tristan quickly cast [Fire Aura] to himself and synthesized two blood swords, each one in his hand.

    "Well then, let''s start!"

    With those words, Tristan immediately dashed toward Jenkins with his two blood swords, his stage 4 monarch body, and the fire aura buff.

    In response, the captain cast [Windwalk] on his feet to boost his speed and quickly parried Tristan''s two swords.

    "Huh! Not even your fire aura will be able to save you!"

    Jenkins quickly counterattacked, swiftly attacking Tristan from various sides.

    nk! nk!!

    Tristan had been itching to continue their fight that was interrupted by the ship''s crash. Now that he had gotten the chance, he knew that he would not be able to beat this speed-based mage with just his current speed.

    But at the same time, he was d that the buff was all he needed to match his speed with Jenkins'' speed after using [Windwalk].

    However, the captain was still very confident in his strikes and parries. After all, in terms of sword fighting, he knew that he was the superior sword fighter.

    nk! nk!!

    And as expected, his confidence was not baseless. Tristan kept bleeding from various thin and shallow cuts as although he managed to evade the dangerous ones, he still could notpletely dodge Jenkins'' attacks.

    With each swing of his double-edged sword, Tristan could feel the captain''s rage. He was getting impatient as more time passed. Not wanting to waste more time, Jenkins swung his sword at Tristan''s head.

    nk!!!

    Unfortunately for him, Tristan managed to perfectly parry his vital strike with one of his blood swords.

    Jenkins simply sneered. "Lucky guess!!"

    Tristan only smiled. It was natural for the captain to think that. After all, although the captain had superior sword skill, he did not know that his blood elf body had the [Muscle Memory] skill, allowing him to get better the longer they fight.

    nk!! nk!!

    The two shed swords a few more times. But this time, Tristan managed to parry them all, not allowing Jenkins'' de to touch anything but his blood swords.

    "Not possible!"

    The captain pressed his sword harder in annoyance. To Tristan''s surprise, he threw his sword flying like a boomerang swiveling in the air.

    Tristan jumped to dodge the double-edged sword, and while he was in the air, the captain cast his powerful attack. He pped both of his hands and created a fast rotation with his palm.

    [Sonic Wind de.]

    A crescent green de swiftly rushed toward Tristan, cutting even space itself.

    The speed of the wind de''s movement was so fast that it went over Tristan''s neck, instantly chopping his head off before he could react.

    Blood sttered all over as a head fell and rolled on the floor.

    Seeing Tristan''s head rolling on the floor, Jenkins grinned victoriously. Meanwhile, from behind the ss, La screamed in panic.

    "Brother!! No!!!"

    Serene, however, calmly held La''s hand as she reassured, "Your brother is fine."

 Chapter 315 - Duel 2

    [The body''s condition has be critical.]

    [The host requires immediate treatment.]

    [Restore health using 1,000 Blood Essence?]

    "Yes," Tristan replied without a second thought.

    Among losing his body parts, Tristan hated losing his head the most. This was because losing his head would cause him to temporarily lose all his senses.

    Although it was temporary, it was still extremely unpleasant.

    Even so, in the end, he really could not exactlyin about it. After all, this undying body that he had was really his ace skill and constant lifesaver.

    The captain''s victorious grin was cut short when he saw the sttered blood gather in the air. In front of him, he witnessed something he never thought he would see here. In just a few seconds, Tristan''s head regrew as if it had never been detached from his body.

    Right after the baffling scene, Tristan stood back up, his movement notcking in energy.

    "You!!!" The captain eximed before turning silent for a moment. "So you really are a blood elf!"

    He was previously not sure, only having slight suspicion due to the major''s reaction when he saw Tristan on screen, but now, with what he just witnessed, he waspletely sure about it.

    Jenkins raised his sword once again before seriously saying, "You''re still at saint level in terms of strength¡­ I should kill you before you be more of a threat to the empire!"

    The captain quickly cast a wind spell. However, unlike the previous one, this time, he cast a spell that covered not only his feet, but his entire body. Tristan could even feel the air in the room rapidly surging.

    [Tier 6 spell - Armor of the Wind.]

    The spell reminded Tristan of the spell Can liked to use. His earth armor would highly increase the hardness of his body to an extremely high level while also increasing his strength at the same time.

    Thinking of the spell''s properties, Tristan was willing to bet that this wind armor would highly increase Jenkins'' movement speed.

    The captain once again charged at him, but this time, it was at a speed where Tristan could only see mirages of him.

    As expected.

    Still moving, Jenkins cast another [Sonic Wind de] toward Tristan. Compared to the previous wind de, this one felt more swift and violent.

    But this time, Tristan had anticipated such an attack. With the precision that came from his previous experience, he blocked the iing wind de with both of his blood swords.

    Crack!!!

    The high-level spell broke both of his blood swords. However, contrary to Tristan''s expectation, Jenkins did not immediately cast another wind de to attack him. Instead, he took the chance to grab his double-edged sword.

    "You will die by my hands!" Jenkins dered with a serious expression.

    From the expression on his face, it appeared that the captain was nning to use all the strength he had. At that moment, Tristan could see that he had begun casting a spell on his sword.

    [Wind Infusion.]

    Tristan knew that if he were to still choose to y around with the current situation, things could go south even with his undying body.

    He knew that the captain would not be as foolish as Janus, who recklessly let his Heart of Monarch rebuild.

    Tristan quickly used the maximum amount of blood synthesis he could create. With hismand, countless swords made of blood swiftly formed, half of them hovering in front of him ready to attack and the other half surrounding him from every direction.

    "That will not save you!!!"

    Captain Jenkins charged at him. With his wind armor''s buff, he managed to dodge Tristan''s iing blood swords and deflect the others with just one swing.

    To Tristan''s astonishment, he charged toward him without stopping, destroying all of the blood swords in his path in the process.

    Tristan smiled. It seemed that this was the true power of a space cruiser captain.

    At thest moment, Tristan looked upon a part of his brain and essed his skill.

    [Blood Essence: 95,231]

    [Upgrade Blood Synthesis to Stage 3 - 50,000 Blood Essence?]

    "Yes."

    [Blood Synthesis upgraded to Stage 3.]

    [Increasing Synthesis quality...]

    While it was true that the upgrade required a significant amount of blood essence, it was a necessary upgrade for the situation.

    Just when the captain''s double-edge sword was only a step away, Tristan cast his upgraded blood synthesis on his hand.

    As the blood covered his hand, he noticed that inparison to his previous blood synthesis, the blood this time had a darker crimson color.

    nk!!!

    The upgraded blood synthesis was able to parry the enchanted tier 5 sword.

    At that moment, Tristan could clearly see the shock on the captain''s face.

    Not only could Tristan parry his strongest attack, but he could also follow his movements at this speed and even precisely blocked the spot he aimed at.

    "Haha! It''s not so hard to guess since you really like to aim at my neck!"

    Now, he might have matched him in terms of weapon quality, but he was aware that the difference between their speed was still there. So there was absolutely no way Tristan would let his chance go. He quickly used his reinforced hand to grab Jenkins'' sword.

    The captain tried to release his sword from Tristan''s grip, but he could only make his hand bleed.

    At that mere second, Tristan used the move he was most proud of: A heavy headbutt to the captain''s face!

    Bang!!!

    Tristan''s unexpected move stunned the captain. Following this, Tristan threw a punch at Jenkins'' stomach before throwing another one.

    With the captain in pain from the hard punches,

    Tristan used the brief moment to use his newly-upgraded blood synthesis to swiftly construct a stronger de and cut the captain''s legs.

    The man quickly fell to the ground, howling in pain.

    Knowing that the man had an immortal body and was able to regenerate, Tristan quickly put the god stone back on him.

    "You lost, Captain."

 Chapter 316 - Power Level

    The fight evidently ended with Captain Jenkins'' loss, as he powerlessly ced his pair of bloodied hands on the ground.

    But, even though Tristan had finally came out as the winner in the duel between the two of them, Captain Jenkins still refused to tell him about his ess codes. The man, after all, no longer had an ounce of belief that Tristan would meet the end of his bargain.

    Which was, unfortunately for him, true.

    Tristan held onto his values in life, where he would only bargain when two parties had something of the same value. Now that Captain Jenkins and his men had already surrendered, taken down, and became his captive, he no longer had the need to obligate the other party''s whim as he was the one who had the upper hand.

    Even though the ess code could be an important resource for the future, Tristan really could not guarantee the safety of the other party''s men at the moment. After all, his analysis of these people''s strength and ability had toe first and foremost.

    Although his duel was over and Captain Jenkins had lost against him, the day was still not over for Tristan. He ordered his men to continue on, jumping into their own fight. Not only Ghrall, he also forced Commander Sterling, Commander Cecilia, and even Vain the Night Owl who just got healed to enter and fight each of the space knights and officers on the scene.

    The fights between the members of two opposing parties were carried out under Tristan and Captain Jenkins'' eyes. The former was ted, while thetter was miserable.

    When the fight was remarkable or satisfactory in his eyes and he felt the other party had not yet shown their true skill, Tristan would decide to spare him/her. On the other side of the spectrum, he would be merciless and end them if he decided they had no further uses and were unworthy to be kept alive.

    Captain Jenkins could only sit there and be tortured as he watched how each of his subordinates died and killed by Tristan. As for Tristan himself, he would of course be joyous as each death meant more Blood Essence for him to be extracted.

    At the end of the day, Tristan collected the data from the scanner in the room, which had a simr function to the bracelet that he took from Pio. He then cross-referenced the information he received from the spaceship database and the data Sigfried gave him toe up with aplete, detailed power level of the other party''s side.

    From it, Tristan discovered that the lowest rank in their ranks was the non-magicbatants, space trooper.

    [Space Trooper]

    [Battle power 50-60]

    This ss of troops were all well-trained individuals, where any of them had strengthparable to that of silver adventurers in Arcadia, but with much better skill.

    None of those who were categorized as space troopers had magic talent, but all of them had an imnt on them - the imnt that was nted in their brain to increase their memory capability and decrease their needs for sleep.

    Among them, there were some people who were ssified as specialists; the engineer, the medic, the cook, the gun operators, and so on. However, most of them still consisted ofbatants. If Tristan had to use the terms used back on Earth, the space troopers'' arrangement was pretty much the same as the US Navy.

    The second rank was what Tristan encountered on his first day in this world, the space knight.

    [Space Knight]

    [Battle power 80-100]

    The space knights were the chosen elites of the trooper, the elitest of the elite within its rank. Those who were chosen to join the ranks of space knights then would be added a total of eight more imnts to their body, to increase their overall strength and be capable of operating the power armor.

    When they had reached a certain level of contribution, they then could be promoted to a squad leader and received the upgraded version of the imnts, which would further increase their already impressive strength.

    [Space Knight Squad Leader]

    [Battle power 100-120]

    Those numbers of battle power were measured without the improvement brought by their power armour. If they had equipped their armour fully armed with high-level weapons and technological devices, these space knights were able to match the strength of the orcs and the firepower of the elves.

    Then, the leader and the strongest among the ranks was the Marshal. Unfortunately, as Tristan killed the man and lost the chance to analyze the other party for good, he had no real data of this existence called Marshal.

    What he knew was only their advanced ck-colored power armour as well as the fact that Marshal was the space knight who had managed to reach their maximum physical limit and received the [Unbreakable Body].

    [Unbreakable Body], trait that one received when they had broken through a certain threshold. The term the Arcadian used for those who had this trait was Guardian, while the human empires called them Combat Saint.

    Next, was the magic-basedbatants.

    The human empires used the term, acolyte. The acolyte were further separated into nine different ranks, where each rank was exponentially stronger than the one below it. Those who reached the highest rank of nine were considered as saint-level acolytes.

    [Space Acolyte], were mostly acolytes who had limited talent and were unable to breakthrough into the rank 9 or saint-level acolyte. Although that was the case, most of the space acolytes, like the girl who was captured together with Sigfried, were rank 8 acolytes. In short, they were still a force to be reckoned with in spite of their ck'' of talent.

    The average stats of a space acolyte was stated as below.

    [Battle power 100+]

    [Spirit force 250-500]

    When they reached the spirit force milestone of 500 and broke through to rank 9, the space acolytes then could apply for the officer position within the army. An officer was quite a prestigious position, higher than the space knight squad leader.

    Thest but not the least, the captain. They were magus-levelbatants, someone with simr power to rank 5 wizards in Arcadia. These people stood at apletely different level altogether, especially when they reached the magus level where they would also gain the simr kind of [Immortal Body].

    Just like Janus''s [Immortal Body], these people could regenerate their bodies continuously as long as their spirit cores weren''t destroyed.

    However, Tristan discovered something odd when hepared the data he gathered from fighting Captain Jenkins, a magus, and the strength Commander Cecilia, a rank 5 wizard which supposedly to be the same level as the former, disyed. They were too far apart in difference.

    Tristan could tell that other than their simrity in the possession of [Immortal Body], Cecilia''s spirit force and battle power were simply iparable to that of Jenkins. This was the reason why it was easier for him to defeat Janus, than this Captain Jenkins.

    He guessed that this phenomenon should have something to do with the other party''s way of cultivation as well as the limitation of spells on their own side. After all, the Arcadian had no advanced spells, such as the [Hell Fire] or [Sonic de].

    The database Tristan collected from the spaceship told him that the magus level itself had three different stages. The first stage was known as the Crescent Moon magus, the second stage was called the Half Moon, while thest stage was the Full Moon.

    Captain Jenkins, as strong as he was now, he was only at the Crescent Moon stage - the lowest of the magus. And apparently, some space cruisers could be led by a Half Moon, or even a veteran Full Moon magus.

    All in all, theparison and cross reference between the data confirmed and strengthened the fact that the Arcadian was still very, very, verycking in the grand scale of things.

    Currently, from what the data showed, Tristan discovered that Arcadia only had 5 magus-level figures. Cecilia of Starlight, Wizard Faros, and Commander of the First Kingsde that he still hadn''t met yet were all considered as Crescent Moon magus, and the weakest within the stage.

    As for Can and Tobias who were both able to cast rank 7 spells, they could be recognized as Half Moon magus. The other person Tristan knew, but not of Arcadian, was the ruler of Vanyar Kingdom, Queen Leena.

    Meanwhile, the rest of themander and senior mages of the Arcadian Kingdom were all saint-level existences.

    With thisption of data, Tristan created theprehensive list of power levels of all living things he had encountered.

    From the weakest to the strongest, the list was stated as below.

    {Orc Grunt - Silver Adventurer - Arcadia Knight - Space Trooper - Orc Champion - Gold Adventurer - Space Knight - Orc Warchief - Combat Saint/Guardian - Saint-Level Acolytes/ High-Stage Rank 4 Wizard - Orc Overlord - Magus}

    This list would be updated as Tristan encountered more living things in the vast universe.

    Now, considering that at least half a dozen space cruisers would arrive at this in two weeks, Tristan could roughly see the force required to face them.

    Yes, he definitely needed more magus-levelbatants.

 Chapter 317 - Upgrade

    Yesterday''s research proved to them that Arcadia did not have what it takes to defend against the iing threats.

    Even with the best-case scenario of just half a dozen space cruisersing to look for their lost space cruiser, it would still mean that they would need at least two dozen magus-level fighters. Not only that, but they would also need the means to defend against the opposing units'' attacks and a way to shoot the ship down.

    Of course, an all-out war would be incredibly risky for them. However, having two dozen magus-level fighters when the enemy units arrived would certainly put them in a better position. It might even cause the enemy to have second thoughts about attacking them directly.

    If they could get lucky enough, they might even be able to make a deal with the opposing side to get some gains and avoid heavy losses.

    Because of this, Tristan''s current priority was to find these magus-level fighters to increase their fighting power. Of course, this also meant taht he had to increase his own strength.

    And to increase his own strength, he would need to get more blood essence. Thinking of this, he checked his blood monarch status and skills.

    [Blood Essence: 51,875]

    [Blood Monarch Body - Stage 5]

    [Blood Monarch Innate Skills:]

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Blood Seal - Stage 3]

    [Blood Synthesis - Stage 3]

    [Blood Legacy]

    [Blood Summon]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

    The first thing he needed to do was go into his Heart of Monarch to learn more about his blood monarch body. After all, apart from the enemy, he also needed to know about himself to know what he would need to go against them.

    As soon as he arrived at the bloodke, he was immediately met with a woman with two ck horns and short crimson hair. Despite the numerous dragon scales covering her body, they still could not hide her exotic curves.

    It was the dragon, Nara, in her half-humanoid form.

    Seeing Tristan''s return, Nara promptly kneeled to greet him.

    "My Lord Monarch, I deeply apologize for disappointing you in thest fight," Nara spoke with her head down.

    Unfortunately for her, yesterday''s analysis result put Tristan in a bad mood. Not to mention, the fact that she was the main reason for the ship''s explosion was undeniable. The loss was not something that he could just brush off as if it did not exist.

    If Tristan had a functioning space cruiser on his hand, things would be very different. After all, even if it would not be used to fight, he would still be able to use the ship to escape.

    Not only that, but the time and resources they needed to expend to salvage the ship could have been used for something else, which would increase their power to resist the iing enemy even more.

    Although it was only one cruiser ship, it would have been a huge leap of both offensive and defensive power for them.

    Seeing his unconcealed expression of annoyance, Nara felt even more guilty.

    "Please, my Lord Monarch, please give me a chance to make up for my mistake!" she begged.

    He coldly looked at the kneelingdy in front of him. He could clearly see that she was feeling guilty, but would that change anything? Just her guilt alone would not be able to improve their situation, and even Nara herself understood.

    "I will take your word for it," Tristan simply said, not willing to miss any gains she could offer.

    He then exined the current situation to her, including how at least half a dozen space cruisers were on their way and that he needed a way to increase his power to fight against dozens of magus-level fighters.

    "Master, if I may... if I can sessfully regain myplete form, even a hundred magus-level fighters will not be able to defeat me."

    The currently-standing Nara reminded Tristan about opening the chains that were blocking the way to open his memory fragments.

    [Soul Force: 2/10]

    From what he could tell from Nara''s words, it seemed that if he was willing to kill Jenkins and extract his soul, he would be one step closer toward his goal.

    However, putting aside how tempting it was for him, especially considering the current situation, extracting Jenkins'' soul would not bring him much progress. Although he was powerful, it was still only one soul. He needed at least a few souls to open the chain.

    Before he could think deeper, the dragon''s regretful voice interrupted his train of thought.

    "Master, again, I''m sorry, but it will take at least a few more days before I can be summoned again¡­ I''m sorry I am still unable to be of use to you¡­"

    Tristan only hummed in response. Even if she could be summoned this instant, she would not be of much use. Not now, at least.

    With this, Tristan exited his Heart of Monarch, returning with his hands empty. Quite a while had passed, yet he still had nothing to improve his strength.

    With the amount of blood essence he currently had, he could only increase his Blood Seal to stage 4 at most. It was a tempting upgrade. Having witnessed how great Ghrall could perform, the first thing he nned to do after he could upgrade the skill was to create more orc overlords. Other than that, he was hoping that having Blood Seal at stage 5 would allow him to cast it on a magus-level fighter, but it was very unlikely to be possible so easily.

    As for the other two upgrades, although it would prove to be quite useful in this condition, the blood essence needed was just too much.

    Again, for him to get stronger meant that he needed more blood. With this in mind, he called Uriel, the fat elf, and asked him to go with a Kingsde unit to check on Faunt, the hybrid trapper, for his legendary creatures to bring to the capital.

    Next, before moving on to his next objectives, while they were still in O District, Tristan spent some time with Professor Emmet and his team.

    He gave the professor all the items he collected from Siegfried''s ship, hoping that it could be of use to them.

    He also showed Professor Emmet the chip that was nted on his brain by the goblin scientist, as well as the scanner gloves from Pio.

    The reason Tristan didn''t install the chip back was that he was worried there might still be a way for the goblin to control him through the chip somehow. As for the scanner gloves, he no longer found them of use since they kept giving him [undefined message].

    The chip took the professor aback. After all, the technology it was equipped with was quite advanced. Even so, fortunately, it was still simple enough for him to understand its structure, and after a while, he confirmed that the controlling device was already destroyed, reassuring Tristan.

    As for the scanner bracelets, the professor had a better model, like the one they previously used in the analysis room.

    "Would you like us to install these back to your body?" the professor offered.

    Understanding the difficulty of the challenges that he would need to face soon, Tristan agreed. After all, although he was not sure of how much he would gain from these things, there were no losses. He had no reason to refuse.

    Because of this, he spent the next few hours being operated on by the professor''s team. However, this time, instead of the chip being inserted into his head, the professor and his team made it into a small circr device and ced it between his left eye and ear.

    [Connecting to OPR Device Mark II...]

    [Integrating system...]

    [Device synchronization started.]

    [20%... 60%... 90%...]

    [Synchronizationpleted.]

    When it was finallypleted, Tristan was able to ess his scanning device again.

    He looked toward Sterling, his newest bodyguard, and Commander Cecilia and began scanning.

    [Human]

    [Saint-levelbat]

    [Battle Power: 235]

    [Spirit Force - Nonexistent]

    [Human]

    [Magus - Crescent Moon]

    [Battle Power: 185]

    [Spirit Force: 1,050]

    [Element Affinity - Light]

    Tristan was ted when he saw the data. The scanner''s ability to give information regarding the details of the subject''s battle power was undeniably valuable. This would definitely be useful for their uing battle.

    Before he was about to leave O District, one of the members of Professor Emmet''s team handed him a small tablet-like device.

    "We have stored whatever data we could gather from the spaceship into this device," the man briefly exined.

    The device showed him some information about troops, weapons, ships, and evens. And to his surprise, the information in the tablet could be copied into the installed chip.

    It is very handy indeed.

    Now, it was time for Tristan to look for fighters.

 Chapter 318 - Gatherings

    The Arcadian small ship Firefly flew with maximum speed above the forbidden forest, swiftly going past broad woond areas simultaneously.

    From the window, Tristan could finally see the pce they were looking for standing among the thick forest trees covered by the white snow.

    "We have arrived at the Vanyar Castle," Zoe, the co-pilot of the ship, reported through the ship''s voicemunication device.

    The ship then hovered toward the one side of the castle where there was a huge balcony andnded on the vacant space.

    As soon as the rear door of the ship opened, Tristan walked out after briefly checking their surroundings'' situation. Walking out following him were Serene, Siegfried, and Sterling in order. After them also came Rayna with her Kingsde squad members. As for the others, he decided that it would be better to just leave them at the pce today since their objective this time was a little more formal.

    From a few steps in front of the ship''s rear door, they could see a few figuresing out from the pce and approaching them. Although they were quite far from each other, Tristan could immediately recognize them.

    The person in front of the several figures was the charismatic golden-haired Queen of Vanyar, Queen Lenna. With her also came Elder Anmar as well as Master Laril, his master who taught him cksmithing. Among them, he could also see Elroth, the Forlorn prince, walking toward them.

    "Lord Monarch," Prince Elroth greeted and gave Tristan a full bow.

    Hearing Prince Elroth''s greeting, the queen quickly followed suit with a full bow and greeted,

    "Hail to the Arcadian King."

    Although there seemed to be nothing wrong with the two''s greetings, he could clearly see that the Queen of Vanyar''s greeting was that of teasing.

    Despite noticing this act of hers, Tristan calmly replied with a simr greeting, "Hail to you too, the Arcadian Queen Mother."

    The two''s teasing only served to irritate Serene, who had been watching the two from the back. "Stop it, you two! Please behave how a king and queen should!"

    Tristan only smiled in response. After all, despite those words, Serene herself was not a good example of how a queen should act.

    After the small warm wee, Tristan turned to greet Master Laril with respect.

    "Master."

    The petite elf gave a light nod in response, half-surprised as she observed him closely.

    "Your progress is really close to a miracle, Tristan."

    Hearing his master''s words, Tristan''s mood became slightly better. "Yes, Master. I would not be able to be who I am today if it weren''t for your guidance."

    "Huh! I never thought of you to be the modest type," Laril said. Even so, despite the casual remark, she still stared at him obsessively.

    It was only natural for the elf master to be surprised. After all, just a few months ago, this elf in front of her was aplete newbie.

    Even now, even though Tristan was in front of her, she still could not fully believe it. It was just too absurd. However, at the same time, she did not believe that she would get it wrong.

    Tristan''s mouth curved into a smile of satisfaction from the recognition from his master.

    After the short chat, he secretly used his scanner to check the stats of the elves in front of him.

    First of all, he scanned Elder Anmar, the elder who was supposed to be the second-inmand of the kingdom after the queen.

    [Male - Wood Elf]

    [Saint-level mage]

    [Battle Power: 155]

    [Spirit Force: 875]

    [Element Affinity - nt, earth, and water]

    Although he could not be said as weak, the elder was not nearly as strong as Tristan hoped he would be. On the other hand, Prince Elroth was already at the peak of saint realm, having sessfully reached the magus level, or for an elf, sessfully mastered Katra 5.

    [Male - Wood Elf]

    [Saint-level mage]

    [Battle Power: 190]

    [Spirit Force: 1,000]

    [Element Affinity - Water and ice]

    Next, Tristan wanted to know how strong his master was, as she was considered to be on the same level as Lenna, the Queen of Vanyar herself.

    [Female - Wood Elf]

    [Magus - Crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 210]

    [Spirit Force: 1,450]

    [Element Affinity - nt, earth, and water]

    Although she was a solid magus-level fighter, when he turned to check the queen''s stats, his master was still not nearly as powerful as Lenna.

    [Female - Wood Elf]

    [Magus - Crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 280]

    [Spirit Force: 2,000]

    [Element Affinity - nt, earth, and water]

    Unfortunately, even the Queen of Vanyar herself had not yet passed through the crescent moon stage. However, she appeared to be at the peak of her level.

    After Tristan finished reading all of the provided information one by one, he saw the queen ncing at him teasingly. When their eyes met, she lightly asked with a smile,

    "Did you get a good look?"

    The queen had always been attentive with such things, so Tristan was not surprised that she noticed.

    Even so, Tristan decided to ignore her question and asked everyone present, "So, are we ready? Is anyone elseing?"

    "Yes we are good to go." said the Vanyar Queen

    The queen, Master Laril, and Elroth jumped aboard the spaceship one at a time, and after the ship flew once more to their designated target.

    When they had flew a distance from the Vanyar pce, Tristan asked the queen, "Who else will being to this gathering?"

    The queen thought for a moment before answering, "Since it''s a gathering set up by the High Elves, I believe everyone wille. At the very least, they will send someone important to represent the kingdom."

    Tristan nodded, satisfied with the answer he received.

    Just yesterday, Tristan received a message from Tobias, who was designated to contact all the elven kingdoms for a meeting.

    When the old wizard reported the news to him, he appeared to be very excited that the High Elves themselves were willing to host the gathering.

    The meeting was nned to be held at the kingdom of the high elves'' pce, which was located at the east of Arcadia and north of the forbidden forest.

    It had been almost a thousand years since the High Elvesst hosted a meeting. As such, all seven elven kingdoms nned toe to the gathering. And of course, Arcadia was also invited.

    Tobias had informed him beforehand that the threat of those space knights was going to be the main topic of discussion, so Tristan came prepared.

    For Tristan, this gathering would give him a great opportunity to finally see the real power of the elves.

    Zoe walked out of the ship''s bridge and reported, "We will arrive in three hourstest."

    Tristan gave a nod in response to Zoe''s report, and the co-pilot went back to the bridge after seeing his affirmation. While waiting for them to arrive, Tristan sneakily approached Prince Elroth and whispered to ask,

    "Did you bring what I asked for?"

    "Yes, my lord, it''s all in here," Prince Elroth handed Tristan a storage ring as he whispered back to answer.

    "Good." Tristan grabbed the storage ring from Elroth, and after silently checking the contents, he was ted.

    This was the task he gave Elroth when he left Forlorn two months ago. In a good mood, he put the ring on his finger andplimented, "Good, very good."

    Noticing their interaction, Serene looked at them with suspicion. However, in the end, she did not ask them about the matter nor say anything about it.

    Almost three hourster, they finally went past the forbidden forest and reached the eastern mountain range, and not long after, they finally arrived at their destination.

    From above, Tristan could see a dozen standing pirs sticking out of the mountain. He was not quite sure as to what they were or what they were used for, but they appeared to be some kind of watchtower.

    As soon as they passed by the pirs, Tristan could see several elves chasing them, each with some kind of silver kites made of silver silk.

    These kites make them look like a small ne. Tristan could quickly tell that these elves were all High Elves with the ability of using wind magic to fly.

    Not long after, they could all see a white pce standing on top of a mountain above the cloud. The sight from where they were made it seemed as though the pce was floating in the air.

    Even though they were still quite far from the white pce, Tristan could already feel a strong energy fluctuating from the whole pce. There must be some kind of strong energy protecting the ce.

    After a while, they finally arrived, hovering above the pce of the High Elves. Following their arrival, two dozen High Elves flew to surround them.

    "We have arrived at our destination," Zoe reported, also using the ship''smunication device as he previously did.

    ----------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 319 - The Elves

    Tristan and hispanion finally arrived at the majestic pce. The pce was made of transparent stones that gleamed in various colors whenever the light hit it in just the right way, creating a beautiful symphony ofbined colors.

    The Arcadian ship hovered andnded at the spot allocated by the few flyers that were flying with them just now.

    As soon as the ship door opened, Tristan could see the dozen flyers. They were all elves with white and grey hair. Elves that look simr to him.

    They were the high elves and currently these high elves looked at him with a simr curiosity as he stared at them.

    Tristan watched all the elves and quickly scanned their strength.

    Surprisingly all of them were saint level mages within the 600-800 spirit force range. Although they were not magus level, their innate wind element gave them the ability to cast flying spells.

    Seeing these dozen flying elves, Tristan''s mood had changed for the better. These flying elves were his best hope to fight against those space knights'' ships. He just hoped there were lots of them.

    As soon as they saw queen Leena of the Vanyar they suddenly put their hand on their chest to give a respectful gesture.

    Not long after Tristan saw a young high elf with slightly different silver robesing to approach him.

    "Greetings, queen of Vanyar and.." he went to search and found Tristan''s rxed stare with a surprised look before saying "king of Arcadia.. wee"

    The young high elf introduced himself as Theon. Although he tried to be as hospitable as he can but from the gesture and tone Tristan can feel pride within him.

    [Male, High Elf]

    [Saint-level mage]

    [Battle Power: 170]

    [Spirit Force: 1,000]

    [Element Affinity - Ice, Wind, Lighting]

    He didn''t seem to have a high rank but he had the same strength as Prince Elroth. These high elves certainly are on a different level. There seems to be a reason he acted proudly like that.

    Now that he was closer, Tristan was able to have a better look at the pce. It seems that the walls were not made of ss, it was made with special ice that could absorb and refract a lot of light, creating the beautiful effect he had observed before. Gray stones reinforced the base structure, creating a beautiful yet strong abode.

    Theon brought them past many rooms, and they crossed huge halls during their passage, but they did not see many elves around. The ones Tristan did see would walk so calmly and quietly, making the stillness in the air a bit more terrifying. He felt like he was entering a grand temple.

    Serene noticed Tristan''s confused gaze and exined.

    "There were only about two hundred known high elves out here, hence most of those here have lived a thousand years"

    The group then began to climb a series of stairs until they exited the pce onto the peak of the mountain. There were still a few more stairs until they reached a separate building that appeared to be guarded. However Theon brought the group to the area on the side of the building.

    Tristan could see multiple grey stones standing as high as 4 meters arranged in a circle formation just like those stones in Britain.

    In the center of all the stones there were huge round tables made of simr stones and dozens of figures, all of them are elves. With only one human, the old wizard Tobias.

    As soon as they saw the Queen of Vanyar, the elves gave a little nod. Certainly different treatment than what was given toward Elroth, the current ruler of Forlorn.

    As for Tristan, none of them knew him hence Tobias quickly introduced him

    "This is Tristan, the new king of Arcadia"

    The elves appeared to have received the news about Tristan''s coronation, but still their faces revealed traces of awkward expressions. It was understandable, after all, Can was a very popr and famous king who had ruled Arcadia for quite a few years, and his kind disposition towards others brought him favors. Now that Tristan, someone unknown in their eyes, had deposed their beloved king, everything was back to awkward.

    There were a dozen elves standing while two were sitting. from a nce to their face Tristan realized they are all wood elves. Hence the two who were seated must be the ruler of two other wood elves races.

    Queen Serene introduced him to the two of them. The one in grey tunic was a strong looking warrior from the Ithelien kingdom named Tolith and the thin, tall elf wearing the green tunic adorned with embroidery of stars and trees was the Mirkwood ruler, an elder named Hdar.

    All the elves standing are all saint level while the two of them

    [Male, wood Elf]

    [Magus, crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 210]

    [Spirit Force: 1,100]

    [Element Affinity - earth, water, nt]

    [Male, wood Elf]

    [Magus, crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 160]

    [Spirit Force: 1,530]

    [Element Affinity - earth, water, nt]

    The Ithilien rulers were just standard magus elves while the elder had the same strength as Master Laril.

    As Elves have a very long lifespan, Tristan can only guess how old the Mirkwood elders were. It was most likely a few thousand at least.

    While at it Tristan decided to take this chance to see Tobias'' stats

    [Male, Human]

    [Magus, halfmoon]

    [Battle Power: 205]

    [Spirit Force: 2,810]

    [Element Affinity - Light, Thunder]

    Tristan had expected the Arcadian Grand Wizard to be powerful, and the numbers indeed did not disappoint. Rather, he gained a newfound respect towards the old wizard. Perhaps he should treat the old man with more respect

    Now that all the wood elves ruler has gathered, Queen Vanyar turn bored

    "Where is the host?! And where the hell are the dark elves!" The queen shouted, making her impatience known.

    The young elf, Theon, approached the table without any trace of fear in his gaze, before he looked at the queen and said "they will be here shortly, thank you for your patience"

    If there was an underlying meaning to those words, Tristan could not find any.

    As if on cue, a loud shout from Leena broke his thoughts.

    "Ah, finally, here they are!" Leena shouted while staring intently at the skies at the northern side of the pce.

    Tristan turn his head and see toward the area and see 5 creatures flying toward them

    It was a huge creature that looked like a dragon but with grey skin and long heads. It appears Tristan knows the creature from his memory. It''s the fell beast, a grey flying wyvern. A beast that is just one level under the mighty dragon.

    The five beasts approached and hovered close to the meeting ce before one by one, they flew down to the meeting ce.

    Four male and one female elf jumped down from the mount. They all had dark greyish skin and white hair. The first three all looked simr, thin-looking male dark elves, but Tristan could see that their thin body believed their true strength. The fourth man, unlike the others, possessed arge build. He has a massive mask covering his entire face and he stood behind the female elf without saying anything the whole time. If it wasn''t for his ears, Tristan would have thought the elf as an enved troll.

    Last but not least, the elf that stole everyone''s attention from the start, the female dark elf..

    She was a dark-skinned elf with beautiful, long and luscious silver hair. The moment Tristan entered her field of vision, she quickly took a sharp nce towards him.

    The silver-haired woman was a famous dark elf named princess ILana, while the one behind her was her guardian and the three others were the famous dark elves triplets. The dark elves only sent five representatives, but thanks to his device, Tristan could easily see that all of them are at least magus level in terms ofbat power.

    [Male, Dark Elf]

    [Magus, crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 202]

    [Spirit Force: 1,545]

    [Element Affinity - Darkness, Metal, Fire]

    All three elves who were triplets have very simr stats and abilities as the dark elf princess.

    As for the other two they are at the maximum limit of the crescent moon magus stage.

    [Magus, crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 189]

    [Spirit Force: 2,000]

    [Element Affinity - darkness, Metal, Fire]

    From his muscr body, Tristan had expected the dark elf to be strong physically, but he still decided to check his stats just in case. The moment he read the result, he was slightly surprised.

    [Male, Dark Elves]

    [Magus, crescent moon]

    [Battle Power: 265]

    [Spirit Force: 2,000]

    [Element Affinity - Metal]

    The huge elf, just like all the elves here, still shared the same powerful spirit force, but what concerned Tristan more was thest line from the report.. ording to the scan, the huge elf had only one elemental affinity,''making him a rarity amongst the elves.

 Chapter 320 - Convinced

    With the arrival of the dark elves, the situation quickly turned considerably more tense. The eyes of everyone present were glued to the dark elves, some filled with scrutiny and some filled with wariness.

    After all, prior to this meeting, the dark elves had been separating themselves. The wood elves and the dark elves almost never see eye to eye, so the reactions of the other elves present were expected.

    Of course, this was especially the case with Arcadia, who had been at war against the dark elves for hundreds of years. Tristan could feel that although the atmosphere of the room in general was not good, it was noticeably worse at his side.

    Behind him, the oldmander Sterling unconsciously put his hand on his weapon hilt, his posture on guard and ready for battle.

    "Stand down, Sterling," Tristanmanded in a low voice.

    Hearing Tristan''smand, the old Arcadian Knightmander was a bit reluctant, but he still tried to hold himself down. Tristan knew about the history of their constant war. While it might be true that he could rte to how they feel in the current situation, he would never approve of such behavior from the old temperamentalmander.

    As if not noticing the stares, two of the dark elves sat at the table. Among the two, one of them was Rogar, one of the dark elf triplets, and the other one was the silver-haired female elf, Iliana.

    Prior to the separation, the dark elves had two kingdoms, namely Mithrim and Doriath. However, after the separation, the two kingdoms interconnected into one big kingdom.

    Simr to the wood elves previously, the two dark elves simultaneously looked at the mysterious new face of the new king of Arcadia, their eyes containing curiosity as well as a hint of caution.

    It seemed that Tristan did not need to exin themselves as the dark elves were quite updated with the condition of Arcadia.

    Rogar examined him for a while longer before turning his gaze toward Elroth. Not bothering to hide his scorn, the dark elf mocked, "I was actually rooting for Prince Janus¡­ How unfortunate, for your brother to be met with such an unfortunate event¡­ Not to mention, this elf has been busy conquering the south to be the King of Arcadia... Hahaha, I didn''t realize Arcadia was so weak to be taken over like that!"

    As the dark elf spoke, his eyes slowly drifted from Elroth back to Tristan. And as Rogar neared the end of his words, his eyes met Tristan''s, both insincerelysmiling.

    Elroth had no words to retort to Rogar''s remark. After all, as unpleasant as it may be, it was part of his family''s shame. Tristan, however, was interested in joining the conversation.

    Looking back at Rogar with a vague smile, Tristan spoke,

    "Indeed, Arcadia was not as challenging as I initially thought¡­ But I heard that the dark elves have been unsessful in conquering Arcadia for hundreds of years¡­ So what does that make them?"

    The dark elf''s mocking smile turned into an annoyed frown. He red at Tristan, but he did not act further, trying to keep hisposure. And to the two''s surprise, the silver-haired woman next to Rogar chuckled hearing Tristan''s remarks.

    Not understanding the woman''s sudden action, Tristan asked, "My apologies, but what''s so amusing?"

    In response to Tristan''s question, the woman only showed a little smile. Her eyes, however, gazed at him sharply.

    "Nothing, really. I simply find banter exchanges between men to be funny, nothing more."

    Before any of them could say any more regarding the conversation topic, three figures arrived at the entrance.

    Three high elves, two males and one female.

    All three high elves showed a certain qualitymanding respect from both dark elves and wood elves.

    Not wanting to stay curious for long, Tristan quickly scanned the three.

    Also known as the enchanted one, the man with a shiny crown on his head was Castian, the ruler of the Eldamar, the kingdom of the high elves.

    [Male, High Elf]

    [Magus - Half-moon]

    [Battle Power: 328]

    [Spirit Force: 3,280]

    [Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

    The ruler of the high elves had the highest stat he had ever seen. This was extremely encouraging news for the.

    The other two were surprisingly also very strong.

    [Male, High Elf]

    [Magus - Half-moon]

    [Battle Power: 275]

    [Spirit Force: 2,110]

    [Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

    [Female, High Elf]

    [Magus - Half-moon]

    [Battle Power: 255]

    [Spirit Force: 2,380]

    [Element Affinity - Lightning, wind, and ice]

    All three of the high elf elders were half-moon magi. This was certainly good news, and at the same time, this information made Tristan wonder, how many more magi does this high elf kingdom keep within their ice pce?

    Either way, all seven seats were filled atst. Leena of the Vanyar, Hdar of the Mirkwood, Tolith of the Ithilien, Elroth of the Forlorn, Ragar of the Doriath, Illiana of the Mithrim, and Castian of the Eldamar. As for Tristan, he received the eighth seat as the ruler of Arcadia.

    The head seat belonged to the high elf lord Castian, the enchanted one. When he started to speak, it was as if his words echoed, engraving themselves in their minds.

    "We havee because we believe a new threat is upon us. Wizard Tobias, you may exin."

    As expected, the main topic of this meeting was indeed the recent attack of the space knights. The old wizard tried his best to exin the attack, but it appeared that the elf found it hard to follow.

    At this rate, those space knights would have arrived before they could convey anything!

    Impatient, Tristan quickly interrupted the endless exnation, throwing a sphere-like device to the middle of the stone table.

    The elves at the table were about to question his interruption when their attention was pulled to the device.

    As soon as the device stopped sliding, light began to project from its top, showing pictures of the space knights'' attacks.

    These were the recordings he found from the crashed ship''s database when they began shooting at the capital city of Arcadia.

    Some of them were taken aback by the destruction power the flying ship had. Seeing their surprise, Tobias added on by mentioning the death of one of their wizards, but Tristan could see that the high elves and the dark elves did not feel threatened by the destruction disyed by the device.

    They were only amused.

    The device also had a few recordings detailing the functions of the space knights'' suits as well as a few of their advanced weapons. This time, the dark elves began to whisper among each other. But other than the dark elf Iliana''s unusual gaze, it was clear that the high elves were still not convinced.

    After the device finished showing them the data, Tristan exined the number of enemy units that was expected in days or weeks.

    Tristan''s exnation shocked them even more. Some whispered without restraint and some seemed dazed. Their reactions were only natural. After all, the idea of multiple such powerful ships attacking them altogether was terrifying. And yet, despite that, the high elves still had an unfathomable expression on their faces.

    This bothered Tristan.

    "Is that all the information you prepared?" Castian, the lord of the high elves, asked, his expression indifferent.

    Tristan was annoyed by theck of concern, but he maintained his neutral expression and answered, "Yes."

    "So what do you propose we do, new ruler of Arcadia?"

    "What else should we do? I believe we all need to unite when the threates. It is very likely for them toe to attack Arcadia first as we have their men, so I am asking for us all toe and defend Arcadia together," Tristan exined.

    The high elf looked upon the other rulers and asked their opinion regarding the matter. The two wood elf elders expressed their agreement on the request, but the dark elves denied it as soon as their turn to speak came.

    "There''s no way we''reing to your Arcadia Pce! If what you said is really the truth, then we will protect our own people, not those human cities!" Rogar expressed.

    It was never a secret how the dark elves never liked humans. The main reason for the sh between the elves themselves was that the wood elves wished to help the humans and created the Arcadia Kingdom.

    Tristan already knew that it would not be easy to convince them when he first thought of having them all gather, but he was hoping that they would put aside their differences during such a serious time.

    And now, it could not be any more clear. They absolutely had no intention of doing that.

    Finally, Tristan turned to look at his main hope, the high elves. But to his disappointment, Castian, the ruler of the high elves, casually said his decision.

    "We will help, but no, we will note to Arcadia."

 Chapter 321 - The Mist

    "Why?! Tell me, why?!" Tristan gritted his teeth and shouted, barely able to control himself. To him, the dismissive way they said their answer was more infuriating than the actual answer itself.

    Castian the high elf ruler went silent for a moment before finally answering. "We believe they are a threat yes, but i believe you overestimating the enemy"

    The high elf king added.

    "These space knights, no matter how powerful they seem, are only human after all. Humans are lesser beingspared to us, both in strength and in mind." The elf exined calmly.

    Tristan was taken aback as he realized that in the past few months, he was only acquaintanced with the wood elves. Elves tend to stay in their own territory, and now that he had to deal with these two other elven races, he realized the books were not exaggerating about their personality. The high elves were much too proud about their ability, while the dark elves hated and distrusted humans and elves alike. It would be difficult for him to convince them.

    Hearing such words from the elves, the old knight Sterling raised his voice yet again. "Hah! How dare you say humans are a lesser being, you swine-"

    The high elf ruler frowned upon hearing the insult, but before he could say anything, a scream full of agony came from the direction of the old knight. Right afterwards, his upper body fell to the ground, as Tristan swung a crimson de made of blood as if to clean it.

    "URRGGHH!"

    The old knight fell t to the floor. With his lower body gone and the agonizing pain torturing him, he could only look towards Tristan in a mix of shock and fear, wordlessly begging him for mercy.

    Tristan merely looked down at him with disgust. "I told you to behave."

    He then turned around, looked toward the elf leader and said "I apologize for his bad manners."

    A few of the elves in the pce raised an eyebrow at what just happened. Even though Sterling was a human, the knight was not a ''nobody'', for he is one of Arcadia Kingdom''s oldest knights. It was enough for everyone to stare at him in shock.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Tristan could see Tobias'' expression darken, as he tried to suppress the rage bubbling in his mind. However, Tristan was unfazed, and he merely looked at the equally unfazed high elf ruler. "I hope you would forgive me."

    Castain, the enchanted one, nced at the knight''s corpse for a moment before he answered. "Yes, you are forgiven¡­ King of Arcadia, you are a fair person, but there was no need to kill him."

    "I disagree, he needs to learn his lesson." Tristan said, before he once again nced at the pale-looking old knight barely clinging to life. He waved his hand and cast his [Blood Synthesis]. Gradually, in front of everyone''s eyes, the puddle of blood around the old knight coalesced and gradually turned into the knight''s lower part.

    After the process waspleted, Tristan told Rayna to take the old knight away from the meeting.

    What Tristan just did made a few people raise their eyebrows.

    It appears he has sessfully made an impression, especially to the arrogant high elf by giving them face.

    The high ranking elves gathered in this ce have never known him before, but now they will never forget about the new ruler of the Arcadia Kingdom, especially the blood magic skill he had just shown.

    Taking advantage of the ensuing awkward silence, Queen Leena of the Vanyar quickly chimed in.

    "The leaves are falling, the seas are raging, and the forests are drowning. Blood will rise and the Monarch will lead us through the mist."

    It was the elven prophecy that has been sung for more than 4000 years. No elves gathered in this ce have not heard of it.

    With all attention now on her, the queen of Vanyar chuckled and said. "I believe that this man is the prophesied Monarch. After all, he is a blood elf, and for that, we the Vanyar, the Forlorn, and even Can himself gave his kingdom of Arcadia to him."

    This time, the gathered elves'' expression changed, much more serious than when they heard about the space knights.

    The atmosphere was overall tense, but the dark elves had a certain darkness in their midst, as if they heard something even worse. Meanwhile, the silver-haired elven woman leading them still smiled at him, but Tristan could sense malice from her gaze, and her smile was too wide and unsettling, as if she wanted to eat him alive on the spot.

    The elven woman was about to open her mouth to speak, when the high elf spoke before she could. He gazed towards Tristan with a serious expression and said.

    "We have heard about this matter before. In fact, this is the reason why we refused to gather in Arcadia. There is a more important matter to tell you all."

    The way Castian spoke was very unusual, hence all the elves suddenly turned more tense.

    "We believe as the prophecy have said, the time hase for the Mist to open up to us."

    The mention of the Mist once again made the elves turn to look at him in surprise.

    Tristan has heard about the Mist before. It''s a mysterious ce that is connected with the history of the elves on this, where something rted to the punishment resided. All that is known so far was the Mist was connected to why the elves were cut away from the elven collective.

    The high elves built their pce in the eastern mountain, as since the event 4000 years ago, they have been obsessed about the Mist. From the ce they were currently standing, they could easily see the Mist. It takes the form of dark grey smoke that rises high, even taller than the mountain like a wall of cloud piercing the sky, and every attempt to see what was beyond it from above the skies were met with faiure.

    Hearing the mention of the mist, it was Elroth of Forlorn who decided to speak first.

    "Why are you all still obsessed with the past! We should focus on the future! A real threat that wille any time! You dismiss the real threat, while you chase fantasies from beyond the mist!" Elroth shouted and gripped his hand, resisting the urge to break the table.

    Tolith of the Ithellen Kingdom nodded at the remark and added. "How many more people will be sent to their deaths for your pointless curiosity, to never return from deep within the mist?! We have lost too many, remember that."

    Tristan remembered what Serene had told him about what happened in thest expedition to the mist. At that time, they were relentless in their pursuit of knowledge rting to the mist, so they sent a team consisting of the strongest elves. One was the Vanyar''s previous king and Serene''s own father. One was Arcadia''s previous king, andst but not least, the former king of Forlorn. A few people from this gathering undoubtedly knew the names of those who joined the expedition more than 50 years ago.

    Ragon the dark elf chuckled and nced at the high elf with scorn mixed with glee. "Fortunately, our great king were not stupid enough to join such an expedition. At that time, you had failed. Why do you think this attempt will be different now, considering no one ever seeded to return from it"

    Despite the teasing, the high elf ruler was still calm, He merely nced at Ragon as if he was looking at a disgusting insect and said "The signs are all there, the mist has been diminishing in thest 100 years, and now you all have seen the blood monarch is already here with us"

    The high elf turned his head to look at Tristan and said, "Actually we were convinced by the words of the former Arcadian King, Can"

    Finally the name of Can was mentioned, Tristan has been wondering where that bastard is, he has been missing and was said to be among the high elves, but for now, he has no way to really get any definite information. Tristan decided to keep it in mind forter on.

    Castian decided to exin that Can has beening a few times to the high elves'' council to give proof about the connection between the thinning of the Mist and the increaseding of Ounders. The former king believes that the connection proves the time of the prophecy is near.

    "Can had went into the mist to gather proof for his theory, and recently, we received proof that he is right. Simply said, the gate connecting the worlds has finally opened."

    ---------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 322 - Invitation

    The Mist had been the most mysterious ce on the. It had been there for thest four thousand years, and now, it was said that the Mist was going to be unveiled and the gate was going to be opened.

    The news this time made all the elves turn quiet in thought. It appeared that Tristan was the only one who did not understand what the opening of the gate meant to the elves. In contrast, Serene, who was standing right behind him, visibly turned sentimental.

    Breaking the silence, Castian stood up and began speaking.

    "Lord Tristan, if the threat is really as dangerous as you said, then the Mist is our salvation. Because of that, we cannot agree to your n. Instead of waiting silently in your pce in hiding, I ask you¡­ all of you, join me to enter the Mist!"

    After stating his purpose, Castian exined how he was nning to enter in a week''s time. He invited all the elves present and even the Arcadian elites to join him. However, knowing that many individuals had yet to return from that ce despite how powerful they were, the high elf only permitted those who were at least at saint level to join.

    And with those words, he ended the day''s gathering, leaving the three groups in the room to discuss the matter among themselves.

    Castian''s statement brought positive responses from the present elves, especially the elf leaders. After all, the high elves rarely take part in activities such as expeditions. Not to mention, the ruler of the high elves himself was going to lead the expedition, filling them with hope and confidence.

    However, unlike them, Tristan was certainly not a believer. So unlike these elves, he could not find any speck of benefit in entering the Mist. There was also no guarantee that what they would find would be useful for their predicament, or if they would even find anything. On the contrary, they might even suffer losses from whatever was in the Mist and lose some of their fighting power as a result. And that was not all.

    In the worst-case scenario, the space knights mighte while their most powerful fighters were in the Mist. If that were to happen, their kingdoms would helplessly be burned in mes. Their doom would be inevitable.

    Leena, the Queen of Vanyar, however, had a different opinion. She believed that there was no way that the threat of the space knights and the opening of the Misting at the same time was just a coincidence. For the queen, this timing only proved that the prophecy wasing true, and she voiced her belief.

    To resolve this difference in thinking, Tristan turned to the wood elves.

    "How about you? What do you think is best for us to do? Should we focus on preparing our defense against the uing threat or should we go to the Mist to look for a solution?"

    Hdar, the Mirkwood ruler, voiced his opinion first.

    "I believe it would be best for us to enter the Mist. As the Queen of Vanyar said, it is impossible for the timing to be a mere coincidence. The prophecy ising true, and we have to act."

    Tristan nodded in understanding before turning to the two younger rulers.

    Elroth was silent for a brief moment before saying, "I believe it would be better for us to y it safe. We should focus on our defense. If an ident urs in the process of the expedition, it would be very bad for all of us."

    "I think so as well."

    When Elroth finished speaking, Tolith of the Ithilien voiced his agreement with a nod.

    It was a two by two vote.

    Although Tristan thought it would be better for them to focus on their defense as well, there was actually one point that really made Tristan consider entering the Mist.

    It was the belief that the Mist was a way to meet the elf ancestor. If that was true, wouldn''t it mean that he would be able tomunicate with the elf that had been at war with mankind itself?

    The only reason Tristan dared to go against such a strong empire was the fact that the human empire was at war. This meant that they currently had an enemy, and if Tristan could not reason with this human empire, then the best course of action for them would be to ally with those who had themon enemy; the elves.

    Unable toe up with a solution, Tristan, who was previously in deep thought, asked one of the other magus in his party, Master Laril.

    "What about you, Master? What do you think?"

    She was slightly taken aback when Tristan asked her opinion on the matter, but she still voiced her thoughts.

    "I believe there is no need for you to rush into your decision. Like I''ve always taught you in cksmithing, you need to be patient. Know all your bases before making your decision."

    Although it was just a simple piece of advice, her words temporarily lifted the burden on his mind.

    "Thank you, Master."

    Tristan took a deep breath and decided to get the most out of the current situation.

    He first talked to the high elves and received confirmation that they would lend at least two dozen of their flyers to help the Arcadian defense, which wouldter be led by Theon, one of the younger high elves. That was the most help he would receive from the high elves.

    The decision was certainly well-received knowing that all of them were saint-level fighters, but Tristan could not help but be annoyed since there was not even one magus-level fighter among those the high elves sent.

    Next, the harder part was to convince the long-time enemy of Arcadia, the dark elves, to join up in defense together.

    But as soon as he thought about approaching the dark elves, he realized that the dark elves had been waiting for him. All five of the magus-level dark elves were standing in front of their wyverns.

    Rogar stepped forward as soon as Tristan approached them, but before the dark elf could take another step, Iliana, the elf next to him stopped him with a small gesture of her hand.

    From what he just saw, it seemed that this silver-hair dark elf was higher in position than all the others, and Tristan quickly understood the reason shortly after.

    With a smile, the girl looked him in the eyes.

    "You didn''t hesitate to hurt yourrade¡­ the high elves love to be given face like that."

    Tristan was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward this dark elf in front of him was.

    "Not just the high elves, I was defending all elves. What about you, are you impressed?" Tristan casually spoke with a smile.

    With her smile deepened, the dark elf replied, "Yes, though not for the same reason. I like how you can still be ruthless despite them being your closerades."

    Tristan chuckled at her response.

    "I''m d I made a good impression. So, are the dark elves willing to work together with Arcadia?"

    "Oh?" Iliana was slightly intrigued by his direct approach. "Tell us, why should we help you, our long-time enemy?"

    "First of all, I am not Can. Second, we live on the same, so shouldn''t it be natural for us to defend our home together?"

    The dark elfughed hearing his reason.

    "With that same logic, why don''t you convince the Asgardians then? Their Aesir are very powerful."

    Tristan casually replied "I thought about it, but no."

    "Why?"

    "Because they are human. Since they are the same, I don''t think the space knights would think of them as a threat. But it won''t be the same for us elves."

    Tristan''s answer had two meanings; one was to answer her question by understanding their hate for humans, which was why they needed to work together.

    Iliana''s smile returned to her face. She liked what she heard.

    "I think it will be interesting for us to work together. Unfortunately, for things like this, you need to personally talk to my father, the king. If there''s anyone you need to impress to work together with us, it''s him. I''m sure he would love to see the legendary blood elf in person."

    "That seems to be a good n. When should I meet him?"

    Instead of immediately answering, the woman only gave a teasing smile and hopped onto her wyvern.

    "As soon as possible, I believe."

    Tristan found it pleasantly interesting that the two were able to speak in the same frequency. Without much thought, Tristan followed suit and also jumped onto her wyvern, sitting behind her.

    "Right now it is."

    Tristan''s action quickly surprised hispanions, especially Serene. But before any of them could say anything, Tristan shouted to them.

    "I am going to visit the dark elves'' kingdom, wait for my news in the capital!"

    Right after he said those words, the dark elves'' five wyverns flew from the high elves'' mountain, returning to their dark territory at the north.

 Chapter 323 - The Dark Territory

    It was actually Tristan''s first time riding a flying animal. Even so, this was certainly not the case for Virtaz, the blood elf in his memory. Because of that, for him, this new experience in flying felt quite unusual.

    This time, however, Tristan was riding together with the silver-haired dark elf Iliana.

    With his arm wrapped around the dark elf''s waist, Tristan could feel the firmness of her body covered by the smooth ck leather.

    With the wind blowing past them as they flew in speed, Tristan could also smell the faint fragrance of her hair.

    It would be a lie to say that the fragrance was not intoxicating him, however, he was not the type to easily lose himself.

    "Enjoying yourself there?" Ina asked while ncing back, purposefully making her voice slightly louder so it could still be heard despite the blowing wind.

    "Yes. Great view and greatpany, what is there not to like?" Tristan answered with a smile.

    "Hahaha!" Ilianaughed out loud, amused by his response. "You really are not from this world, are you?"

    "Why, what have you heard about me?" Tristan curiously answered with another question. Although he was neither denying nor confirming directly, what he implied was clear.

    "No, it''s just that, it seems you haven''t heard about me before, which means..." she ipletely answered, letting Tristan fill in the nks on his own.

    "Is it anything I should be concerned about?" Although Tristan understood where she was going with this, he did not understand where she wasing from.

    "Nothing much, just that no man dared to touch me before," Iliana simply exined.

    "Well, I''m not just an ordinary man," Tristan responded half-jokingly, the smile on his face slightly deepening.

    "That''s what they all say," the dark elf casually shrugged off. Although Tristan was sitting behind her, he could still see that the woman also had a smile on her face.

    Her answer intrigued him. After all, this woman was an individual who was as powerful as the Queen of Vanyar herself. Those who had the ability to match her could be counted with two hands.

    Although the two had some cultural differences, Tristan could see that this woman was teasing him. Her constant gaze in the elf gathering, her invitation to join the wyvern ride with her, and the fragrance of her hair could make Tristan believe the female elf was flirting with him.

    Considering the condition of the Arcadians and the wood elves who had been at war with the dark elves for so long, being close to this woman would be beneficial to everyone. Tristan was almostpletely sure that his wife would not mind him getting a little close with this dark elf beauty¡­ for the good of the kingdom, of course.

    The flight speed of these wyverns could be considered quite fast. It was estimated that they would arrive at the dark territory within a few hours, so the two had some time to get to know each other better.

    "So tell me, Tristan¡­ what would the Vanyar princess think about us flying together?" the dark elf casually asked.

    "And here I thought you were going to say you haven''t heard about me," Tristan teased.

    Iliana chuckled in response. "Of course I have heard about you. How could I not when you made the news thesest few months so much more interesting? If I still hadn''t heard about you despite how much you were talked about, I would have to change my informationwork."

    How much this dark elf was full of lies and deceit suddenly made Tristan feel concerned. He could not rule out the possibility that the whole invitation to the dark territory was a trap.

    Even so, after he gave it another thought, there should be only benefit ining to this ce. If the dark elf agreed to cooperate with them, he would receive a strong ally for the iing threat. If they did not agree, then it would lead to a bloodbath, which would also be beneficial for him, especially considering how high the quality of elf blood was.

    After flying past a long marsh, Tristan could finally see the ck mountains of the dark territory in front of him.

    These mountains looked a lot different from ordinary mountains. Unlike ordinary mountains, these mountains looked rough and rugged. It was filled with stones and ck sand, and clouds of smoke could be seen rising from some of the peaks, constantly covering the entire area from the sun. This was probably why this ce was called the dark territory.

    Not long after, Tristan could finally see the ck gate.

    The ck gate was arge 30-meter-tall gate that covered the entrance of the dark territory which was surrounded by the ck mountains.

    From above, Tirstan could also see hundreds of camps, and around and inside those camps were grey creatures.

    Those grey creatures were Uruks, and there seemed to be thousands of them in those camps. From what he could see, they seemed to be upied working in and out of the dozens of mines around.

    Further inside, Tristan could start to see dozens of Trolls. There were also humans in the crowd, but most of them were in chains.

    All in all, there were about ten thousand of them, but none of them seemed weak. They were all strong fighters.

    While he was observing their surroundings, the wyvern flew deeper until they could finally see the huge constructs made of steel. There were dozens of them in the outer area, but the biggest of them all was the one attached to the mountains.

    As theynded, Tristan could see the construct spanning around the whole mountains. And there, the dark elves residing in the dark territory were finally in sight. These were their dwellings.

    "Wee to our dark fortress!" Rogan, who flew further away than the spot theynded, shouted. Soon after, he alsonded on one of the balconies.

    After them, the other wyverns followed suit,nding on the avable balconies one by one.

    As the other wyvernsnded, Iliana and Tristan jumped down from their wyvern and the two began walking toward the fortress. Behind them, the three dark elves who were also with them as well as Crom, the huge one with a steel mask followed.

    When they entered the dark fortress, a dozen elven guards in identical armor and elven servant girls came to wee them. Among them, there was also an elder of the dark elves. Seeing these elves weing them, Iliana stepped forward and directly asked.

    "Where is my father?"

    "The king is still in his training chamber," one of the elven servant girls politely answered, bowing in respect.

    Hearing the servant girl''s answer, Iliana nodded before turning to Rogar and the other dark elves.

    "I am going to report to the king. I will tell you his decision after."

    After she finished, she turned to Tristan.

    "You¡­ Lord Tristan, you shall follow me."

    As she said those words, she immediately turned back forward and began walking. Rogar and the other elves present bowed in respect, leaving Tristan together with the woman.

    Ina took Tristan to enter the castle. As the two walked further into the castle, Tristan noticed that the walls that were previously made out of metals had now turned into stone. It seemed that they were now inside those mountains he previously saw.

    As they walked even further, the temperature gradually rose until Tristan could see arge opening which seemed to be mountainva.

    Following the silent Iliana, Tristan walked to the biggestva pool in the area. As the two walked closer, Tristan realized that a figure had been submerged inside theva.

    The unknown figure simplyid inside theva pool as if this area of burningva was his own personal bathhouse.

    After waiting for a few minutes, the figure finally walked out of theva pool. How casually the figure walked out made it seem as if he was just walking out of a pool of ordinary warm water.

    After the figure was fully out of theva pool, Tristan could finally see him clearly. As the dark elf with arge build res at him, Tristan could feel his superior power.

    [Male, Dark Elf]

    [Magus - Half-moon]

    [Battle Power: 382]

    [Spirit Force: 3,050]

    [Element Affinity - Fire, metal, and lightning]

    From what Tristan could tell, this figure in front of him had the same strength as the lord of the high elves, Castian, who was considered the most powerful in the entire.

    After ring at the unknown person next to his daughter, therge dark elf looked at his daughter with curiosity.

    "Who is this, elf?" the dark elf king asked.

    "Father, this is Tristan, the new king of Arcadia and the one said to be the blood elf," Iliana briefly introduced.

    Although Iliana''s introduction could not be said to be in-depth, it was concise, with just the information the king wanted to know. Hearing the introduction, the king became visibly ted.

    "Wee to my kingdom."

 Chapter 324 - The Dark Elf King

    The king stood up from theva naked, and as if on cue, a few beautiful dark elf servants came to help him dress-up.

    Just like the king, all the elf women were half naked with just a very thin fabric covering their private parts. Each brought some soft fabrics,fortable balms, and a bucket to help massage the king''s athletic muscles.

    As the king was currently upied, Tristan walked towards one of theva pools and put his hand into one of them.

    Within a few seconds, the sound of sizzling along with the smell of burned meat could be heart. Tristan lifted his hand up, finding that his skin had melted into a puddle of sticky goo and his flesh beneath ckened. He can feel the me into his bones.

    He kept watching as the sizzling stopped, and his flesh and skin knitted itself up until it were intact again.

    Seeing such a phenomenon, the king raised his eyebrows and asked. "Is that one of the blood elf''s ability?"

    Tristan nodded, unsure what to say due to not knowing much himself. But, Illiana took it as her initiative to exin. "The blood elf has an undying body. In other terms, they are simr to us in that they are immortal, but they have no need to reach stage 5 Katra."

    Illiana''s exnation made the king look at Tristan with an interested nce. Not many elves could manage to reach stage 5 Katra, so the immortal body was something that was coveted by many.

    As for Tirstan, he once againsuprised taht Illiana knows about his undying body. This girl has certainly been hiding many things from him.

    "That is impressive indeed" said the dark elf king.

    Tristan casually approached the king, looked at the brimstones and pools filled withva, and said.

    "Not as impressive of being able to bath in them"

    The king was currently still sitting being massaged by his servants, but then he let out a heartyugh, causing the abs on his stomach to move slightly.

    "Bath? Hahaha. You have a weird imagination, king of Arcadia, no. I was training my physique"

    "Is it a spell?" Tristan curiously asks. Theva did manage to destroy the outeryer of his strong monarch body while his was seems to be fine. The king must have a very strong body.

    The king was silent for a moment and decided to exin

    For him spells are not enough, there are times where spells to strengthen one''s body could not be depended on. Hence he needs to put effort into actually tempering his body.

    "I used to depend on my [golden body] spells but after dozens of years tempering my physique, now I don''t need them anymore to enter theva pool"

    Tristan finds it interesting, and it gives him a new insight. It was actually possible to temper the body like a tempering a weapon.

    He himself has the regeneration skills that could protect him from any kind of wounds without them incapacitating him too much, but if he could temper his body wouldn''t it mean he would be even harder to kill?

    The elf women finally finished their treatment on the king, and the king stood up, leading Tristan to another room.

    It was a chamber created with steel walls, with many spear-like pirs filling in on its walls. A throne made of dark steel, surrounded by raging fire right behind it, stood at the center of the room, drawing attention to anyone who walked in there.

    The king sat on the throne, took a rxed posture, and looked at Tristan before asking

    "So, why are you here, king of Arcadia?" The dark elf king said.

    Before Tristan was able to exin, Ileana was first to speak, she told the king that they met at the high elf summit. She first exins to the king about the Mist condition and the invitation for the elves to enter the mist.

    The king was a little surprised but he doesn''t seem too much excited

    She then exins about the threat with the space knight but Tristan gives her a look and she suddenly stops. she bowed to Tristan and said, "I apologize. Please exin."

    Tristan talked to the king about the recent attack and the threat of space knights that wille at any moment. Knowing that most elves look down on humans, he decided to ensure that the king knows all there is about their advanced, powerful weapons and spaceship, before requesting for peace and a joint operation in Arcadia to prepare.

    Despite all he said about the dangers of the human invaders, the king''s expression stayed indifferent, and thus, he has no idea what the king was thinking.

    As he finished speaking, to his surprise, the king looked at the elf woman and asked. "What do you think, daughter? Are they really as big of a threat as he said¡­?"

    The elf woman nced at Tristan for a moment, nodded with a serious face, and said. "I believe it does. After thousands of years, the barrier that has been stopping any lifeform from entering our has finally opened."

    After listening to her answer, Tristan was once again surprised. This elf woman, Illiana, was in the forefront regarding how grave the situation is, and as for the barrier, this was something thought only as conjecture without proof by Professor Emmet.

    As he heard the answer, the king nodded and calmly asked. "What should we do, then? Should we follow his n?"

    Illiana took a few seconds to ponder the question before she nodded and exined. "Considering the strength and number of enemies expected toe, there is 72% chance that his n will seed if we fight together."

    To be honest, Tristan has no idea where she managed to get the numbers, and that percentage might as well be pulled out of thin air. But 72 percent is still a high enough number

    However, the elf woman was not finished. She added.

    "28% chance of loss would not be eptable; hence, I believe we should not follow his n"

    "¡­ What the fuck."

    As she finished his words, Tristan cursed in his mind. He had thought Illiana already agreed to help him convince the king, and the worst part is, the king was listening to his daughter''s analysis intently.

    She continued exining, and as she stopped speaking, she nced as Tristan, like she was wordlessly trying to dare him to disagree with her.

    The exnation goes on, and she added that with the incident of Arcadia destroying the space knight ship, there are 99% chance the enemy will decide to make a preemptive strike to Arcadia first, hence if the dark elf decide to join the battle afterward would highly decrease the chance of loss in manpower for the dark elves.

    The king was still calm and asked

    "What are the chances Arcadia could hold on the attack and survive?"

    Illiana looked to the side for a second before finally answering. "45% if Can returns and helps, but only 10% with this blood elf as the king."

    This time, there was no going around it, the woman was insulting him. Perhaps, the old him would have already shouted at the woman, but he held his tongue and asked calmly.

    "Hah, 10%? Then tell me, what made you think Can has better leadership than me?

    With a wicked smile adorning her lips, Illiana answered calmly.

    She exins that Arcadia has more than 1000 men dependable for the uing fight. From the mages, the king''s des and some.of the top knights

    And she was sure Tristan will not be able to fully mobilize them as effectively as Can.

    Not willing to ept suchment, Tristan gave a simple fact

    "Don''t you know I managed to destroy the ship on my own?"

    The woman replied rather quickly

    "Such a result cannot be reproduced easily. First of all, it was not nned, and so many things could go wrong. they might have shot down your ship before you could enter therge ship"

    She added

    "If it wasn''t for their interest in the blood elf¡­ which you didn''t know at that time, you wouldn''t be able to gain entry to their ship easily. So it was urate to say that what you did could be boiled down to a factor of luck."

    Tristan was rendered speechless. It was as if there was nothing she couldn''t know. At the moment he could be sure that one of his closestpanion or high ranking arcadia is a spy for this female elf

    She added. "While I will admit that you are a great warrior, you are an awfully bad leader."

    While she spoke, she added a victorious smirk. She knew that Tristan would not take such a diagnosis lying down, and she nned to make use of it. But, the next thing she said surprised Tristan even more.

    "You know, I could prove it for you. Fight me, and you will understand what I am talking about.." She pointed at Tristan, confidence oozing in her every move.

 Chapter 325 - Bet On War

    The female dark elf Illiana standing in front of Tristan at the moment was certainly one of the strongest individuals he ever met. She was a figure that had reached the same level as the ruler of Vanyar Kingdom Queen Leena, a peak Crescent Moon stage magus.

    However, Tristan didn''t show nor feel an ounce of concern at all. He just worried that defeating her would only create more trouble for him.

    But then, it was as if Illiana knew what he was thinking as she said, "Of course, a normal duel will not really prove who is the better leader."

    Tristan raised his brows at her words. With a smile that only he himself knew what it meant, he asked, "What do you have in mind then?"

    It seemed the woman anticipated his reply and had prepared an answer beforehand as she immediately said, "We will have a duel in war."

    Tristan saw Illiana turn to look at the king. She was asking for approval, and thetter gave it to her.

    "Follow me!" she said, walking ahead. Tristan along with the king himself followed the energetic woman, walking toward a balcony of the pce that was facing a field filled with rising stones.

    "Here is the battlefield for our duel," Illiana said as she turned around and stared intensely at Tristan.

    He once again raised eyebrows as he looked upon the field before him. ncing at the dark elf in interest, Tristan asked her about the details and specific arrangement of this so-called duel.

    The two of them would be given one thousand Uruk each to bemanded as they see fit. The Uruks were known for their undeniable discipline and obedience. Hence Tristan knew when one was assigned to him, they would do the task given to them without the slightest bit of question.

    Nodding his head at the arrangement set for the duel, Tristan saw Illiana pointed her finger at the two hills opposite and quite a distance away from each other. He didn''t even need her to know that those two locations would be their starting and objective point.

    "We will put a g on each hill. The Uruk that could grab their opponent''s g first will be the winner." She turned to him and shed a smile, "Sounds simple enough, right?"

    Tristan could clearly see the entirety of the field from the balcony he was at. The multiple hill peaks and the sight ofva river flowed throughout the trenches on the ground. The field of battle was separated into three conspicuous paths, where each corridor was as long as a dozen miles.

    She then continued her words, "Of course, you can lead the battle yourself. After all, that''s what a leader is for. As for me, I will assign one of my trusted men to fight in my stead."

    With this type of arena and the fact that only the Uruk was allowed to grab the g, Tristan realized this fight was all about tactics. What determined the oue of a situation where two opposing parties had equal strength would be the leader''s ingenuity and insight on utilizing the resources they had.

    As for Tristan, this kind of fight did seem very interesting in his eyes.

    "Alright, I am in." said Tristan as he folded his hands. "What are wepeting for?"

    The female dark elf smiled and said, "If you could defeat me, I will admit my mistake and approve of you as a superior leader."

    Tristan slightly frowned at her words. Any elf would consider such a duel of honor important, but for Tristan who wasn''t an elf to begin with, this was not enough.

    "No. It''s not interesting at all." He then looked at Illiana and shed his signature wicked smile, "I want to raise the stake"

    Illiana also smiled wickedly and responded, "Ohh..! Confident, aren''t you? Are you sure?"

    "Yes. back in my homnd, there is this saying.. go big or go home."

    Illiana chuckled "Alright! What do you want to bet on?"

    "Isn''t it obvious?" said Tristan. "If I win, that means I''m a capable leader. Therefore, the dark elves shall follow mymand for theing battle."

    It was at this moment that the female elf seemed hesitant, which surprised Tristan as this was a side of her he had not seen from her before.

    "With such a bet, I need you to agree on one thing.."

    "Oh?" eximed Tristan curiously. "Name it."

    "You shall not use your blood skill on the Uruks."

    "Do you dare to ept this?"

    Once again, the woman somehow knew one more of his secrets. The skill she meant was no other than the [Blood Seal]. Tristan himself knew and agreed that it was indeed such an overpowered skill in certain conditions, and it certainly won''t be fair for the battle. Hence, he epted the restriction imposed on him.

    The moment Tristan voiced his agreement, Illiana showed a grin and said, "Alright then, it''s settled. We have an agreement. Of course that means that if I win, I want the same thing. The Arcadian will follow mymand for the iing threat."

    The way she quickly answered made Tristan feel as if she had been preparing for this all along. He couldn''t help but feel he had stepped into a trap unknowingly and willingly.

    Tristan nced toward the king. His gaze literally asked the other party''s affirmation about the matter, that Illiana could make such a bet with him. And surprisingly, the king smiled and said, "My daughter has been leading our kingdom''s army for dozens of years. I''m sure you will be surprised with her capability, king of Arcadia."

    The revtion was indeed surprising. But then, Tristan thought that since the other party had never really seeded in war against Arcadia, her so-called talent probably didn''t amount to much.

    Returning his attention back to Illianan, Tristan nodded his head. "Alright, we have a deal."

    The dark elf was grinning and said, "I will prepare the Uruks in an hour. In the meantime, I suggest you study the battlefield. I don''t want you to cryter, saying that the battle was unfair."

    Frankly, the words Illiana spoke made Tristan''s confidence wavered a little. He was worried that he underestimated the situation too much, and therefore, decided to check on the battlefield in person.

    As exined and seen with his own eyes, there were indeed three paths. All three were wide enough for a whole thousand Uruks to travel unhindered. However, each of them was by no means a smooth road.

    There are several sections of the path that go up and down, just like a series of small hills. Each of the paths was also not a straight one, as it could branch out and have many different small paths. But in the end, all paths would converge to one end.

    As for the ck stones that separated the three paths, they were extremely high and at an angle of ny degrees. Their existencepletely denied any attempt to move to another main path halfway through.

    The condition of the paths as well as the rocks conceived potential ces for troops to hide and arrange an ambush.

    Tristan tried to memorize the paths as much as he could, but he believed that it woulde to his main strategy to eventually win the fight.

    After an hour of surveying the site, Tristan went to one of the hills where the objective g would be. A figure came right after he arrived and nted the g that was supposedly to be the focus of the uing fight.

    Tristan assumed the person would immediately leave after he set the g when he saw the other party approached him.

    "Princess Illiana has two messages for you, Arcadian King."

    Tristan perked his ears up when he heard that woman had something for him.

    "First, don''t worry about killing all the Uruks. They can be easily rented." the person said and Tristan nodded in acknowledgement. "And second, she said that if you want to back out, now is thest chance to do so."

    Upon hearing the second part, Tristan burst intoughter. He couldn''t help but find the female dark elf more hrious in time.

    His gaze turned toward the one thousand Uruks. All were well trained and well equipped. One could faintly feel the oppressive atmosphere around them as they thirsted for battle.

    mes seemingly flickered in Tristan''s eyes as he stared upon the Uruks.

    "Are you all ready?!!"

    "Chiwikkk!! Chiwwikk!!"

    Tristan looked to his right side and through his enhanced senses, saw that the balcony he had previously been on was filled with many dark elves. There was the king, the dark elf triplets, and a few dark elf elders. There was also, of course, Illiana who was staring at him with a smile.

    On the other hill opposite of his, he could see the person he would fight against. It was a huge, muscr dark elf with a mask on his face. The one that only had affinity in metal elements.

    Then, Tristan waited for what seemed to be the cue of the fight.

    All of a sudden, bright objects could be seen shot through the air before exploding in the sky like a firework.. Looking at the beautiful disy, Tristan knew the fight had finally started.

 Chapter 326 - War Tactic

    The Uruks were truly the exact embodiment of a real and perfect soldier. At the moment, there were one thousand of such individuals assigned to him, and all of them were apparently hungry for battle as a savage and bloodthirsty look could clearly be seen on their faces.

    One thousand grey-skinned creatures, twice the size of man, wearing heavy armor on their chest, shoulder and four limbs; the sight of such disy would surely even send chills to veterans. And evidently, such a level of disy was not enough as all of them were also equipped with a one and half meter de.

    While inspecting the resources given to him for this battle, Tristan realized that there were thirty of these Uruks who were not wearing armor and exuding apletely different aurapared to theirrades. These individuals were what the dark elves called the Berserker.

    [Uruk - Berserker]

    [Battle power - 85]

    As Tristan inspected these special individuals, he couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows in question. These berserkers were only ten to twenty points higher in battle power than normal uruks, which honestly quite underwhelming whenpared to the title given to them. However, this also made Tristan wonder what exactly were the capabilities they had that made them worthy of being called Berserker.

    Seeing that they were not wearing any armor and their restless gesture, Tristan assumed that these berserkers would be having more advantage in the speed department than their peers. However, this was only a mere assumption of his.

    Moreover, as there were only thirty of them, Tristan honestly felt he couldn''t care much about such differences.

    With the firework-like signal erupted in the air, the battle that would determine which party had the absolutemand for the uing battle against invasion had officially begun.

    Tristan knew that if he wanted to win the battle he would be having at the moment, he would require a good strategy. Furthermore, he was willing to bet his entire reserve of Blood Essence that Illiana would not use any usual means to achieve victory. Hence, he himself gave his best toe up with a worthy strategy to use.

    Further reinforced his determination to win, Tristan quickly reassessed the information that he had gathered before. There were three paths with equal distances and the main objective was to take the enemy''s g before the enemy took his.

    For now, there were two strategies that Tristan could think of.

    First, was to divide his resources equally throughout the paths. It meant that his one thousand Uruks would be split into three teams, with 350 Uruk and 10 Berserker in each team and Tristan would fill the one with the 300 Uruks to create three somewhat bnced groups.

    This was the most feasible and the safest strategy, and probably had the highest chance of being sessful. Unfortunately, this strategy didn''t fit into Tristan''s style.

    The second strategy was to concentrate all his resources into one path, emphasizing his force to their rough capability. He would station 300 Uruk on the two paths, while the path he chose would have the remaining Uruks, numbered in 400, with himself as themander. This was the real winning team to go and capture the g.

    This method would have more riskpared to the first one. But as long as he made sure he could reach the g first than his opponent, this strategy would almost guarantee his win.

    However, Tristan was not any run-of-the-mill leader. As entric as he was, he would not choose either n. He would find a more creative approach

    Finally, the strategy he came up with was to equally divide his force into two groups with two different duties.

    Half of the Uruks would go with him to grab the g, while the other half would go on the defensive at where his own g was without worrying about the two other paths at all. With this, Tristan was confident that if the other party decided to use the first two strategies against him, no matter how the troops were arranged, he would win the battle.

    As for the Berserkers, Tristan decided to not bring any of them on offensive and let them on the defensive with one absolute instruction of ''survive till the end''!

    Confident with the n he concocted, Tristan proceeded tomence his attack.

    500 Uruks marched their way toward the middle path, with him at the forefront.

    "Let''s move!! Charge!!"

    The grey creatures briskly moved in formation, causing the ground to tremble with their stomping advance. As he led this group of creatures on the conquest of snatching the g, Tristan contemted the battle he was having now.

    He believed that the battle would not only be about making the right arrangement and choices for the paths, but also to execute the n designed with speed. Of course, the Uruks couldn''t just run quickly and haphazardly, hence he had instructed them to move in rows.

    Brak, brak, brak; the sounds of the Uruks marching through the path echoed through the air.

    After marching for about twenty minutes, Tristan''s group of Uruks finally reached the halfway point of the field used for the battle. Tristan couldn''t help but think that the path was a little too far than he thought. But then, it didn''t really matter.

    It was also at this point that Tristan finally caught the shadow of his enemy. Apparently, the enemy had waited for him as he could see about more than 300 Uruks. Based on this, he concluded that the enemy used the first tactic.

    Seeing this, Tristan was sure the win was already in his hand. Still, time was still the essence as soon enough, in around twenty minutes, the other party''s force of 700 Uruks would sh against his 500 Uruks stationed at his g.

    Even so, Tristan believed he would have at least thirty minutes of time to use before his g would be taken by the other party.

    "Chargee!!" shouted Tristan as his body shot forward.

    But soon, Tristan noticed something odd happening. As soon as he and his force came closer, the enemy force would immediately retreat.

    "What the hell?!"

    He was dumbfounded.

    It took Tristan seconds to process what he just witnessed before he decided to chase after the enemy. After all, he just had to grab the enemy''s g as soon as possible. It really didn''t affect his n that the enemy force was retreating.

    His 500 Uruks and the other party''s 300-ish Uruks then proceeded to go on a wild goose chase for a few minutes. Tristan thought this would continue until he reached the other party''s g when figures suddenly came out of nowhere and charged at his troops.

    Tristan turned to these unknown figures and realized they were the 30 Berserkers assigned to the other side. Apparently, they all hid among the gaps within the rocks across the path.

    As they came out and charged from the nks, dozens of his Uruks died in a matter of seconds. This sight dumbfounded Tristan that he froze for a moment.

    Eventually, he woke up from his daze and shouted angrily.

    "Kill!! Kill them all!!!"

    Unfortunately, reality always went differently from expectation. When the thirty Berserkers were about to be surrounded by Tristan''s Uruks, they quickly retreated by taking advantage of their superiority in speed. The Uruks could practically do nothing but watch the Berserkers get away scot-free.

    In the brief contact with the other party''s force, Tristan had suffered a loss of fifty Uruk while they didn''t receive a single loss.

    Realizing this, Tristan couldn''t help but curse, "Urrgghh, those slimy bastards!!"

    He was tempted to make his Uruks move at half their previous speed and gave more attention to their surroundings. He was about to do exactly that when he realized the other party must be hoping for this.

    Hence, he decided to make his force march again at full speed.

    Unfortunately, not even five minutester, the same thing happened. The Berserkers who once again hid among the rocksunched an ambush at his force, which resulted in the loss of another fifty Uruk.

    ''How could these berserkers escape my senses?!" thought Tristan inwardly.

    Tristan couldn''t see or hear their presence at all, not even a hint of it. These Berserkers were really adept in hiding, as if they weren''t there in the first ce.

    Thinking that he was only ten minutes away from his enemy''s g, Tristan decided to continue the march. But this time, to bepletely safe, he decided to use a spell he never used before.

    [Heat Detection]

    As he activated the spell, Tristan never thought that the spell would be useful. The spell allowed him to scan the entirety of space in miles, and thanks to that, he knew that his enemy was almost at his hill.

    Time to speed up!

    A few minutester, Tristan finally caught the sight of the other party''s hill. There, the enemy had been waiting for him, right on the exit. What surprised him was that the 50 meters wide exit was filled with not 300, but 500 Uruks.

    This sight once again made Tristan wonder what kind of tactic the enemy was using.

    There, among the 500 Uruks, was the huge dark elf in a mask.

    The enemy was certainly prepared to greet his force, as they waited in a clear-cut defensive formation. It was now 500 against 400, there were also the 30 Berserkers hiding among them; it was clear that Tristan was at a disadvantage, unlike what he nned before.

    Even so, Tristan was not discouraged by the unfavorable situation he had gotten himself into. If this was only a battle between Uruk forces, Tristan certainly would not win. But since he was allowed to enter the battlefield, the oue was yet to be determined!

    "ATTACK!!!" Tristan shouted loudly as he charged forward into the sea of ??enemies fearlessly.

    The battle hadn''t gone 10 minutes, Tristan suddenly heard rumblesing from behind him. To his surprise, the enemy remaining 500 Uruks were attacking from behind him.

    "What! Howe they are here!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 327 - War Tactic 2

    327

    Tristan got to admit, the strategy Illiana devised was beyond his realm ofprehension. He was so shocked by what was happening right now that his mind was lost for a moment.

    All of a sudden, his 400 Uruks were outnumbered by the other side. And to make matters worse, they were also surrounded from both sides. At this point, it was apparent that Tristan had unknowingly stepped into the trap prepared by the other party for him and there was seemingly nothing else he could do to somehow allow him to escape this predicament.

    At the moment, Tristan''s force was now about to fight against 500 enemy at the front as well as 500 at the back. Being sandwiched from the front and back with no path of retreat was the worst possible situation one could end up with in a battle.

    The Uruks, as overwhelmingly strong as they were, were not as agile as humans. This had somehow made their defensive formation easily crumble when put under pressure of pincer attack, which is exactly what happened when the other party''s sideunched their offensive at once.

    Quickly, his 400 Uruks went through what could only be described as a one-sided massacre. Every second, several Uruk on Tristan''s side would fall while the other side suffered half of their result most of the time.

    Illiana, or rather, her designated representative had certainly fooled him with their strategy. The only way those Uruks were able toe from behind his troops was for them to advance toward his hill but decided to not attack the force stationed and defended the hill. They instead routed around and entered the path Tristan''s main force took, sessfully trapping thetter without much difficulty.

    It was certainly a brilliant n, but not something that could be easily executed without predicting what kind of actions Tristan would take. After all, this n could easily backfire on her.

    This result was proof that Iliana, the female dark elf, had managed to predict his choice of tactic.

    Although it was clear that he was losing his numbers fast, Tristan wasn''t discouraged. He would definitely not give up and easily give the win to the other party. Everything was still undetermined until thest possible second.

    Tristan shook his head, cleared his mind off unnecessary thoughts, and tried to think what he could do to remedy his evident mistake.

    He realized that he needed to alleviate his disadvantageous situation otherwise his loss would be a matter of time.

    With that thought in mind, Tristan quickly cast the strongest fire spell in his repertoire.

    [Firewall]

    Multiple pirs of fiery me soared high into the sky in several locations at the back and front, burning dozens of Uruks attacking his troops. The me pirs immediately extinguished after they did their job, but their brief appearance had given Tristan''s troops a respite and a leeway.

    Looking at the slightly clear path before him, Tristan nodded his head. Everything would be over when he grabbed the enemy''s g, and that was exactly what he would do. He decided to push forward, pierce through the defense the other party prepared, and reach the objective.

    With a loud battle cry, his body shot forward which was followed by the Uruks. As he sped across the terrain, dozens of familiar des were created by Tristan''s [Blood Synthesis]. The des rapidly flew everywhere around Tristan as they attacked the Uruks in the way, reaping dozens of lives.

    -----

    On the balcony, the dark elf king''s expression turned apprehensive as he saw Tristan''s powerful fire spell and blood-synthesized des.

    "A High Elf who could cast fire magic¡­" He drawled and then turned toward the beauty standing next to him. "His blood spells are also very powerful"

    The king''s words brought whispers to all the elders around who were also watching.

    It was Rogan the eldest of the triplets thatmented,

    "My king, it was only a low level fire spell, nothing special."

    Even though he knew that the spell Tristan cast was still very powerful despite its low-level moniker, the king however kept his silence.

    The king looked upon Iliana and said,

    "Are you sure you can win, daughter?"

    "Don''t worry, father. Everything is as nned."

    -----

    Sattt!! Sttt!!

    Triatan was actively killing the enemy Uruk to make up for the number differences.

    But as Tristan mowed the Uruks that were in his way of charging through, finally as he expected, therge elf with a mask dashed and headed toward him.

    Even though he saw the approaching figure, Tristan continued his act of killing as if he didn''t realize the other party''s intention. Of course, that wasn''t the case because Tristan constantly kept some of his attention on thetter.

    This elf was the one at the Peak Crescent Moon stage, with the spirit force as high as queen Leena of the Vanyar. The masked elf was introduced before as Dios.

    What was unique about this elf was that He only had one element affinity, metal. Even though the metal element looked and sounded quite underwhelming, it was actually one of the strongest elements for direct confrontation especially for defense.

    This statement was somewhat proven by looking at the elf''s every move that caused the ground to slightly tremble. Knowing that a head-on fight was thest thing he wanted to do with the other party, Tristan decided to throw a [Fireball] at the elf to test the water and see the other party''s strength.

    The elf didn''t show the slightest indicator of dodging and eventually he received the fireball directly with his body.

    Kaboommm!! Kabooommm!!

    Smokes appeared and hid his figure, and secondster, he shot through the smoke with his clothespletely burnt. Although the clothes were basically destroyed, Tristan couldn''t see any injury on his body. Instead, his skin was gleaming with golden metallic sheen.

    [Golden Skin - Tier 5 Metal Spell]

    This was the strongest known defensive spell below magus-level spells. Hence, it was no wonder that Tristan''s [Fireball] gave no effect to the other party. Even so, he still didn''t give up and sent another attack.

    "Let''s see if your skin can block these.."

    Tristan dispatched all his blood-synthesized des toward the elf. These blood synthesis des were upgraded when Tristan fought captain Jenkins of the space knight.

    One of them was able to match a tier 5 weapon with ease. They were certainly stronger than his [Fireball] spell, and Tristan was confident of their strength.

    Swisshhh, swishhh, swisshh; the faint sounds of air being ripped apart resounded as the half a dozen des rapidly approached the elf.

    Seeing the iing attacks, the elf just quickly brought his arms to cover his face while continuing his advance. As a result, all the des struck his arms and shoulders squarely.

    nk!! nk!! nk!!...

    Tristan waspletely taken aback, the synthesized des were only capable of making scratches on Dios'' body, causing his arms and shoulders to look like they were cut by razors. In short, they were ineffective!

    Unbeknownst to Tristan, it wasn''t just Dios'' [Golden Skin] that made him to be so durable. Therge elf had been part of the dark elf king''s experiment, where his flesh was tempered for hundreds of years by scorching hot mes. Hence the reason he had a much tenacious body than the other elves.

    The truth was Tristan''s achievement to be able to draw a blood on the elf''s body was already considered as an achievement on Illiana and the king''s eyes. They were, in fact, quite surprised when they saw Dios'' shed blood,

    They both knew that if Tristan''s des hit the elf''s eyes or vital parts, the elf could still be in grave danger and even die.

    He was still surprised by what Dios disyed that thetter managed to tackle his body.

    BAM!

    A loud sound rang in the area as Tristan''s body was tackled andunched to the air by Dios.

    Immediately after, the elf took out his weapon, two long chains with ck round steel attached on its end. The way the chain gleaming Tristan can tell it must be another high tear weapon.

    While Tristan was still in the air, the elf stomped the ground and leaped to where he was.

    Using his two arms, Dios grabbed Tristan''s body from the back. At the same time, the chain was rotating in the air and strangely was able to tie the two of them together.

    "What¡­ are you¡­ fuck!!"

    Tristan quickly found himself bound by the elf''s surprisingly monstrous strength and his chains. It was at this moment that he finally realized Illiana''s n for him.

    Tristan was unable to move his body, not even an inch, with such strong restraint binding him. He could only watch as his 400 Uruks were being massacred in front of his eyes.

    "Aaarggghhh!!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

 Chapter 328 - War Tactics 3

    Within just a few minutes, his 400 Uruks were turned into corpses. Being surrounded and without his help, none of them could escape the one-sided massacre. Inparison to how many they had lost, they only managed to kill 200 of their opponents, which included the 50 that fell by Tristan''s own hands.

    Tristan was still trying hard to outpower the elf. Unfortunately, despite his incessant attempt, Dios held him very tight and showed no signs of loosening, not giving him any chance of breaking free. He felt as if he was being crushed by a mountain.

    Finally, when thest Uruk died, the 800 enemy Uruks went ahead running toward the direction of his hill, leaving him still unmoving under Dios'' arms.

    "Seriously man, release me and have a proper fight!!" Tristan struggled more while ring at the elf hindering him, impatience apparent on his face.

    Therge elf, however, did not budge nor say any words, acting like a deaf and mute. If it were not for his minimal breathing movement, Tristan might have thought that the elf had turned to stone.

    "You''re a man, aren''t you!? Let me go! I don''t swing that way!"

    Tristan tried everything he could think of, from using force to curses and insults to make this chunk of steel let go of him, but to no avail.

    Moments passed, but Tristan was still unable to break free nor make this man let go.

    Tristan knew that his 500 Uruks defending the hill would not be able to survive for long against the enemy, he reckon he would only have thirty minutes left before he really needed to free himself from this buffoon.

    Tristan tried using [Fire Aura] to increase his strength to try to break free, but even that was only able to shake Dion very slightly, not enough for Tristan to escape at all.

    He then tried to control his Blood Synthesis, creating a few flying des to hit the elf, however, with both of his arms being immobile due to the restrain, Tristan was unable to use his real strength to move the des and made him unable to cause any deep wounds on Dios'' body,

    Urrrghhh!!

    With no other alternative at hand, Tristan decided that he had to use his [Blood Legacy] if he wanted to have any chance.

    ARRGGHH!!

    It was always painful when he used the transformation skill.

    Blood spilled all over his body, forming into muscles as his body rapidly erged. However, Dios seemed unfazed at this development as he used a skill in response, Dios'' body turned into a glowing dark steel and even his chains also tightened it appears the artifact also showing its unique ability.

    The two silently fought as they tried to overpower one another, and even after tens of minutes of battle of strength, therge elf still showed no signs of weakening.

    Tristan could not believe what he was feeling. Although he did not want to believe it, he had to ept the bitter truth. His [Blood Legacy] had found its match. Its extreme strength boost given by the blood legacy still not enough to defeat his opponent

    Thisrge masked dark elf named Dios was, after all, a peak Crescent Magus elf with a body harder than a tier 5 artifact .

    After a few more minutes of constant pushing and pulling with fruitless results, Tristan gradually returned to his human form.

    Tristan was irritated to the bone. He could not ept such a defeat. He looked toward the pce of the dark elves, and using his enhanced senses, he could see the female elf smirk toward him. An imaginary vein popped at his forehead.

    ''I won''t let you win. Never.''

    Not willing to be defeated just like that, Tristan took a drastic measure.

    Tristan''s restrained arms were suddenly engulfed with fire as he cast [Heat Touch]. However, it was not aimed at therge elf. Instead of burning Dios'' body or artifact, he decided to burn his own arms.

    Arrrghhh!!!

    Even though an excruciating sensation of pain coursed fervently on his burning arms, Tristan quickly increased the power of the mes, and at that moment, the initial fire fervently roared, burning his entire arms to his shoulders.

    The fierce mes also began to engulf Dios as well, but he couldn''t care less. Instead of directing the raging fire to the elf holding him down, Tristan let his whole arm burn even fiercer.

    He gritted his teeth as he could feel the burning pain reaching his bones.

    As soon as his crisped arms werepletely destroyed, Tristan forced his way out of Dios'' grasp.

    Aaarrrggghhh!!!

    Tristan''s flesh and bones tore apart and his blood sttered everywhere, painting a grotesque scene.

    This took all the elves who were watching from the pce balcony by surprise. Tristan''s determination and willingness to sacrifice managed to impress many of them. Even Iliana was impressed. She never expected the elf would be so savage and willing to destroy his own body like that.

    As soon as Tristan sessfully got out of Dios'' grasp, he quickly cast [Blood Synthesis] to regrow his arm and [Fire Aura] to boost his speed, in time to dodge the elf''s chain artifact from capturing him again.

    Time was at its essence. The previous struggle made him lose track of time, so he could not be sure of whether the enemies had arrived at their destination. His Uruk forces could be annihted at any moment, so he could not afford to waste time fighting this lump of steel.

    He used his [Blood Synthesis] to create his own chains and swiftly restrained Dios before he could restrain him, quickly holding the elf down.

    The chains would most likely not be able to hold therge elf for long, but Tristan at the moment only needed them to hold the other party down for a while.

    Rushing at the fastest speed he could muster, Tristan ran toward his hill, leaving the huge elf behind.

    After about five minutes of full speed, finally he reached the hill and to his surprise, the battle was almost at its end.

    He saw that only around 50 of his initial 500 Uruks were left standing on top of the hill. All was fighting fiercely defending the g on top of the hill.

    Just a minute toote, and he would have lost the battle.

    Without a second thought, Tristan bombarded the hill with his fire spells. [Fireball] and [Firewall] multiple times, turning the bottom of the hill into a sea of fire.

    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

    Loud ring sounds that would make one wish their ears were torn off rang out in the air in rapid session, following that was several scintiting light of explosions that changed the basic feature of the terrain. Dirt and dust sted around unconcerned with what and who they hit as visibility level dipped to maximum.

    This upheaval was the result of Tristan''s action.

    He unabashedly and consecutively cast [Fireball], not the normal kind but the enhanced ones, and sent them away like throwing out candies on the night of halloween. He didn''t even bat an eyelid when his reserve of Blood Essence was drained at an extremely rming rate as he continued to dish out enhanced [Fireball] as if it was vegetables.

    Currently, Tristan literally ''wasted'' thousands of Blood Essence to light the whole hill into the very personification of ''bright'' with his fire spells. Immediately after, he created two blood-synthesized two meter swords and dashed toward the burning hordes of Uruk with killing intent shrouding his entire being.

    Tristan shot straight toward the hordes which were in indescribable agony and began his massacre, swinging his swords when any Uruk entered his attacking range. He maintained his killing tempo as he continued to run toward the top of the hill where his g was.

    By the time he reached the top of the hill and could catch the sight of his g, there were only a dozen of his Uruks left in the area, struggling and giving their all to fend off the other side''s Uruk from grabbing the g.

    Seeing the situation was hanging by a thread, Tristan immediately used his [Blood Synthesis] again, creating dozens of constructs to assist and protect thest bit of his force. The top of the hill quickly turned red by the seer amount of blood it received. The area was also swiftly covered with the dead bodies of the Uruks as Tristan proceeded to cut all the other side''s Uruk as long as they came close to his g.

    The incredulousness of the scene Tristan currently caused once again brought attention to the elders watching at the pce balcony. They were dumbfounded, bbergasted, and stupefied by what Tristan could do.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

    Support the novel by purchasing advance chapters only at w.eb.n.o.v..e.l

 Chapter 329 - The Result

    Tristan continued his act of domination in the battle, killing hundreds of Uruk by himself until finally Dios arrived at the top of the hill. The elf stopped in his tracks for a moment as his mind tried to take what had happened in this ce.

    A few momentster, after repressing the shock he felt, Dios once again rushed toward Tristan with his chains brandished. The masked elf clearly intended to bind thetter again, but unfortunately, Tristan now knew better than to get close to therge elf.

    As a result, a sight akin to a cat and mouse game unfolded in front of Illiana, the dark elf king, as well as the dark elf elders'' eyes. Tristan took advantage of his mobility and maintained the distance between them while killing as many Uruk as possible.

    On the other hand, Dios tried his best to catch up and bind the other party. This time, he vowed he would not let thetter go again. s, no matter what he did, Tristan was slippery as an eel. He could only watch as Tristan kept killing his own Uruks.

    A few minutester, no more Uruk could be seen standing, both Tristan''s and the other party''s. They were all on the ground, either dead or decapitated so severely that they were inconsequential.

    After confirming that there were no more existences that could threaten his g, Tristan turned and faced the huge masked elf who had been chasing him since his arrival to the top of this hill. He took his fighting stance while his fervor burnt passionately; Tristan was ready for another round with the other party, now that the distractions were removed.

    He was about to dash and attack when the female dark elf, Illiana, suddenly flew off the balcony she was at andnded right in front of therge elf.

    "The battle is over, Lord Tristan. Unfortunately, it ended with a draw for both sides." However, she didn''t even attempt to hide the victorious smirk on her face as she said that.

    Tristan''s face turned dark when he heard her words. For him, a draw was not enough. Especially with him killing more than half the enemy force with his own strength. Hence although Illiana said it was a draw, it was obvious she actually thought it as her win.

    The female elf once again smiled when she saw Tristan''s apparent dark face.

    "Let''s not take it to heart, Lord Tristan. It was, after all, just a game."

    Tristan, however, suddenly smiled. This unexpected reaction left Illiana stunned.

    "Are you sure it was a draw?" If Tristan''s smile threw her off, then what he just said made her question if the other party was alright. After all, the Uruks had all died, which signified the end of battle.

    Then, a thought urred to her. She quickly scanned the surrounding area and surprise immediately wrapped her face when she perceived half a dozen Berserkersing out from the cracks within the walls of one of the paths.

    These Berserkers were what remained of the thirty Berserkers that Tristan had left here with the task of protecting the hill.

    Illiana was dumbfounded and stiffly turned her head toward Tristan. She couldn''t help but exim when she saw the wicked smile on his face. "How is this possible?!"

    Tristan was actually pretty fortunate, a stroke of luck even. When he gave order to his group of defenders, he had sternly told the Uruks to defend the g with everything they had, even their own lives. However, the same couldn''t be said with the Berserkers, as he had specifically told them to prioritize their lives, to survive at all costs. As a result, being the very obedient soldiers they were, as soon as things went south they decided to retreat and hide in one of the paths.

    Hearing such an exnation made the female dark elf speechless beyond belief. She stood there with mouth wide open as her mind tried toprehend the reason she lost.

    With this, Tristan still had troops in his disposal. This also meant that the battle was not yet over.

    "What do you think, Dios?" Tristan said as he eyed the masked elf. "Should we go for another round?"

    Tristan''s provocative words sessfully made Illiana let out a loudugh. She quickly raised her hand, signaling Dios not to ept the other party''s offer.

    She quickly calmed her heaving chest due toughing and looked deeply into Tristan''s eyes. Then, under the eyes of everyone who was important in the kingdom, she slightly bowed and said, "Congrattions, Lord Tristan. You''ve won the battle, and subsequently, the bet."

    Tristan could hear sincerity in her words now, something he didn''t detect from what she said before. However, although he won the battle, he actually didn''t feel proud at all. The one thousand Uruks given to him, now only six of them were still standing; this disy was certainly not good evidence that he is a good leader.

    Hence in the end, this female dark elf was still sessful in proving her point that Tristan was stillcking in leadership, or rather,manding an army.

    The battle made Tristan realize a shocking fact. The dark elves were willing to kill two thousand Uruks, just to prove a point.

    Afterward, Illiana invited him to an audience with the king again. But Tristan, shameless as he was, told Illiana to wait as he had something he wanted to do.

    After all, he couldn''t just watch and see all those precious sources of Blood Essence - the dead Uruks - went to waste. Resources had to be used efficiently, and that was exactly what Tristan would do.

    Tristan walked toward the center of the hill, where hundreds of corpses covered the ground with their presences. Then without further ado, with an excited look on his face, he proceeded to extract all of them.

    [5000...]

    [10000...]

    [20000¡­]

    [A mix of 31000 low quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [15200 Blood Essence gained]

    Tristan''s face couldn''t help but grimace when he saw the amount of Blood Essence he gained. Apparently, the Uruks had the worst quality of blood whenpared to other living creatures he had encountered till now. Around two thousand bodies only gave suchcking amount of Blood Essence.

    Illiana, on the other hand, was excited. She was finally able to see for herself Tristan''s [Blood Extraction] ability. The sight of red mist diffused out of dead bodies and entered Tristan''s body really drew various reactions from those who saw it for the first time.

    Several minutester, Tristan was done extracting and was quickly led to a group of dozen dark elves.. Evidently, everyone in the group was the most prominent figures among the dark elves.

 Chapter 330 - Questions

    Tristan''s eyes wandered about as they had nothing to do. At the moment, he was led into a somewhat grandiose chamber and gestured to one of the seats avable by one of the female servants around.

    The moment he entered the chamber, dozens of pairs of eyes immediately locked their attention on them with much curiosity. Tristan, however, kept his casual attitude and just sat nonchntly, making himselffortable as his drink was served by the servants.

    During this entire process, his eyes only scanned over everyone in the room for a brief moment before paying them no more heed.

    Tristan personally thought the dark elves'' culture, where they were given freedom to enjoy little things like drinks, massage, and femalepanions, to be very much wee. In his opinion, the dark elves wereparably more free-spirited than their counterparts living in the Vanyar Kingdom - which was good news.

    It was the dark elf princess, Illiana, again who stood up and introduced Tristan to all these new and unfamiliar people. After the introductions, Tristan finally knew who these people were.

    Apparently, they were the prominent figures in the kingdom, the dark elf elders. All of them were individuals with saint or magus level strength. Therefore, Tristan knew better than to underestimate them.

    As for the one who sat on the main seat, it was of course the ruler of the kingdom, the Unbroken, King Visier.

    "You all have seen what our guest here is capable of." Illiana said, "If you have any doubt, you may ask your questions directly to him."

    Tristan maintained his silence as he was curious about what Illiana was trying to do. There was something about the female dark elf that he found liking, hence he just let her continue with whatever she nned.

    Hearing her words, one of the elders opened his mouth as he stared at Tristan.

    "Tell me, Lord Tristan. Why did you kill Janus and hundreds of the Forlorn elves?"

    Illiana nced at Tristan to see how he would react to such a sensitive question right out of the bat. She expected thetter would coldly re at the one who asked, hence she was surprised when she saw that Tristan''s face had no fluctuations. Well, for Tristan, this question was indeed surprising, but not unexpected.

    In fact, he could somehow guess what was the objective of this question-and-answer session for. Even so, he would let it run its course. After all, it was better to have closer rtions by knowing about each other more.

    Tristan straightened his back and looked at the elder who asked the question as he exined the three reasons as to why he did it.

    One, it was because the other party hurt his wife, the princess of Vanyar Kingdom, Serene. Second, it was because they were a direct threat to the city that he was responsible with at that time. Andst, it was because he needed blood essence.

    When they heard the reasons, the elders started to whisper among each other. Few momentster, one of them asked, "Please tell us, Lord Tristan. Which of the three was the main reason?"

    This question apparently brought a lot of interest as Tristan could see the attention of the elders werepletely focused on him now.

    Tristan gave the question itself a contemtion. The Forlorn Kingdom''s threat toward Caerleon City was not immediate, hence he could safely cross that reason off the list. As for the blood essence, it was also something that he could gain from other sources.

    Therefore, the real reason why he killed and literally decimated the Forlorn Kingdom by himself was because..

    ..the first reason; because they hurt his wife Serene.

    Tristan could see the different reactions to each other on their faces when he told them the main reason. Some showed an expression of shock, some incredulousness, some respect, some even showed disdain though they quickly hid it.

    As for the king himself, he seemed to find the reason to be amusing.

    "Hahaha, I can''t understand the wood elves'' obsession with their rtionships. So are you that kind of person, Lord Tristan?" He said, "Did you really end hundreds of lives because of love?"

    Tristan, on the other hand, found the king''s question to be something half-joking - something that he didn''t need to answer. Illiana, however, stared intently at him as she seriously wanted to hear his answer.

    Even though he didn''t feel the need to answer, he finally decided to give it.

    "Haha, you got it wrong, Your Majesty. Between me and the princess of Vanyar, it was merely a marriage based on understanding. Hence my answer to your question is no."

    He then looked toward the elders and said, "I punished the Forlorn''s because they have hurt my family. Hurting my family is a line that shouldn''t be crossed, and unfortunately that''s exactly what they did at that time. For that, they must be punished.. Don''t you all agree?"

    For a moment, there was silence as no one responded to him. Eventually, the king nodded and said, "Good answer."

    Afterwards, the dark elves asked more questions following the information they heard about him. They knew about how he was helping the orcs in the battle against the Asgardians, they knew how he ruthlessly killed adventurers for orcs, and so on; basically all the noteworthy and notable deeds he had done.

    At the end of the day, Tristan realized what these questions were for.

    At first nce, these people seemed as if they were very much interested in what kind of person the new king of Arcadia was. But what they were really asking for, what they really wanted to know was..

    How much he prefers humans over elves.

    The previous ruler, King Can, was known for his love toward humans, and exactly the reason he was being loved by his people. Unfortunately, this love for humans was something that the dark elves despised.

    Fortunately, Tristan''s track record so far has shown he was willing to ruthlessly punish humans without mercy.

    When they reached this conclusion, Tristan almost couldn''t hold theugh threatening to burst out of him. It seemed the dark elves had no idea about his origin and memory, which was exactly what they despised. Perhaps, this matter was better left unexined.

    The conversation continued for long enough that Tristan lost count of how many nods and approvals he saw. Put it simply, it was extremely lengthy.

    Illiana seemed to notice Tristan''s gradualck of interest as she decided to stop the seemingly unending stream of questions. Immediately after, she said. "If there were no other questions, I hope the elders would show support for the decision."

    Right now, Tristan couldn''t help feeling that he was like a person on trial and waiting for a verdict. Illiana looked at him and gave the sentence.

    "There is no need to doubt it anymore. Lord Tristan has proved his strengths and his character. For this, we have agreed to make peace with Arcadia and will help thetter for the iing threat."

    The elders nodded their heads in agreement with Illiana''s words. However, the king who had been silent for thest hour suddenly smiled and spoke, "With one condition¡­"

    This sentence made the atmosphere in the room tense. Illiana was confused by her father''s words, while the elders were nervous because they didn''t know what their king meant with that. As for Tristan, he calmly looked at the king.

    "You and me, we shall be family, that is my one condition," said the King

    Tristan let out a deep sigh, he knew exactly what the sentence meant as the same treatment was received from the Vanyar Queen a few months ago.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 331 - A Condition

    An eerie silence ensued in the room as everyone without exception tried to process what they just heard. Eventually, the one who was given such an offer opened his mouth to respond.

    "Family? What do you exactly mean by that?" asked Tristan in a serious tone as he tucked his hands together. "Rather, what do you have in mind?"

    However, before King Vizier could borate about what he meant, Tristan spoke again, stopping his already half open mouth.

    "I guess if you marry the Vanyar Queen, you could somehow be considered as my father. Then, we are family! Moreover, with this, the dark elves and wood elves could be united under one banner.." Tristan said relentlessly, giving the king no chance to interrupt him. "Yes, yes.. That''s indeed a good idea, Your Majesty."

    Tristan''s words could be considered as a mockery toward the king, or to the Vanyar Queen Leena if she is here. However, King Vizier of the dark elves only gave a twisted smile and said, "Please hold onto your farce, Lord Tristan. We both knew that you know what I mean exactly."

    He then lifted his hand and gestured at his daughter, Illiana, toe and stand next to him. Next, he brought his gaze to Tristan again and said, "Take my daughter''s hand in marriage, then we will be family."

    Tristan kept his silence as he stared at the other party. This king was definitely straightforward and forceful, he couldn''t help but think that this guy and the Vanyar Queen were really meant for each other. After all, their characters were somewhat simr.

    He, of course, knew what the other party was proposing and it wasn''t like Illiana was not attractive. She is, in fact. Extremely so.

    Besides the dominating aura that she had, everything about the female elf was desirable.

    It''s just¡­ he didn''t like it if people forced him to do something. Especially about marriage. One crazy tradition imposed on him was enough for Tristan, personally.

    Realizing Tristan''s hesitation about the matter, the confident and talkative Illiana suddenly turned quiet. She just stared at his direction without saying anything.

    King Vizier, on the other hand, once again asked for confirmation. "Arcadian King, will you ept it?"

    Tristan turned to Illiana for a moment before looking up at the king. "I''m grateful for your offer. It''s ttering, really.. Unfortunately, I have to say no to it."

    His answer quickly brought countless whispers and murmurs to the room. Various expressions were seen on the faces of the elders, while the expression of the king also slightly changed.

    "If you refuse to marry my daughter Illiana here, let''s forget about the alliance. You can fight those space knights on your own." He said in a stern tone, indirectly telling Tristan that he was serious.

    A deep frown appeared on Tristan''s face when he heard that. He was irritated by the other party''s conduct. Thetter had previously agreed that if he won the battle, they would be willing to help him. But now, the king said those words as if there was no agreement in the first ce!

    It seemed that the dark elves didn''t really care about honor, and were willing to go back on their promises in an instant.

    Well, it was not that Tristan couldn''t understand such matters. He was just annoyed to be on the losing side of the matter, or was he?

    He quickly gave the offer another thought, as he was a man driven by his logic. If he epted it, he seemed to be getting quite a lot of benefits from this offer. However, he actually still had another option in mind that would lead to a certain scenario.

    The scenario in which the Arcadian and the dark elves fought each other, allowing him to gain a substantial amount of Blood Essence. One had to remember that hundreds of Forlorn elvested him close to a hundred thousand Blood Essence.

    Hence, theplete destruction of the dark elves might be able to grant him a million Blood Essence, allowing him to do wonders in anticipation of the iing threat. This was another, much less civil solution to his problem.

    Therefore, Tristan wasn''t afraid to reject the offer the other party gave to him. In fact, it would give him the perfect reason to annihte the other side.

    Time to let them know that he wasn''t someone who could easily be trifled with.

    Tristan''s expression also changed as he said, "You will not want to wage war with the Arcadian. Not with me as their new king."

    King Vizier seemed amused by his words as he could see the former''s lips curled slightly. Actually, the man was delighted by his answer.

    "I like you, Tristan." He said. "It''s a shame that things have to turn this way."

    After saying that, King Vizier looked directly at Tristan with a piercing gaze. Thetter certainly didn''t want to lose as he also stared back with an intensity that was not inferior to the former''s gaze. The two were locked gazes at each other, as if the war would start at any second now. Meanwhile, the elders in the room remained still as they didn''t know what to do.

    The atmosphere in the room became tense quickly, until a figure interrupted it by standing right in the middle of the gazes of the two figures. Immediately, the two turned their eyes to the figure and saw Illiana.

    "Huh!" She harrumphed. "You guys really only think with your muscles. Is there no other solution but to fight for you guys? She said while ring at the two, one by one. And her actions seemed to be effective at calming the situation down.

    Illiana made sure the two had calmed down before she turned to her father and said, "My King, please give our guest here some time to think about the offer." She then nced at Tristan before turning back to the king. Tristan, who saw her ncing at him, noticed the expression on her face that looked as if she had something she couldn''t say.

    "One day. Give the Arcadian King one day to consider; that''s what I ask of you, father."

    King Vizier saw the firm look on his daughter''s face. He sighed and sat down on his seat again. "Alright, one day. I hope you will seriously consider my offer, Lord Tristan. I expect a positive response from you, as my thoughts on this matter are final."

    Tristan nodded, though he himself had no ns to change his mind. He only thought that the given time could be used to strategize his moves for the war that would most likely break out between them.

    The meeting finally came to an end, with whispers going on fiercely among the elders.

    Tristan was then led to a special guest room by a female servant. Looking at thevish room prepared for him, he couldn''t help but nod in satisfaction.

    An hourter, he heard a knock on the door. He opened the door and saw, as expected, Illiana standing in front of him.

    Looking at the beautiful girl in a dress that showed all her good parts, Tristan''s imagination ran wild about how this female dark elf would try to convince him.

 Chapter 332 - Reason

    "May Ie in?" the dark elf princess asked when they made eye contact. Even so, despite her asking, she still entered without waiting for Tristan''s answer.

    As Illiana walked into the special guest room, Tristan''s eyes were unconsciously pulled to the ck dress enveloping her curvaceous body.

    The top of the dress was tied to her neck and holding the two mountains, while the side of the ck dress had a cut almost reaching her waist, giving a small peek of her undergarments and showing about half of her leg.

    Coupled with the decisive clicks of her footsteps and the confidence in her beautiful eyes, the dark elf princess certainly gave him a good impression.

    However, although he could appreciate a beauty when he saw one, he understood that with this woman, there was much more than meets the eye. With how clever and maniptive she was, he might get into trouble if he could not make his little brother behave.

    "What do you want?" Tristan asked, observing the woman in front of him.

    Ignoring his words, Illiana simply kept walking until she stood next to the bed before asking back.

    "Do you not need the alliance anymore?"

    Hearing her question, Tristan fell silent for a moment. He briefly pondered over her question and her motive ining here to meet him before giving a nod.

    "I do."

    "Then why? My father, the king, only asked for a marriage in exchange. Unless..." she looked at Tristan in the eye. "You find me unbearably unattractive?"

    With a little movement of her leg, Illiana was able to show off her exquisite legs, trying to entice him.

    Unfortunately for him, her trick did work. It seemed that this woman knew how to make a conversation.

    Looking at her eye-to-eye, Tristan approached the woman with a mysterious smile.

    "I believe you''re smart enough to know it''s not about that."

    As Tristan started to get closer Illiana, the dark elf slowly began to walk away from the bed. However, she did not avert her eyes, nor did the confidence in her eyes disappear.

    "Then why? Why not? What is it that you want?" Illiana continued to ask.

    Seeing the dark elf''s behavior, a thought came to him.

    ''She''s trying to y mind games with me.''

    Thinking of this, the smile on his face turned into a slight frown. He stopped his steps and controlled his emotions to give a light smile before replying.

    "I don''t like to be yed with. I just don''t see why the king would wish for us to be married. It''s all about trust, you see," Tristan deliberately paused for a moment. "There are too many things about you that I don''t know at all for us to talk about marriage. Unless you think it''s okay to trust someone you have almost no information about?"

    Illiana briefly closed her eyes before finally relenting.

    "Alright, what do you want to know?"

    This was exactly what Tristan had been hoping for. Not wasting any time to take the opportunity, he directly spoke.

    "Okay then, tell me¡­ where did you get all of your intel from? It''s astonishingly urate."

    The dark elf was previously curious about what Tristan wanted to know, but hearing his question, she simply smiled before responding.

    "You understand, don''t you? We are at war, hence gathering info through spies is amon thing."

    Really not divulging anything. This woman was indeed clever, but this roundabout conversation also felt a bit annoying.

    "You know that''s not what I''m asking for."

    The woman smiled even wider while remaining silent. Just as he thought she was not going to say anything, she began mentioning names.

    "Your Caerleon captain Gazef was very informative. As for the capital... it was Commander Vain of the Night Owl."

    Tristan was quite taken aback by this information. After all, the two she just mentioned were prominent figures who had served Arcadia for dozens of years. If she had not mentioned them, Tristan would have never guessed.

    Without waiting for Tristan to say anything, Illiana continued, "Well, for what they''re worth, they weren''t that easy to acquire. Moreover, other than information, we never ask more from them."

    Gazef was there when he experimented with his blood skill. As for Vain, he was ranked high enough to know what he did to the space knights. No wonder her information was so up to date.

    Tristan was d she was willing to tell him about them. However, at the same time, this made him doubt.

    This woman revealed her informants so casually. It was either she had more than just those two as her informants or she was indeed sincere to make the alliance work.

    "Anything else you''d like to know?" Illiana asked him with a smile, ignoring how he seemed to be in thought.

    "What about the number of troops you have?"

    "We have 10,000 Uruks, 2,000 warrior elves, 500 nobles, 80 at saint level, and 8 at magus level."

    Tristan was amazed by how casually she told him. However, she was not finished.

    "That''s the number known to Arcadia. In reality, we have twice the number of Uruks, 20 more elves at saint level who are in close training hoping to breakthrough to magus level, and 200 mountain trolls."

    This woman really never ceased to surprise him. Tristan had briefly learned about the dark elves, and what Illiana previously said was true. Arcadia only knew the first numbers she mentioned. This led to his next question.

    "With those forces and your talent in battle, you should be able to at least battle against Arcadia properly and probably win, so why haven''t you?"

    Still with the same smile, Illiana answered in a casual tone, "Believe it or not, we treat the war against Arcadia as practice. We''ve never really wished to beat them."

    "Why?" Tristan insisted on getting the answer.

    "As much as we don''t like those humans, they still have their uses."

    It was indeed such an arrogant reason. Even so, Tristan could see that if their actual number of troops was really as she said, then they would be able to destroy Arcadia with ease.

    Seeing that Tristan was satisfied with her answers, the female dark elf then said.

    "Now it''s my turn to ask."

    "Alright, spill it." Tristan nodded.

    She was willing to answer his questions even though they were quite strictly confidential, so it was only right that he at least heard her out.

    "All these questions and doubts, you seem more to act like a human than an elf," she looked into Tristan''s eyes. "Tell me, what are you, really?"

 Chapter 333 - Honest**

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    "What do you mean?" I am an elf of course"

    Tristan gave a confident answer. Unlike in the past, where he was confused due to his disfigured body from the experiments, now he has received the memory fragments and his body is on the path to bing the perfect blood monarch form. There was no part of himself that was still human, and therefore, he is an elf.

    However, the answer was not enough to convince the dark elf woman.

    She approached closer and walked around him, watching each part of his body up close. Afterwards, she touched his shoulders and removed Tristan''s clothes, showing the toned torso underneath.

    "It appears that you are right, however, there are some concerning reports that I couldn''t believe. You won''t mind that I check to confirm, would you?"

    Without waiting for an answer, Illiana took a step in front of him, and now they were so close their heads were about to touch each other. With a careful, reassured motion, her hand started crawling down from his shoulder to his waist, before she pulled down his pants.

    "i can assure you that everything is in a good condition." Tristan smirked.

    The woman''s hand did not stop, she gave a smirk in response, and her touchesnded on his undergarment. With the tip of her fingers, she touched Tristan''s dick gently.

    "Well then¡­ you will allow me to see it for myself, right? I''d like to be thorough with my checks." She whispered, her hot breath tickling his ear.

    Illiana led him towards the edge of the bed and pushed him down, and as Tristany sprawled on the bed, she yanked off his undergarments with a quick flick of her hand. She crawled onto the bed and looked at the shaft that is slowly erging with a glint of interest in her eyes.

    However, to his surprise, Illiana stopped staring at the massive shaft and touched her ring, taking out a small ck knife encrusted with beautiful red gems. She let the tip of the knife touch his shaft, and his arousal quickly turned into pure panic.

    "What the¡­"

    Still with the cold knife taking hostage of his little brother, Illiana crawled up and whispered to him.

    "You are a liar, and a fool, Lord Tristan."

    "Urr.. what do you mean¡­"

    The bewildered and shocked Tristan could only manage a half hearted question.

    "I have known that you are a human in an elf body even before we met, yet despite that, I sill wanted to give you a chance!" The woman''s anger, despite her looking like she was about to scream, still sounded tranquil.

    But it was clear, the usually calm woman was pushed to her rage breaking point.

    "Alright, alright, you can exin it nicely without hurting my little one, alright?! He''s innocent!"

    "Hah!" The woman gave a single mockingugh. "Like I don''t know about that woman who fell for it¡­ you men are all the same."

    Illiana then proceeded to exin, how she purposely create the Uruk battle challenge to give Tristan The stage he needed to show off his strength to the king and the other elven race elders.

    "With that, and yet, you still decided that you could afford a direct war against the dark elves? You are making a grave mistake!"

    The elf woman grasped Tristan''s little brother hard, her strength enough to cause Tristan to wince slightly, and moved her knife closer.

    "You need our help! You need me! You need a partner like me! Someone to help organize your army, do you need someone to hammer it through your thick skull!?"

    This time however Tristan gave her a serious stare. He put both his hands on to her face and pulled her closer.

    "I think I am in love."

    The woman was startled and Tristan used that split second confusion to exert all his strength, and he managed to turn their position around. She was now beneath him, and he caged her with both his arms.

    "What do you think you are doing!!" She shouted, indignant at the treatment.

    Triatan pinned her down, but the woman was a peak crescent level magus elf, and Tristan had to use every ounce of his strength just to hold her down. She really tried to break free with everything she could, but Tristan took advantage of his position to use his own weight to restrain him..

    As her struggle ceased slightly, Tristan decided to grab her chin and kiss her soft lips.

    Their tongue danced with each other, a dance for dominance to conquer their shing beliefs. She seems to have decided to humor him, parting her lips slightly to allow him better ess. Right as their tongue intertwined however, Tristan felt a sharp pain

    "Ohh!!"

    Tristan stared at her beautiful, wless face, his admiration broken by the enraged struggles of the woman beneath him. However, he found her anger to be her most beautiful expression. There was something that stirred heat into his loins when he saw the normally calm, intelligent woman became red with rage.

    Once again, she tried to push him down and release herself, but Tristan''s position advantage held true, and at this moment, she was unable to outstrength him.

    "Don''t you dare! I am the princess of the dark elves!!"

    Tristan did not tremble in the slightest despite her taunting

    "And i am Tristan the blood elf, your Monarch! How dare you try to y with me! Now bow under mymand!"

    Not waiting for her response, Tristan forcibly pulled the silky ck clothes that cover her chest, revealing the two alluring peaks hidden beneath. As her face reddened with both embarrassment and anger, Tristan did not wait for her response and used her momentary distraction to quickly devour one of them.

    "Ah! Let¡­ go¡­ of.. me.."

    The woman''s words was drowned as she started to writhe in the throes of pleasure. As her words gave in to soft moans, her fingers trembled, and she curled her toes in unrestrained delight as Tristan started to suck at the side of her neck. As he pulled away, a trail of saliva followed his lips, and he wiped it as he stared at her beautiful eyes half zed with lust.

    "I am no fool, woman! You are not doing those things for me, rather, you are doing this for yourself! Be honest with me, you are putting this little show just as a way to intimidate me, don''t you?"

    Instantly, Illiana''s grey skin burned with red embarrassment, and her formerly confident stare crumbled under Tristan''s re. Not only did Tristan manage to see her naked body, her intention has also beenid bare.

    "Now tell me, woman! Why are you doing this?"

    The formerly talkative Illiana''s words died in her throat, and she didn''t say anything, prompting Tristan to continue with her ministrations. This time, he yed with her left breast and massaged the right, the fierce yet gentle movements of his hands forcing another set of soft moans from Illiana.

    "Stoppp.. stopp it¡­ stopp"

    "Tell me!"

    Tristan nce at her flushed face again and was ready to give her another passionate kiss when she said

    "I¡­ i only wish for the strongest partner.. and.. i was hoping..."

    "I see," Tristan smiled a victorious smile. "Yes, you really are smart, and you have found what you seek."

    Tristan didn''t stop there. He pulled her long dress all the way down, spread her thighs, and ripped off her undergarments before throwing the tattered material away to a forgotten corner of the room.

    Her core has already glistened with desire, and Tristan thrust his shaft inside with a quick movement. Each of his thrusts varied in speed, giving the woman no chance to even think as she was drowned in the unending haze of pleasure from Tristan''s expert movements.

    Aaaaaaa.. Aaaaa

    The woman moaned even louder, and Tristan continued thrusting inside her. Drool dripped down the corner of her lips, and her eyes started to roll to the back of her head. The smart woman was rendered unable to think, to feel anything else other than the overwhelming pleasure Tristan provided her.

    Meanwhile, as much as Tristan wanted to feel he has a semnce of control over her, he had to admit that he has no idea who is currently manipting who. For hours, as the two fulfilled the desires of their flesh, Tristan could feel a few times that she tried to break away. However, her attempts to regain control was always half-hearted, allowing Tristan to keep being able to pull her back and continue their dance.

    With the simr strength the two possessed, they were able to keep going on, and Tristan finally spilled his seed inside her as she tipped over the edge of her own pleasure.. Their voices filled the silent room as her quivering lips sang of her release.

 Chapter 334 - Wives

    It was such an amazing evening. This was the first time Tristan had ever done it with a person as strong as him.

    It certainly felt different. It was theplete opposite of when he did it with Hererra. Unlike the dark elf, the human sorceress was very submissive and was willing to do anything to care for his needs. Unfortunately, the human girl was unable to fully satisfy him.

    Illiana, however, allowed him to perform with his utmost power as she could match him, reciprocating his every move. However, at the same time, Tristan could feel that she was very reluctant to fully submit to him.

    Tristan had to admit, the best sex he had ever had up to this point was still the one with Serene. When they were together, he could feel her sincerity despite her shyness.

    Even so, he believed that he should not judge too early. After all, it was his first time doing it with the dark elf. Not to mention, Tristan was confident that although it might take some time, eventually he could make this maniptive woman fully submit to him.

    ----

    It was hard to tell day from night within the dark territory as the morning sun was covered by the clouds of smoke, but Tristan knew that another day had passed.

    As much as he wished to have more time to tame the beautiful creature in front of him. He currently did not have the luxury of spending too much time on such a thing. Because of this, he stopped after giving the woman her second relief.

    Illiana threw herself onto the bed. Her grey skin was all sweaty, and a certain ecstasy was visible on her.

    Now that Tristan had returned the favor to her, he decided to get off the bed and start putting on his clothes.

    The woman stared at him with a look as if she was analyzing what was on his mind. After a moment of observing, she closed her eyes and began speaking.

    "All elves are the same in this aspect, you know."

    Tristan did not understand the reason she said those words out of nowhere.

    "What do you mean?"

    Illiana smiled. "We are built to only be attached to one person."

    Tristan tried his best not to show his surprise on his face. She seemed very experienced from how she acted before they began and when they did it. However, the words Illiana just said implied that she had never done it with anybody else.

    After the brief thought, Tristan turned around to look at Illiana, who still had her eyes closed on the bed.

    "I''ll certainly take care of you, if that''s what you''re wondering."

    Unsurprised, the dark elf opened her eyes as she simply responded.

    "I know you will... Not just because now you have feelings for me¡­ but also because you need me."

    "Well, that''s true. Let''s not waste any time and see your father."

    After the two tidied themselves, they went together to see the king who was currently being apanied by a few elders.

    With just a brief look, when the king saw that the two came together, he immediately startedughing out loud.

    "I never doubted that you would be able to sessfully tame him, my daughter, but¡­" the king looked at Illiana''s face. "I didn''t expect that you would also give in to him."

    Before Illiana could say anything in response to the king''s words, the king continued to speak, interrupting her thought as he turned to look at Tristan.

    "Lord Tristan, it seems that I really underestimated you! No elf has ever dared to even get close to my daughter, much less touch her¡­ You really are one of a kind."

    Upon hearing her father''s words, a hint of red crept up to her face. Seeing that he was not done speaking and was about to continue on the topic, Illiana quickly interjected, "Father! Stop it!"

    Tristan was slightly surprised seeing her reaction. Apparetnly even the clever and maniptive Illiana could be embarrassed to this extent.

    "Hahahah, alright, alright," King Vizier relented after a heartyugh. "So, Tristan! Does this mean that you have agreed to marry my daughter?"

    "Yes, Lord Vizier, I am willing to take your daughter as my wife," Tristan affirmed with a nod.

    "Very good! Very good!" King Vizier stood up with excitement. However, his next words surprised Tristan.

    "Alright then, today, you will end your marriage to the Vanyar elf and prepare yourself to marry my daughter."

    Tristan''s rxed smile unconsciously turned into a frown. This certainly did not sit well with Tristan, nor was it something he could ept.

    The king had been observing the two since they entered, so how could he not notice the clear change in Tristan''s expression?

    Seeing Tristan''s expression, the king also turned serious.

    "You don''t agree? Do you mean to tell me that you want my daughter to be your mistress!? You dare!?"

    Tristan stood firm and exined, "No! She will still be my wife, but don''t expect me to end my rtionship with my first wife!"

    The king''s expression became grimmer. He began walking toward Tristan, and the pressure with each approaching step seemed to be able to make the ground tremble.

    "You dare!? End your rtionship with the Vanyar elf or we will have war!"

    Unlike what Vizier expected, Tristan still firmly refused without budging from his position, his eyes looking straight at Vizier''s.

    "I will not! If that is what you want, then war it is!"

    Silence filled the room as none of the two parties was willing to relent. Tristan nced at Illiana to see her reaction and her opinion regarding the matter, but he soon realized something.

    She was very calm. Too calm, especially when the situation allowed for a war to be waged.

    It quickly hit him. The king was ying with him.

    When Vizier saw the hint of realization on his face, the king immediatelyughed and put his hand on Tristan''s shoulder.

    "Well done!! Lord Tristan, I myself have seven wives! As kings, we are expected to do such a thing for the future! Do you understand!?"

    Tristan was rendered speechless. The previous fearsome and daunting image of the king instantly disappeared into thin air. At the same time, he was amazed by how quickly Vizier could change faces.

    As expected, like father like daughter. Although this man seemed like someone with only brawns and no brains, he was still a bona fide king as well as the father of the cunning dark elf next to him.

    King Vizier added, "Looks like my daughter didn''t choose wrong! If you agree to my previous request, then it can only mean you cannot be trusted, but now I see you are to be trusted!"

    And like that, the tense air dissipated as easily as it came. Tristan''s smile also returned to his face when he heard those words.

    "I''m d," Tristan shortly expressed.

    King Vizierughed once more.

    "Although it''s unfortunate that she can''t be your first wife, I don''t mind her being your second wife as long as you give her the firstborn son, hahahaha!"

    As soon as he finished speaking, he called one of the elders and quickly ordered him to make the wedding preparations.

    "We have a waring, so let''s do it as soon as possible! Is three days enough time for you?"

    Although Vizier''s idea did not seem too bad, Tristan already had his own thoughts about the matter. And now that the king brought it up, Tristan spoke up.

    "I have a better idea, I wonder if Lord Vizier is willing to hear me out?"

    "Oh?" Vizier was intrigued when he heard Tristan''s words. "Let''s hear it then."

    Tristan had spent three days running around the pces of the high elves and dark elves. He still had a lot of things he needed to prepare and the enemy coulde any day, so he thought of an idea.

    "I never got the chance to be anointed as the King of Arcadia, so why don''t we do it together with the wedding?" Tristan proposed.

    Hearing the idea, Illiana nodded in approval. She was able to understand the reason, and thus agreed.

    Tristan still had not been officially known as the King of Arcadia. He would need to be epted as king if he wanted tomand effectively in the uing battle, so it could not be put aside. Not to mention, the marriage with the princess of dark elves would give him some extra reputation for stopping the longsting war.

    More importantly, the event could also be used as a reason to bring as many powerful fighters as possible into the pce of Arcadia, allowing them to be better prepared in case the space knights suddenly arrived.

    Understanding the reason, the king agreed.

    "Let''s do that, then. We''ll have your wedding in four days in the capital city of Arcadia."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 335 - Return Of The King

    Prontea, Arcadia.

    On the bright sunny day, a few figures were waiting in front of the pce in the capital city of Arcadia.

    Although the pce was still under construction because of the attack a few days ago, its grandeur could still be seen even from afar. This was especially the case at the moment, where hundreds of people were waiting for their king to return with good news for them.

    "It''s okay, Sister Hererra, don''t be sad! I also didn''t expect my brother to be such a dog! How could he find a female bitch to bang with on every corner of the street!" she cursed

    Hearing the girl say such words, the purple-haired sorceress was visibly dumbfounded. She never expected such words toe out of her mouth, especially since it was about her brother.

    As if realizing something, La flinched as soon as she finished saying those condemning words.

    "Ah, of-of course I didn''t mean you, sister! I meant..." she unconsciously waved her hands in front of her while nervously looking at the golden-haired elf in front of her, who was also staring at her awkwardly.

    "No no, I didn''t mean you either, Sister Serene! Ahhh!" she held her head in frustration. "You know what I mean, right!"

    The girls were part of the group that was standing on top of the stairs waiting for the festivity that just entered the city gate.

    As they thought about it, they turned to look in a certain direction as hundreds of dark elf soldiers, marching in formation to enter the capital.

    Rows of elven soldiers with dark grey skin and red ck armor enter the gate of the city in such a disciplined manner, each of their steps able to make a sound that gives fear to those who watch.

    Almost all of the citizens of Arcadia could not believe their eyes. Never in their entire lives had they ever imagined that such a thing would one day happen. After all, Arcadia had been enemies with the dark elves for as long as they could remember.

    As the dark elves marched into the city, the people around would stand in line. Some of them stared with obvious disbelief on their faces while many others were scared. Most of the children present hid behind their parents or siblings, while a few others curiously peeked before being pulled back.

    Behind the formation of dark elves, they could also see two conspicuous figures each riding a horse; a male elf with long white hair and a female dark elf.

    As soon as the two were in sight, the crowd began to whisper.

    "Is that him?!"

    "That must be him!"

    "So the rumors are true!"

    "So young?"

    "I can''t believe he''s our new king!"

    The further they rode into the city, the more the crowd whispered.

    "I heard he single-handedly destroyed the spaceship that attacked usst week!"

    "Is it true that he conquered the orcs on the chaotic ins?"

    "I heard he was so strong that our previous king voluntarily handed over the title."

    "That''s impossible!"

    "Aren''t you exaggerating too much?"

    "Can''t you see? Within a few days, he sessfully made peace with the dark elves!"

    "But is it just me, or does it feel as if we''re being invaded by the dark elves instead¡­"

    "No, no¡­ the only invasion I heard about was our new king invading the chamber of the dark elf princess."

    "Ain''t that too much nonsense? There''s no way."

    "Look there, see for yourself!"

    That''s right, the two were Tristan and Illiana, entering the city riding side by side. With their enhanced hearing, the two managed to pick up the topic of the crowd''s noisy whispers.

    "It''s more packed than I thought!" Tristan eximed while looking around. Although he expected some people to be wary or curious, he did not expect that this many Arcadia citizens woulde out to the streets to see theming. From the looks of it, almost everyone came.

    Illiana nced at Tristan when he heard him. "Isn''t that obvious? This event will be the foundation of the future rtionship of our two kingdoms, it''s only right for so many toe," she confidently stated.

    "The gossip they are talking about, some of them are just exaggerations"

    Illiana however keep her smile and said "You should know such rumor will be beneficial for you, me, and the kingdoms"

    Hearing her words Tristan said, "If I didn''t know any better, I would have thought that you were behind all these rumors."

    Illiana did not respond this time, and her silence made Tristan feel a little worried.

    The two rode their horses toward the pce. As they kept going, they began to approach the group of the top figures of Arcadia, and among them was also Queen Leena of the Vanyar.

    As Tristan and Illiana approached the Queen of Vanyar and her daughter next to her, the two could finally see the two elves riding together.

    Seeing the two side by side, Serene unconsciously started to tremble. A chaotic mix of emotions bubbled from the depths of her heart. Surprise, hurt, anger, disappointment, she felt them all. She took a deep breath and tightly grasped the sides of her dress, trying her best to calm down.

    The two on their horses were getting closer and she did not want them to notice.

    As if knowing how she felt, the queen next to her firmly spoke.

    "I already expected this day woulde. He is the blood monarch, after all¡­ At least we were fast enough to make you the first." the queen said with a force smile

    Hearing this, Serene felt even moreplicated. Afterall the Vanyar did the same thing to him before, so she believed that Tristan would only marry the dark elf princess for a good reason.

    With this thought, her emotions slowly subsided.

    As Tristan arrived in front of his first wife, an awkward air enveloped everyone around them, including themselves.

    Not wanting to make the situation more awkward than it should, Tristan began introducing Illiana to all of them.

    To his surprise, the dark elf princess was able to act polite. She greeted them formally without giving a condescending nor submissive impression. She was a very talented woman indeed.

    After their brief introduction, Tristan asked his top-ranking officers andpanions to enter the hall together.

    It had almost been a week since the space knights first descended to attack them, so without wasting any time, Tristan quickly asked about the progress they already prepared for him.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 336 - Spy

    Tristan had only gone for five days, but he couldn''t help but feel that the faces his elites showed to him were much differentpared to before. In fact, his feelings were right and all of these changes were because of what he had done.

    Previously, he was just an unknown elf who came basically out of nowhere. But now, he was different. Today, he just proved himself, his capability, by solving the supposedly Arcadian Kingdom''s biggest threat, the dark elves.

    Not only was he able to solve it, he also managed to forge an alliance pact with the other side.

    This proof was further solidified by the figure standing next to him. The renowned princess of the dark elves, Illiana, who was also themander in battle of the dark elves'' army. The sight of her apanying him was the key confirmation for those who didn''t believe in his achievement.

    The senior mages and the Kingsdemander in front of him had fought with Illiana and tasted her capability in the past. Their faces couldn''t help but grimace when they remembered those times.

    "Alright before we start, does anyone here like to say something first?!" said Tristan with a nonchnt attitude, but the tone he used only him that knew better what it signified.

    Tristan''s eyes wandered around before they stopped at the Night Owl, Vain. When the illustrous man noticed his king''s attention on him, the Kingsdemander quickly stepped forward and went on his knees.

    "My Lord, I am willing to ept punishment." said Vain while lowering his head.

    The man probably never thought that this day would be able toe, a day where an alliance existed between Arcadian and the dark elves. In fact, his mind was stillprehending the reality presented to him.

    Tristan ignored the man''s words as he stood up and looked at the others. "Commander Vain has been a spy for the dark elves for years." His gaze became sharp as he said, "Now tell me, how should we deal with him?"

    All the elites of the Arcadian Kingdom showed aplete look of shock, as they never expected this revtion. Vain was and had always been known to be one of the kingdom''s heroes. Hence they would definitely not believe Tristan''s words if no evidence was shown before their eyes. Fortunately, that wasn''t the case here.

    "Tell me why you do it Vain?"

    Vain lowered his head even further when he heard that. "I was desperate My Lord, I was at a deadlock in my cultivation where nothing I did could help me increase my strength. Then, the dark elves offered to help me with my darkness element cultivation and spells."

    Just like what Captain Jenkins said, this world was so backward that itcked the variety of spells that those with and without talent needed. Tristan could understand that people like Vain must be struggling when they reached the limit of their growth.

    He then turned to Tobias who understood the kingdom''sw and asked, "What is the punishment for those who betray the kingdom?"

    A reluctant expression could be seen on the old wizard''s face and he seemed very reluctant to answer, but when he saw Tristan''s serious look, he knew he had to open his mouth lest the consequences. "Death.."

    Nheless, he quickly continued his words before Tristan could say anything. "However, the previous king would consider the perpetrator''s contributions to the kingdom when meting out the punishment."

    Tristan could see how the majority of the elites nodded their heads, supporting Tobias'' words.

    "Thank you for the input Tobias, however I am not Can. And for me, betrayal is a more despicable act than cowardice and I would never, ever ept such a thing in and from my elites."

    Tristan''s words sessfully made Vain tremble. The man who was known as the Arcadian''s shadow was trembling violently, as if his life had been sucked out. The trembling became even more apparent when Tristan told him to move forward.

    "Vain, do you ept your punishment?"

    Still trembling, Vain stutteringly answered. "Y-Yes, My Lord. Yo-You have saved my life before, and now I would of course be willing to offer it back¡­"

    It was a good answer, unfortunately it wasn''t enough for Tristan to change his decision.

    Under the eyes of everyone present, Tristan put his hand on the man''s shoulder. Immediately after, a pained scream rang loudly in the air as the Kingsdemander writhed in the excruciating sensation of his shoulder being burned.

    [Heat Touch]

    The zing mes quickly engulfed Vain''s entire body. The entire process was apanied by the cacophony of the man''s screams filled with pain and agony. The elites could faintly see red glow appearing from inside Vain''s charred body, telling them that the man''s insides were being burned.

    The screams rang in the air and filled the entire room, even slightly affecting these battle-hardened elites'' minds. All of them without exception thought that this was a punishment even worse than death itself.

    When there was only an inkling of life left in Vain, Tristan finally let go of his spell and used his [Blood Synthesis] to restore the man''s burned interiors, but notpletely and only to a state sufficient to keep the man alive.

    Tristan looked at the pitiful state of the man and said, "Vain, the only reason I spared your life is because today is a good day and I don''t want to spoil it just because of you. Even so, you are relieved from your rank andmand. In addition, you will be assigned as my personal bodyguard afterplete recovery."

    With a slight gesture of his hand, half a dozen men stepped in and carried the poormander away from the hall.

    Betrayal was definitely a major offense in Tristan''s eyes. However, what he loathed the most about the situation was how the elites seemed able to forgive Vain so easily. Hence the man had to be an example for others, to etch the necessary fear in them.

    As for the decision to spare the man in the end, it was a way to keep the others'' loyalty to him. A good, bnced mix of stick and carrot was the secret in managing these capable yet somewhat proud people.

    Not forgetting, Tristan also gave the order to bring Gazef to the capital, to give them simr punishment. Then, he nced at Illiana who was standing beside him and was silent all this time as he meted out the cruel punishment.

    "What do you think? Don''t you hate me for punishing one of your spies?"

    The beautiful woman smiled and said, "No. In fact, I really am enjoying what i saw just now"

    Tristan shook his head and returned his attention to the others.. Now that one problem was solved, it was time to start the meeting.

 Chapter 337 - Preparation

    In the assembly room, Tristan went around checking the progress of the elites of Arcadian Kingdom. He wanted and needed aprehensive understanding about the manpower he had in order to deal with the iing threat as efficiently as possible.

    Wizard Faros had selected and trained three dozen high levelbatants which would then form the responder units. Their task was to be the first one to respond to and initiate the enemy while flexibly adapting to any possible changes. To put it simply, they were the vanguard.

    For that reason, half of these units would consist of the Kingsde while the other half was taken from the senior magicians. Obviously, those who were selected were the cream of the crops. The best of the best.

    Even so, Tristan evidently frowned when he heard the report.

    "It''s not enough!" He said. "We need more than that."

    Tristan told Wizard Faros to at least double the number because a measly thirty six individuals would be far from enough.

    The reason for that was because a strong, first responder unit would be extremely crucial to stop the enemy''s momentum. Their efforts would prevent the immediate chaos Tristan expected to happen and buy the time needed for further preparation.

    "I want the high elves'' flyers to be added to the units. In addition, a dozen dark elves'' fighters. All of them had to have the minimum strength of saint level." said Tristan as his head turned to a certain individual. He didn''t even realize that he subconsciously nced toward Illiana for confirmation.

    Seeing the look Tristan gave her, Illiana nodded her head subtly expressing her acknowledgement. She even offered to provide an Elf magus to the responder team, which Tristan dly epted.

    On the other hand, Serene who watched all of this happening felt strangely ufortable. The sight of Tristan and Illiana making a decision together didn''t really sit well with her. Unfortunately, there wasn''t much she could do in this meeting.

    The second matter was about the preparation regarding the twenty five cities under the jurisdiction of Arcadian Kingdom. They discussed many things and possibleplications to prevent unnecessary panic spreading among the masses.

    In the end, it was decided that some of the information, mainly those of importance, would be hidden from the citizens'' eyes. In the meantime, all the top officials of the cities were briefed about the matter.

    Suddenly, Tobias asked a question that gave everyone in the room some thought.

    "My King, what should we do with the people in the event that the enemy were much stronger than we expected?"

    In response, several solutions were submitted. Some of them were immediately dismissed due to its absurdity and impossibility, while some of them were rejected because it was impractical and inefficient.

    Through the process of elimination, they were left with two solutions that were deemed feasible and could be adapted. First was to tell them to stay in their respective cities and immediately surrender when the enemy knocked on their front door. Second was to bring and gather all of them in the capital to make thest stand together.

    The two solutions still brought debates to the elites in the room.

    There were naturally pros and cons.

    Some found the idea to be outrageous and believed it would note into fruition. Some thought bringing all the citizens together would make them easier to defend. Another rejected the solution as a jam-packed capital crowded with five hundred thousand people would only make the task of defending harder than it had to be.

    Tristan, however, had a different alternative.

    He abruptly turned to Serene, which thetter noticed. His sudden action sessfully shook her.

    "Wife, I have an important task for you."

    Tristan wanted Serene to prepare an evacuation n. In case of emergency including but not exclusively of what Tobias said, he wanted the citizens to be brought to hide in the Evergreen Forest. What Serene had to do was to fill in the details and specific measures.

    The Arcadia elites were unexpectedly shaken with the idea, which weird Tristan out as an act of evacuation was the norm in case of emergency back on Earth. However, it only took them a few seconds to realize that what Tristan proposed seemed to be the best alternative.

    The Evergreen Forest, after all, expanded its reach all the way to west of Arcadia. With enough preparation which included designated shelters and stocked food, the ce could indeed be a good location for people to hide until the battle was over.

    "I am sure the wood elves will fully support this project. Queen Serene will take care of our people''s safety."

    Those words sessfully brought a smile to Serene''s face. She nodded her head readily, epting the task.

    Now, the next matter; the defense and themunication during the battle, which would depend much on Professor Emmet''s research result and preparation. However, this would have to wait after the meeting as he had things to show at the O district.

    This left Tristan for onest matter to discuss. His wedding and appointment ceremony of bing the Arcadian King.

    "How is the guest list?" asked Tristan. "How many people have confirmed to attend?"

    The wedding would be held in three more days, hence he needed to make sure that people woulde. He couldn''t afford to lose his prestige on such a significant event of his life. This event was prepared partly for the sake of marriage itself; its main purpose was to bring as many renowned individuals, in other word, topbatants, to the capital.

    The wedding would be held for a week, hoping by then that the guests would be convinced to stay and defend the city together. Unfortunately, Tristan found that many top elves wouldn''te to his wedding, to be exact, the wood elves and none of the high elves.

    Queen Leena stepped forward and said, "I apologize for not being able to attend.. You already know where we will be heading to at that time."

    Apparently, the invitation from the high elves to enter the Mist had more influence than he thought. Illiana also said that a few of her elders would also not be able to attend the wedding as they epted the high elves'' invitation. Naturally, she couldn''t stop nor prohibit them from doing that.

    Tristan let out a sigh. This situation where they were divided could very well be the reason for them losing the iing battle.

    Even though Tristan was annoyed by the situation, he would definitely not show it outwardly.. He ended the meeting and headed to the O district to check on the professor''s progress.

 Chapter 338 - Big Guns

    "My Lord, you havee!"

    When Tristan stepped foot into the O district, he saw that a part of the area had been covered in building materials;dders, heavy tools, and piles of materials could be seen all around.

    The professor''s old research building could be seen as decently impressive, but it has now grown, taking over the street and half a dozen other buildings in its expansion.

    In addition to the building materials, Tristan saw pieces and chunks of metalying around. In the middle of the ce, there was the charred metal framework and remains of what seems to be a few parts of the space knight''s spaceship being surrounded by workers.

    For his projects, Professor Emmet has employed hundreds of workers with different specializations, and half of them were the O district residents themselves.

    "I am sorry for the mess my Lord, we do the best we can with the given time." The professor said politely.

    Tristan nodded in understanding. Today, he came with a few of the elites from different divisions in Arcadia, and among them, Tobias and Illiana could be seen.

    He gave a quick nce at the professor''s group upon arrival, and was surprised to see his sister among them.

    "Why are you here?" Tristan asked, bewildered.

    As expected from her, La gave a mischievous smile and said. "Well, I have been here for at least a few weeks now, and you only just noticed? What did I do to deserve such an inattentive brother?" She asked dramatically.

    Tristan approached her, ced his arm on her shoulder, and said. "My apologies, dear sister¡­ You know that I have been¡­ upied."

    "Yes, of course, I can see that." La nodded, but her eyes darted at the dark elven girl standing next to him, making her opinion of the topic clear.

    Not wanting to have to discuss the details pertaining to that incident, Tristan nced at the professor and quickly changed the topic.

    "Show me what you have, professor?"

    The skinny professor with the strange hair that seemed to stand as if frizzed by electricity nodded, and Tristan was escorted towards one of therge devices ced outside the building. The devices were both made of grayish metal and every so often, sparks of brilliant blue electricity shone from it.

    There were two devices, one of them was the portable turret.

    [Type 52 sma Turret]

    [Portable manned turret]

    [Length 3.05 meters, Width 1.2 meters, Height 1.62 meters, weight 120 kilograms]

    [Ammunition - superheated sma]

    [Rate of fire - fully automated]

    [Effective range 185 meters]

    They managed to secure 4 of these turrets from the space knights.

    The other one next to these turrets is about the same size and has longer tubes. But it doesn''t seem to have any facilities for manned operation.

    "These are the rail guns they had installed on the ships. There were a dozen of them but we only managed to secure 6."

    [Electromaic railgun]

    [Length 4.35 meters, Width 1.1 meters, Height 1.82 meters, weight 210 kilograms]

    [Ammo types 50 cm shrapnel]

    [Rate of fire - 40 rounds per minutes]

    [Effective range 550 meters]

    "Both of these weapons would be able to st through any of our current steels up to tier 3 equivalents."

    Tier 3 weapons are nothingpared to it, so that meant, even the elven''s best steel mithrils made by the finest cksmiths would not be able to hold against the st of those turrets.

    It was no wonder the knightdes were easily destroyed by the rail guns in the attack. Tristan was even more sure when he remembered how the space knights immediately surrendered after he managed to secure those weapons.

    The professor led them around the building to another side of a massive room, and showed a different kind of gun. This time about three times the size of the turrets and with a core that pulsed with energy at its center. Tristan recognized it as a part of the space cruiser''s cannons.

    [Ion ster - the disintegrators]

    [Length 7.25 meter, Width 3.1 meter, Height 2.92 meter, weight 450 kilogram]

    [Ammunition - high power Ion]

    [Rate of fire - 2 st per minutes]

    [Effective range 3500 meters]

    This was the cannon that managed to vaporize the pce walls and one of the Arcadian wizards to ashes in one shot. It has more than enough power to match any material the whole elven race possessed.

    The professor had a hard time vaging it because it needed a high amount of power, and the original power source was destroyed due to the battle.

    "I managed to fix it but we don''t have the necessary device to generate power to let it shoot in its most powerful mode. The power generator we took from another ounder ship could only shoot one st with half its original power before the core is drained out. I will still need to find more adequate substitutes before these weapons can reach their original power."

    Tristan knew this Ion ster is the main weapon needed to destroy the enemies'' ships, hence it is important to get it running on their optimal power levels.

    He suddenly thought of something and inquired of Captain Siegfried of the space knights.

    "Captain, your ship has a working power generator, I wonder if it could be used for this?"

    Tristan then informed them of the location of the space knight ship that was buried under the sands. The professor nodded at his exnation, took note of the coordinates, and promised Tristan to send a team to help retrieve it.

    Other than these three big guns, there are hundreds of handheld guns. The O district has started creating a firing team for the purpose of testing and using them and La was one of those chosen to do so.

    These weapons were the same ones he took from the space knights'' arsenal. If the wielder is trained properly, it would make amon fighter be able to defeat a kingsde fighter. It was why the weapons from the space knights were seen as a valuablemodity and now it was his to use to defend the elven race from threats beyond their.

    After showing the weapon, Professor Emmet asked Tristan for a bit of time and brought him deeper inside the building. In this ce, it was rtively cleaner, and no tools were scattered around. Everything was ced in its proper ces, presumably to prevent idents. As they walked in, the professor exined that he brought Trisan here to show him something he managed to take from the space knights.

    Something that was even more useful than the weapons.

 Chapter 339 - Radar

    The professor took Tristan and the others to a particr room. Just as the door opened, they were greeted by arge screen facing them, and on it were pictures with lights. A few of the Arcadian elites who were not used to such a thing had amazed expressions on their faces.

    "My lord, we sessfully managed to take out the space knights'' radar and attached it to this monitor," Professor Emmet reported after the door was closed.

    A moment after Professor Emmet finished speaking, the pictures on the screen changed. Recing them were rough lines that quickly formedrge undefined shapes. It took Tobias a second before he recognized that the shapes formed by the lines were the continent where Arcadia was located.

    The shapes also showed a few markings and a blinking dot. Upon seeing that Tristan''s gaze was on the markings, the professor exined that they represented the 24 cities in Arcadia.

    "The location of the blinking dot is transmitted from the device that we asked the eagle riders to carry," Professor Emmet exined further.

    The group could see that the blinking dot was moving further from the location that appeared to be the capital city.

    Afterward, the professor brought the group toward arge table on the side. As he arrived in front of the table, he took a bracelet from the table.

    As soon as Professor Emmet took the bracelet, he began exining how it was a device that could both send and receive messages. Not only that, but it could also easily find and connect to other identical bracelet devices. The functions of this device were just like mobile phones, and it was definitely a better solution than thosemunication stones.

    "This is fantastic!"

    Although this kind of technology could be considered average and perhaps even slightly low to Earth''s standard, it could not be denied that this device could greatly benefit the current Arcadia.

    Tristan was satisfied. With a radar, a beacon, andmunication devices like this, he could now easily make the first responder unit to be very reliable.

    Thinking of the formation of the first future responder unit for Arcadia, Tristan immediately ordered for the device to be quickly mass-produced. He also asked for the devices to be distributed to the Arcadian elites as well as the governor of the 24 Arcadian cities as soon as they were avable. For himself, the professor made it to be able to connect with the OPR device that was ced in between his left eye and ear.

    "You''ve worked hard, Professor. From the gun to these devices, they''re all really well-made."

    Tristan''s praise was not without basis. After all, with the current technology of Arcadia, being able to produce devices like these was a feat.

    The professor was ted when he heard Tristan''s praise. Even so, he held himself back.

    "My lord, I haven''t shown you the best news so far!" Professor Emmet eximed, doing his best to suppress his glee.

    "Hm?" Tristan did not expect that those were not all. "What is it?"

    The professor led Tristan to another device that he somewhat recognized. It was the radio device that the professor showed him before the space cruiser arrived above the capital city of Arcadia.

    The professor began operating the device as soon as he arrived in front of it.

    "Now, please take a look at this." As Professor Emmet spoke, his eyes that were glued to the device formed crescents.

    This time, instead of a voice sounding as Tristan expected, he saw words appearing on the screen.

    [Priority message to the 201st Gctus, you are dyed on your report. Update your status immediately.]

    Siegfried quickly told that this was a message sent from the empire headquarters.

    Tristan was amazed. Emmet kept giving him surprises one after another. Making eye contact with the professor, Tristan once again gave a thumbs up to the professor.

    When Professor Emmet took his eyes off the device to see Tristan''s positive reaction, the skinny-looking professor enthusiastically exined that with the new radar, they could now receive messages from much further than before.

    Not to mention, with the spaceship''s codes, he could now also pinpoint the location of the source of the messages. With this, Arcadia would be able to find out when the enemy wasing closer much sooner, giving them time to prepare.

    The professor also added that there was also certain data being analyzed by the space knights. Apparently captain Jenkins did order the analysis of the barrier when they enter the.

    There it was unseen to the eyes, a barrier that covered the whole. This made Tirstan wonder, who or what made such a barrier and to what purpose.

    After analysing the data from the ship and interrogating the space knight prisoners, it was safe to say that all messages that were sent after the ship entered the barrier were blocked by that barrier.

    Because of this, Arcadia could only listen to the sounds outside and could never send messages out. The knowledge from this was the main reason they could not quickly respond to Siegfried''s space crash six months ago.

    With this new information and the message that they just received, Siegfried believed that the space knights would note until at least another week.

    This was certainly good news for them. They were now certain that they had at least another week to prepare. Although a week did not seem like much time, it was still much better than nothing. They would be able to prepare much more in a week.

    Now, the only missing piece was the survivor of the space knights; the one who escaped the crash, the man with the rank of major.

    Unfortunately, despite their surveince on the area, the major was never seen in or around Arcadia.

    A magus-level fighter freely roaming around Arcadia was definitely something they should be concerned about. This unknown factor could be a problem sooner orter.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,

 Chapter 340 Gathered

    The next day, the people in Prontea, the capital city of Arcadia, were once again surprised by the number of visitors.

    Yesterday, it was the dark elves that came. Although the dark elvesing to their city was something they did not expect, it was certainly something that a few of them had imagined once or twice in their lives, albeit in a more negative context. But today, the group that came was a group that they did not expect nor have ever imagined. Hundreds of green-skinned warriors, the orcs, had arrived to fill the vicinity of the city.

    Hundreds of them entered the streets of the city, and leading the group of orcs at the forefront was a female orc.

    <o>,m They were Tristan''s newly-formed Blood Warrior tribe led by Karra, the female High Orc.</o>

    Among the group behind her were the three Orc Warchiefs Scarr, Guldan, and One Ear as well as half a dozen other Orc Warchiefs. This was the first time they all came into a human city. Aware of the difference between them and the humans, never in their lives had they even dreamt of entering a human city, much less a ce like the capital city. Not only that, but they were even being weed by its citizens.

    Each tribe brought about a dozen chosen warriors, and because of that, more than a hundred fierce-looking orcs came walking down the street of Prontea. Not to mention,bined with the thousand that were staying outside the city for obvious reasons, their arrival was not any less surprising for the citizens of Prontea than the dark elves'' arrival.

    "I''ve never seen an orc this huge!"

    "They are the warrior orcs, aren''t they? I heard that they are the rulers of the chaotic ins."

    "And all of them are our king''s vassals! I can''t believe what I am seeing! Yesterday was the dark elves, now the orcs!"

    "I am telling you, they said our new king is a god!"

    "Huh! Though I can''t deny that our king has achieved a lot of amazing featstely, that''s still too much!"

    The citizens began whispering one after another. Some of the children who were previously ying on the streets even started to point at the green-skinned orcs walking on the street. After all, this was not something they saw every day.

    Just an hour after the orcs'' arrival, before the people started to disperse, another group came to the city, surprising the citizens even more.

    At the entrance of the city, the citizens who lived nearby could see arge crowd of figures. Hundreds of Wood Elves arrived tidily, quickly filling in the streets right in front of the entrance. They were thebined group from the four kingdoms of the Wood Elves.

    The ones in green were the Vanyar Elves, and leading them in front were Elder Anmar and Master Laril. The elves with the biggest number among the four were the Mirkwood Elves in white and green tunics. There were also the Ithilien Elves in grey, andst but not least, the Forlorn Elves led by Prince Elroth.<sub> </sub>

    The hundred elves came in several disciplined formations. Fully equipped with their respective formal attires, the group of Wood Elves also began to fill in in the streets of Prontea.

    "Whoa! So many havee for the king''s ceremony tomorrow!"

    "I reckon this is the biggest event of the century! I''ve never seen an event with this many attending!"

    "Ah, I can''t wait!"

    Most of the citizens found their arrival to be a joyful and exciting asion. Some of them admired their king even more for being so capable as to have so many different races and tribese for his event. However, the few who knew did not have the slightest hint of happiness on their face. Instead, they became anxious. They noticed that all the elves and the orcs came fully equipped with weapons. It was as if they did note to celebrate, but for a war.

    The newly-arrived guests were all weed by Uriel, and after their simple greetings, they were quickly led to their lodgings as they were going to stay here for tomorrow''s ceremony and for more days toe.

    As for Tristan, he came to meet the Orc Warchiefs and the leaders of the Wood Elves. Other than Master Laril of Vanyar, there was also Tolith, the ruler of Ithilien who agreed to help them defend the capital city together.

    "We are just missing the High Elves," Elroth, the Prince of Forlorn, said after observing those who already arrived.

    As soon as he finished saying those words, three dozen elves came down from the sky. All of them flew, but none of them did it with the support of artifacts or flying beasts.

    If the arrival of the previous groups of guests brought them surprise and astonishment, the grand entrance of these elves brought awe to them, so much that they could not even speak for a while. After all, even the person who had lived the longest among them all had never seen a High Elf before.

    And the High Elf leading the rest was Theon.

    It appeared that all the guests they were expecting had already gathered here. Added with the dark elves who arrived yesterday, this was probably the biggest gathering of Arcadia''s strongest individuals. Even the strong Arcadian elites felt overwhelmed by their presence.

    Tristan, however, did not look at them the same way. Observing them, he calcted in his mind a few times. They definitely had a lot when it came to their number and none of them could be considered weak at all, but even after adding in the things they had prepared beforehand, Tristan still found that they were not enough. Not even close. Even so, this was all he could get. He had to make do with what he had.

    Tomorrow was certainly going to be one busy day. It would be the day of him anointed as the King of Arcadia.

 Chapter 341 Ceremonies

    Today was going to be a joyful day for both Tristan and Arcadia as a whole. On this eventful day, they were going to have two consecutive events; the marriage between Tristan and the Dark Elf Princess Illiana and his coronation as the King of Arcadia.

    Elves generally do not like being in crowded ces, so it was already decided that the wedding ceremony was going to be held in the pce this morning.

    Fortunately, ample preparations were already made the day before, so they did not have to go through too much and could quickly proceed to the wedding ceremony. After both the bride and the groom were done with their preparations, they quickly proceeded to be on their way to the site of the wedding ceremony.

    As the bride and groom, Illiana and Tristan walked side-by-side until they arrived in front of the entrance of the grand hall. The closer they walked to the door, the clearer they could hear the melody from inside the hall. When the door was opened and the two entered, they were greeted by the sight of esteemed guests on each side of the hall.

    All the important figures in Prontea were present; from humans, Dark Elves, Wood Elves, High Elves, and even the orcs closer to the door at the back. Step by step, the two walked closer to the altar apanied by the music. At the moment, it felt as if the two were the center of the world. The gaze of everyone present was on them.

    Everyone, including Serene.

    As soon as the two stood in front of the Arcadian priest, the priest began speaking to start the wedding ceremony. However, Serene could not hear any of the words. Herplete attention was on the pair of bride and groom in front of her. As someone close to the groom, she got the privilege of being in the front row. But this did not make her feel any better. Instead, the smiles of the two in front of her looked so clear.

    It was suffocating.

    She silently took a deep breath while clenching her other hand in front of her to calm down. She wanted to look away from the smiling pair in front of her, but her eyes were firmly stuck to them. The longer she looked at them, the more her reluctance bubbled. She felt as if it was going to explode anytime.

    The night before, she thought that she would be fine by this day, but she obviously did not feel any better. She clenched her hand even tighter.

    ''It''s for the peace of the kingdom.''

    As if hypnotizing herself, Serene repeatedly chanted inside with her eyes closed. Gradually, her heart began to calm down, and her mouth even curved into a faint smile.

    Right.

    When she opened her eyes, the wedding ceremony had just ended. She felt as if she just missed something important, but it was probably for the best. She did not have to see anything she did not want to see.

    She unconsciously breathed out a sigh of relief.

    ¡­

    p Outside the pce, tens of thousands were already waiting to witness the coronation of their new king. With the wedding ceremony over, the coronation was next on the list. As Tristan prepared himself to greet the citizens outside the pce balcony with Serene and Illiana on each side, Tobias was opening the coronation with a few words to the citizens.</anda>

    The two women next to him were also preparing themselves to walk with him when it was time, but Tristan noticed something off. At a corner in the VIP rows, a girl was smiling bitterly.

    It was La, his little sister.<sub> </sub>

    Ignoring the eyes on him, Tristan quickly walked toward her. Even La was slightly taken aback when she saw her brother walking toward her.

    "What happened?" Tristan asked as soon as he was in front of her.

    La pursed her lips. It was clear that she was reluctant, and even she herself was aware of this. However, when she looked at her brother''s worried expression, she could not help but speak.

    "Brother, a lot of things have been going on, and I''m happy for you, but¡­" she looked down, "It''s as if I don''t recognize you anymore."

    Her small voice trembled as she spoke.

    Hearing her worry, Tristan held her hands. With a warm smile, he reassured, "La. I''m still me, and no matter what happens, I''ll always be me. I promised to protect you, remember? It''s us against the world."

    Tears flowed from La''s eyes when she heard those words. When Tristan was still silentlyforting her, Tobias announced his name, signaling that it was time for him to greet the citizens outside. However, Tristan acted as if he did not hear him. With one hand still holding La''s hands, Tristan used his other hand to stroke her hair.

    Meanwhile in the distance, although Serene could not hear what they were talking about, she still felt bad for the little girl. At the same time, she could not help but look at Tristan, who was gentlyforting her.

    Looking at the scene, she unconsciouslypared it to the scene that had been in her mind for a while, his smile in the wedding ceremony with Illiana.

    ''It''s different.''

    The look on his eyes was different. His attitude toward La and his attitude toward Illiana was also different.

    When she thought of this, she realized something. She did not want Tristan to treat her the same way he treated Illiana. She wanted him to treat her the same way he treated La. Realizing this, the sour feeling in her heart disappeared.

    After consoling La for a bit longer, Tristan finally walked toward the balcony and the two women on standby followed. As soon as the three all stood on the balcony, Tristan greeted the citizens below.

    "Arcadia, I am Tristan, your new king! The wood elves at the west, the orcs of the south and the dark elves of the north are now one! Are all Arcadia! Rest assured as from now on, as my people, you are all under my care! Bow before the Monarch and we shall conquer all our enemies!"

    The citizens fervently cheered when they heard those words. Serene and Illiana also brightly smiled while they looked at the cheering citizens, but Tristan startled as soon as he finished speaking.

    Those words he just said, he can somehow feel it was not himself, it was the words that came but from the monarch''s memories. This made him think of La''s words.

    His heart shook. At this point, how much of himself was actually him?

 Chapter 342 His Women

    The ceremony ended with a huge party which led to the wedding night. It was at this moment that Tristan realized the awkwardness of having two wives.

    As he walked the hall towards the two rooms, a beautiful woman was already waiting for him in the hallway. It was not Illiana nor Serene; the woman was none other than the purple-haired wizard, Hererra.

    The girl was trying to show as muchpliance as she could as she asked, "Will you be needing my service tonight, my lord?"

    Tristan only shook his head in response. He was already having a headache thinking of which room to choose between the two tonight. He did not want to make things moreplicated by bringing Herrera into the middle of all this.

    One was the wife he just married today while the other was the one he knew was very dissatisfied with the situation and might hold a grudge because of it. Tristan was not proud of what he did to Serene, however, he could not deny the fact that he did not care much about having two wives even if he tried.

    In the end, Tristan med it all on the blood elf memory within him. The monarch must have had too many lovers in his previous lives, so many that a memory fragment could even make him feel no guilt with what he did.

    After thinking about it back and forth, he decided not to join either of their rooms as he had no ns of having anything to do with any tiring drama tonight. But just as he turned around about to walk away, he heard the sound of one of the doors opening. When he looked back, he saw the Wood Elf Princess Serene walking out of her room and approaching him.

    "You should not keep your new mate waiting," she said with a faint, almost unnoticeable smile on her face

    Tristan was slightly surprised when he heard this. Even so, he did not show anything and only casually replied, "Don''t worry, I believe she won''t mind. What are you doing out?"

    "I came to say goodbye," Serene calmly answered. As she said those words, her expression remained the same.

    Tristan took a deep breath. Although he knew that she was not happy with his decision of marrying Illiana, he did not expect that it would be to this extent. Holding himself back from furrowing his brows, he looked into her eyes and asked, "Are you really that bothered with what happened that you want to leave?"

    In response, Serene gave him a slight smile before exining, "My apologies, my lord. You are my king now, I don''t dare... I only wish to start the task you gave me."

    The task Serene mentioned was the one for her to prepare the forbidden forest as a sanctuary for the Arcadian people in case things go bad. Serene starting her task was definitely a good thing, but for some reason, her calm tone and gestures annoyed him instead.

    The Princess of Vanyar had always been a lively elf. Tristan was more used to and preferred the elf who always honestly showed him how she felt. From her words and tone of speaking, it seemed that she was trying to reassure him, but her being so calm and obedient only made him feel more concerned.

    When Serene saw the expression on his face, she realized that Tristan could not ept such an answer. She immediately added with a smile, "You did the right thing marrying her. For the first time in 2,000 years, Wood Elves and Dark Elves can finally work together."<sub> </sub>

    She took a deep breath before continuing, "I hope for your safety and sess in theing battle. Please take care, my lord."

    As soon as she finished speaking, she bowed to him and quickly left as she decided that it would be better for her not to hear Tristan''s reply.

    Even the noisy Hererra became silent when she saw this. She had known Serene for quite some time, so she decided not to meddle as she could feel how Serene felt.

    Tristan only took a deep breath and silently looked at Serene''s back as she walked away. When he saw that she was already gone, he decided to enter the room of his new bride, Illiana.

    When he opened the door, the dark elf was carefreely sitting on therge bed. However, to his surprise, she was not in her nightgown, but in casual formal clothes.

    "Has she left yet?" the dark elf asked while casually swinging her legs.

    Hearing her knowing question coupled with her attitude made Tristan suspect her. After all, with her ability, it was not impossible to make Serene do that.

    "Did you have anything to do with it?" Tristan straightforwardly asked.

    Although there was no 100% guarantee that she would tell him the truth, considering the situation, it was better to immediately ask about it instead of going in circles to get her to speak.

    Illiana smiled. "I''m ttered, but no. You should know as well, for Wood Elves, Serene the Valkyrie always acts following her emotions. She''s just too predictable."

    It seemed that Illiana was able to predict a lot of things. And from the looks of it, not only could she predict Serene''s actions, but she even predicted his thoughts right now. Having predicted that Tristan wished to quickly start the preparation for the battle, Illiana had actually prepared the map of Arcadia in advance.

    "Now that we have the real number of the forces gathered in Arcadia, we can start nning," she said with a hand on the mapid on the table.

    Tristan quickly sat next to her to start their discussion, but before he could tell her that they could start, the dark elf nced at him and asked.

    "Are you sure you don''t need a release tonight? ''Cause if you do, you should ask the girl outside to help you with that first."

 Chapter 343 The Forces

    It waste at night, but the two newlyweds did not waste any time acting like a couple. Instead, Tristan and Illiana were busy, the tables and floor lined with so many scrolls and maps as they drew up ns for the uing battle.

    Usually, Tristan would jump straight to satiating his desires, but the uing battle weighed heavy in his mind, and Illiana was prepared for it.

    "These are the information about the number of forces we gathered here in the capital."

    When Tristan saw how detailed the list was, he was once again in awe by the dark elves'' initiative.

    [Blood Warrior Tribe]

    [Leader - Ghrall - Orc OverLord]

    [Orc Warchief : Karra, Scarr, Guldan, One Ear and two more]

    [Orc Champions: 95]

    [Uruks: 2890]

    [Orcs Grunts: 6120]

    [Orcs Gretchin: 1435]

    [Wood Elves]

    [Magus - Laril of Vanyar, Tolith of Ithilien]

    [Saint :Elroth and 32 more]

    [Elven warriors : 3250]

    [Dark Elves]

    [Magus - Illiana, Rogar, Dios, and two more]

    [Saint : 20]

    [Elven warriors : 2500]

    [Ururks : 10.000]

    [High Elves]

    [Saint - Theon and 30 more]

    [Elven warriors : 200]

    [Arcadia]

    [Magus: Tobias, Cecilia, Faros]

    [Saint : Sterling, Vain and 42 more]

    [Kingsde : 98]

    [Arcadia Knight : 4000]<sub> </sub>

    Tristan read through all the information, and his gaze turned pensive. Something was weighing his mind as his eyes darted all around the amount of forces they obtained. It was too little, and he couldn''t help but feel worried about the safety of this kingdom.

    "This is not enough." He muttered to himself, but the dark elf was still able to hear it. She stared at him, trying to understand what was currently bugging him.

    After a pause, the dark elf added. "This is already more than half of all the avable forces in thisnd. It was made from thebined might of Arcadia, the wood elves, the dark elves, the high elves, and the orcs. Even with half the forces we have gathered up here in the capital¡­ was it not enough?"

    Tristan took a deep sigh. Indeed, he has to admit that Illiana is a talented tactician and a smart woman, but she had spent all of her life in a civilization that somehow refused to advance beyond the middle ages in human world terms. Meanwhile, Tristan has watched a lot of sci-fi stories and movies, and he has an inkling of the kind of forces he would probably face.

    Thanks to that, Tristan could imagine the true strength of the Omega empire. For now, if the information he received regarding the strength of the enemy was correct, he should be fine, while if the enemy has something like a particr sized base that could obliterate the enemy in one hit, there was no way he could have eked out a win. If that was the case, Tristan would be better off surrendering and giving up for both his and his citizens'' sake.

    Professor Emmet, with the help of Siegfried, calcted that at minimum, the enemy would enter battle with a minimum of half a dozen space cruisers as a normal response unit for a missing space cruiser.

    Assuming the enemy would go in with the minimum amount of forces, that would mean they have to face 15 plus magus level fighters, 300 plus saints, 600 space knights, and 30.000 space soldiers.

    Such was the minimum expected amount of force. It means, there is still the very tangible possibility that they will send more. In the worst case scenario, they may even send double or even triple the numbers listed. Even if they only have to contend against the minimum amount of forces mustered by their enemy, it is very difficult to win.

    In the Arcadia Alliance, here now at the base there were only a total of 9 magus and a little over 100 saints.

    In other words, even if the oue of the battle was only determined by the amount of forces they had, they were still going to lose.

    All of this did not take into ount the technology and high-quality equipment they have ess to.

    "They have more forces than us, they have better equipment, and they have ess to flight. That will increase the difficulty of this battle by tenfold"

    Tristan sighed while he stared at the scrolls and maps once more. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are running out of options.

    They stayed silent for a while, both embroiled in their own thoughts. They know that although Professor Emmet has prepared a cannon and guns for their own usage, it would still be too far from enough to sessfully drive away the invaders.

    Right as Tristan almost lost hope, Illiana spoke.

    "If you are that worried about the avability of equipment for our forces, I think we should ask for help from the dwarves hiding in the impassable mountains. They love their seclusion, and it''s rare to find them outside the mountains, but we are still in this situation together, and our problem is their problem, too."

    What she said quickly brightened up Tristan''s mood. This situation may be the best time to ept the dwarves'' invitation, after all, he did help the cksmith master Belot along with his two apprentices Bofur and Bifur.

    "Yes! That would be really helpful. good idea!" Tristan once again praises his new wife and Illiana always looks as if she didn''t do anything special..

    Tristan debated going there himself, however, time constraints made him decide to send an envoy there and hope for the best. He hoped the dwarves could make a weapon that is able to pierce the space knights'' armor and ships.

    Now, the other factors have mostly been taken into consideration, but Tristan believed that the true deciding factor of the battle was the power of Magus.

    Unfortunately, Magus was in short supply and high demand, and there are not many people who could be a magus even though they could train thousands of people with magical potential.

    At this moment, Tristan was once again irritated with the Mist expedition held by the high elves. If only the other remaining Magus did note for the expedition into the mist, Tristan calcted that Arcadia might have just enough to even out the odds in their favor

    Tristan took a deep breath. Unfortunately, focusing on issues he could not solve will only waste time. He has done every preparation he could, and it is time to focus on cultivating his own strength.

    There were only days left before the enemy woulde, It''s time to increase his own capabilities.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 344 Training

    In the morning, Tristan brought the dark elf princess Illiana and the purple-haired magician Herrera to follow him.

    Before he went to rest the previous night, he had asked Tobias for a ce where he could practice without breaking the pce''s property or causing any casualties. Without asking too much, the old wizard led him to a ce.

    Tristan led the two through the secret passage following the path that Tobias previously showed him. After about two minutes of going down and a few turns, they finally arrived in front of arge underground area.

    Tristan was surprised when he saw Tobias at the side of the entrance. Although he did expect that someone would be here to exin to him about the ce, he did not expect that Tobias would personallye.

    "My king, I have arranged everything as you ordered," Tobias briefly reported. As Tristan already told him that he was going to use the underground practice area the previous night, Tobias made sure to inform the elder magi about it so they would not disturb Tristan''s practice. The elder magi were a bit surprised by the sudden notice, but none of them made trouble.

    The underground practice area was about the same size as the grand hall above, only shorter in ceiling height. Neatly scattered in the room, they could see several floating orbs illuminating their surroundings. Although the room was in with gray walls surrounding it, the two women still looked around curiously, one more discreet than the other. In the end, Herrera could not contain her curiosity.

    "My lord, this ce is¡­?" Herrera turned to look at Tristan and asked. Meanwhile, even though Illiana did not say anything, she also turned to look at Tristan.

    "Practice room for elder magi," Tristan briefly answered while looking around. There were a lot of training facilities in the area, from magic training dummies used to practice their uracy to various materials used to check the destructiveness of their spells. Tobias briefly exined the functions of the facilities. When the old wizard saw that Tristan had understood, he excused himself and left.

    Not paying any attention to the leaving Tobias, Tristan turned to look at the row of tes made of various different materials. Among them were also tes of tier 2 ck steel and tier 3 mithril.

    ''These will be a good ce to practice indeed.''

    First, Tristan looked at the spells that he had mastered.

    [Heat Touch - Tier 1]

    [Heat Detection - Tier 1]

    [Fire Aura - Tier 2]

    [Fire Ball - Tier 3]

    [Firewall - Tier 4]

    Looking at his list of spells, Tristan could not help but let out a sigh. Tristan was reminded of the lieutenant of the space knights. Even though the man only had the rank of a lieutenant, he knew and had mastered [Hellfire]. The opponent had numerous tier 5 and 6 spells, yet he had only mastered tier 4 spells. If he wanted to have a chance of winning against them, he also had to learn stronger spells.

    For this, Tristan took out a box. Inside there was aplete collection of the dark elves'' fire spells given by his new father-inw, the dark elf king, as part of the wedding dowry.

    "My father likes you that much," Illiana remarked when she saw the contents of the box. Those scrolls did not just contain ordinary spells; they were rare spell scrolls that only the dark elves, the master of fire spells, knew.

    Hererra could not help take a peek at the box. When she saw the contents of the box, she became ecstatic. Meanwhile, Tristan started browsing the scrolls and took one of the lower-tier scrolls first. Tier 3 should be low enough to start his training.<sub> </sub>

    [Ignite], a tier 3 fire spell. Following the scroll''s guidance, Tristan poured energy into his spirit core and channeled it into his hands. After a while, he could feel burning heat gathering on his palms. At the same time, the marking on the scroll dissipated, signifying that Tristan had sessfully learned the tier 3 spell.

    "Wow, my lord, you learn so fast!"

    Hererra was there when he learned his first few spells, and she still clearly remembered how it took him an hour before he could master the tier 3 [Fireball] at that time. This showed that his proficiency in fire elements had improved.

    To test out the spell, Tristan touched one of the arranged tes in front of him. As soon as he used the spell, the scorching fire instantly bent the tier 2 ck steel backward.

    Herrera, who had been silently watching Tristan since he took out the scroll, let out a gasp when she saw him bend the tier 2 ck steel te.

    Herrera''s eyes widened. It was just a tier 3 spell, yet Tristan could make it bend a tier 2 material so quickly. The ck steel bent so much in less than two seconds! If someone else told her this was a tier 3 spell, she would have thought they were taking her for a fool.

    Her eyes sparkled.

    On the other hand, even though Illiana was also slightly impressed, she was much calmer. After all, she was a dark elf. A tier 3 fire spell was not really much in her eyes.

    Tristan turned to look at the bent te again. ''[Ignite]¡­ From the looks of it, it''s somewhat simr to [Heat Touch]. But unlike [Heat Touch], [Ignite] doesn''t just emit heat; fire ignites upon contact with another object.''

    With its faster and biggerbustion, it was practically an upgraded [Heat Touch].

    ''Not bad.''

    Next, he took another scroll from the box; a higher-tier one.

    [Fire Wave], a tier 4 fire spell.

    Having a rough image of what the spell would look like, Tristan took several steps back. Like before, Tristan followed the steps given by the scroll and gathered his energy in his spirit core before channeling it into his hands.

    It took him a few minutes before he could feel an explosion of fireing out of his two palms. The explosion turned into a huge wave of fire that rushed toward the row of tes.

    The area of the wave was quite wide. As soon as the wave of fire hit the tes, most of them quickly melted while the rest bent with their edges slightly melting.

    Tristan was very satisfied with this spell. Not only did it have a great amount of destructive power, but it also covered a wide area, making it extremely lethal against crowded enemies like an army. With this Tristan could use [Firewall] to defend and [Fire Wave] to attack.

    With a satisfied smile on his face, he began to browse and read more of the spells.

 Chapter 345 Fire Spells

    "This is¡­" Tristan''s eyes lit up when he saw the scroll. The spell on the scroll was [Pyro st], a tier 5 fire spell.

    ''A tier 5 spell! Herrera, who had been closely observing Tristan since the beginning, almost rushed there from her excitement.

    Seeing Tristan''s satisfied expression well as Herrera''s excitement, Illiana had a proud look on her face.

    Tristan did not wait any longer. With the scroll in his hand, he began learning the skill.

    He initially thought that it was going to be rtively on the easier side since it was basically a powerful burst of fire. However, after about a minute, his brows furrowed.

    ''It''s pretty difficult.''

    It was only after a few attempts that he got the gist of how the spell worked. And even after that, he still did not fully understand it. The spell required him to intertwine the strands of energy while making sure it kept flowing. Not only that, but he also had to slowlypress the density of the energy at the same time.

    After a while, he finally opened his eyes. However, he became annoyed. He was clearly dissatisfied with how it went and turned to Illiana for guidance.

    Herrera looked at the two. At the moment, Illiana was patiently guiding Tristan, and Tristan was listening intently. The two seemed to be absorbed in their own world; it was as if she was not there.

    She had never seen that spell before, so she was not sure that she would be of help, but still¡­ Tristan instantly called Illiana when he needed a hand without even sparing her a nce. Didn''t that show that he didn''t think that she would be of any help at all?

    ''I also specialize in fire magic, and yet¡­''

    She was never the jealous type, but she was reminded of the time where she taught Tristan his first fire spell and now that Illiana was here, it was as if there was no need for her anymore.

    She felt reced. At the same time, she was reminded of something.

    ''Is this how Serene felt?''

    With this thought, she felt that she understood Serene a little but then she quickly returned to her sense and once again happy for just being able to stand near him.

    "Like this," Illiana said as she began to demonstrate the spell. After a brief moment, mes sted to the metal tes in front of her. Even Herrera, who was at a distance, could feel the zing heat.

    After the mes disappeared, they could finally see the state of the mithril tes; her [Pyro st] melted the corners of the tes as well as their surface.

    "Try it again," Illiana pointed at another row of tes.

    Following the steps from the scroll and what Illiana just taught him, Tristan then released the energy from his palms.

    BOOM!

    A short, but powerful st of fire came out. Looking at the form of Tristan''s [Pyro st], Illiana knew that it was imperfect. Even so¡­

    ''It''s definitely more powerful than mine.''

    The dark elf could not believe her eyes. Not only did Tristan learn the skill she took almost a week to learn in such a short time, but his [Pyro st] was even stronger than hers!

    Tristan looked at the mithril tes in front of him. His [Pyro st] melted a lot more than Illiana''s [Pyro st], but it was clearly uneven. A few of them had until almost half of the surface melted, but there were also tes with less than a quarter melted.

    "That''s amazing," Illiana admitted, "with more practice, you''ll definitely be able to perfect it. It''ll be much more powerful then."

    Tristan nodded, and Illiana went back to her previous observing position on the side.

    Now that Tristan finished learning the tier 5 spell, he browsed the scrolls again. Almost right after, he found another powerful spell.<sub> </sub>

    [me Tornado], a tier 6 spell.

    Definitely something he must master, he thought.

    Without dy, Tristan began learning the spell. However, it was tooplicated. Even after repeating the steps over and over, he still could not understand it. The branching of energy to numerous different veins, the conversion andpressing of the energy strands; everything. It was too difficult.

    He looked to Illiana to ask if she could help him, but the dark elves shook her head. Apparently she has not yet mastered tier 6 fire spells.

    Seeing that Illiana could not help, Tristan went back to learning on his own with furrowed eyebrows. Even after two hours of going through it repeatedly, he still could not understand it. At this rate, he might go crazy.

    ''This won''t do.''

    He was wasting too much time.

    Although he really wanted to learn it, he knew that he had to stop. He already spent a lot of time on all the other preparations, he could not afford to waste any more time.

    With that thought, he put the tier 6 spell scroll back into the box and looked through the other lower-tier spells. Even though he preferred higher-tier spells as they had greater destructive abilities, he did not look down on lower-tier spells. After all, destructiveness is not the only thing that defines the usefulness of a spell.

    After a short while of browsing, a spell caught his eye.

    [Fire Infusion], a tier 2 spell.

    From the brief reading he did, the spell had a simr function with his tier 2 [Fire Aura]. But unlike [Fire Aura] who enhance the body with fire emery, [Fire Infusion] enhanced objects the caster touched with the fire element by transferring converted spirit energy to said objects.

    However, as Tristan did not have a spirit core and used blood essence instead, he had to convert his blood essence into the fire element. This made Tristan think.

    ''Will I be able to convert it?''

    If he could, then he would be able to use it together with his [Blood Synthesis], and if they could synchronize well...

    ''If this spell can also work with it¡­''

    Then the strength of the weapons made using his [Blood Synthesis] would be able to be stronger to a certain extent.

    Of course, how much the spell could enhance will also depend on his ability, but that did not reduce its potential. Instead, with that requirement, he might even be able to break the spell''s limit. Without dying another minute, Tristan began learning the spell.

    As he followed the scroll''s guidance, he noticed something. As a tier 2 spell, this spell was easy to learn. Its fundamentals were so simple that it took him less than a minute to fully understand everything.

    In order to test the spell, he made a blood daggett using [Blood Synthesis] and cast [Fire Infusion] on it. And upon seeing the result, his mouth curved into a slight smile.

    ''It works.''

    The blood dagger in his hand now had a fiery glow surrounding it. He walked toward a mithril te and cut it into two. It was very smooth. The blood dagger cut the te like a hot knife cutting butter, and the cut was clean.

    Tristan was quite satisfied with the result. Although his blood dagger would still be able to cut the tier 3 te even without [Fire Infusion], using the tier 2 spell allowed him to do it much more easily.

    Not only that, but the method of casting the spell allowed him to smoothly practice converting his blood essence into the fire element, so this spell was useful to him both short-term and long-term; short-term for the enhancement itself and long-term for conversion practice.

    ''If I can improve my blood essence conversion, it''ll greatly benefit me when learning more difficult fire spells in the near future.''

    He just hope it would help him master that tier 6 spells before the enemy arrived

 Chapter 346 Innate Ability

    After practicing using his fire spells and trying out variousbinations for them, Tristan decided that it was time to move on to the next stage.

    After the almost restless practice, Tristan figured that although these fire spells were powerful, he should not make it his main focus.

    Of course, this was not because they were useless. The spells were personally handpicked by him, so how could he not know how they could be useful and how he could use them? Tristan would not have picked them if he did not find them useful.

    The fire spells also made him feel more confident in his strength. With them, he would be much more versatile in the uing battle. It was just that, although these spells boosted his offensive power, it was clear to him that they would not be enough.

    In the end, it all went back to himself. He had to prepare his innate skills - his Blood Monarch powers. With this thought, Tristan checked his skills as well as the requirement for his skill upgrade.

    [Tristan]

    [Battle Power: 300]

    [Blood Monarch Body - Fifth stage]

    [Innate Skills]

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Blood Seal - Stage 3]

    [Blood Synthesis - Stage 3]

    [Blood Legacy]

    [Blood Summon]

    [Blood Essence: 78,213]

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 200,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

    Tristan frowned.

    ''It''s not enough.''

    He did not have nearly enough Blood Essence to upgrade all three of his skills.<sub> </sub>

    The only skill he could upgrade at the moment was [Blood Seal], but he did not want to do that. He simply could not see how it would be useful enough for the uing battle for him to use 50,000 Blood Essence on. The most that skill could give him to contribute to the uing battle would be for the orcs, but even that was not guaranteed.

    It would be great if he could turn a lot more Orc Champions into Orc Overlords with the upgrade of his [Blood Seal] to the next stage, but he could not be sure of how many he would be able to turn into Orc Overlords with just an upgrade of one stage. There was just no guarantee.

    Although he was slightly tempted to try and find out, he currently did not have the luxury to gamble, especially using his Blood Essence.

    While it might be true that having dozens of Orc Overlords who were resistant to magic attacks could be useful, with the battle involving a lot of enemies attacking them from the air, his orcs would not be the ideal option to invest too much in.

    If he chose to upgrade that skill despite having enough to upgrade one of the other two, he would only be wasting his precious Blood Essence.

    His current best option was to upgrade [Blood Synthesis] since it would boost his offensive ability tremendously, but an upgrade to the next stage required 200,000 Blood Essence. For him to reach that amount, he needed almost triple the amount he had at the moment.

    But of course, that amount would not be so easy to get. He might use it to upgrade [Blood Seal] in the end, but he would only do that if he could not get enough Blood Essence to upgrade any of the others. Ultimately, something is still better than nothing.

    Tristan furrowed his brows.

    Even if he failed to get enough Blood Essence to upgrade [Blood Synthesis], he wanted to at least upgrade his [Blood Monarch Body]. After all, everything would end up useless if he died in the end.

    Even though he had his undying body, with the scale of the uing battle, he would not be surprised if they sent someone powerful enough to destroy his body. Even their previous ''visit'', which was not asrge as their uing one, had Jenkins, who almost managed to kill him. It wouldn''t be weird if a few enemies stronger than Jenkins woulde.

    Thus, to avoid having his Heart of Monarch taken and destroyed, his second priority after [Blood Synthesis] was to upgrade his [Blood Monarch Body] to stage 6. Even if they were to lose the battle, it would still be fine as long as he could stay alive since sooner orter, he would be able to pay them back.

    As he was thinking about getting more Blood Essence, he faintly heard noises from above. The noises were extremely dampened as he was in the underground practice area below the pce, but he was sure that something was going on outside the pce above ground.

    Not wanting to dy in case it was anything urgent, Tristan rushed out of the training room and went back up to check the situation. Of course, Illiana and Herrera quickly followed suit.

    About a minuteter, they finally arrived outside the entrance of the secret passage. As there was no one he could ask about the situation, he quickly walked toward the nearest window to check the situation outside.

    From the looks of it, the cause of the ruckus was the group of people that newly arrived at the city. Though, calling them ''people'' did not feel quite right since they did not seem to be entirely human.

    The individuals who entered the city and were on their way to the pce were not just human; although not all of them, several of the individuals in the group had strange features on their bodies. With just a nce, anyone would be able to tell that they were a group of hybrids.

    Although they were quite eye-catching, the group of hybrids were not the main reason for the ruckus. Instead, what caught the eye of the citizens were the cages of animals behind the hybrids.

    When Tristan saw the caged animals behind them, he immediately knew who these people were. At the same time, his mouth curved into a smile.

    The Trappers.

    ''They came just in time.''

 Chapter 347 Magical Creatures

    As it was still quite early in the morning, these people caused a lot of the citizens of Protea to gather outside out of curiosity.

    "Is our city going to be a gathering ce for different races?"

    "Orc, Elves... and now the king is even calling in the hybrids? Those animals!"

    Thought some of the citizens when they saw the hybrids openly walking in the streets of Prontea with caged animals behind them.

    Some of the citizens were curious about the caged animals led behind the group of hybrids, but they only discussed it among themselves.

    Meanwhile, as Tristan watched the Trappersing closer to the pce, the smile in his eyes slowly deepened.

    "Let''s get ready to greet them," Tristan suddenly said, pulling the two out of their thoughts. Seeing the iing people put him in a good mood, he really could not wait to ''greet'' them.

    Herrera had an idea about what Tristan was going to do when she saw the familiar individuals outside. As for Illiana, she only briefly nced at the Trappers outside before following Tristan.

    Knowing the ''package'' that they were bringing, the group that just came was led toward the pce''s backyard.

    Tristan knew what fate would arrive at the trapper''s precious cargo, so he was hoping that they would be as discreet as possible. Nevertheless, it was pointless as the group of Trappers brought their goods in cages and caused so much noise, even causing the pce backyard to turn into a zoo.

    When Tristan arrived at the ce, the Trappers were already waiting for him. One particr figure, a man in luxurious clothes with two horns protruding on his head, had been waiting for his arrival. As soon as the hybrid saw him, he was shocked.

    ''To think the rumors were true¡­'' the individual in the middle thought to himself, still in disbelief.

    Tristan smiled when he met the hybrid''s eyes.

    "Long time no see, Mister Faunt," Tristan first greeted the hybrid.

    "Ah, y-yes. It''s an honor to see you again, my king," the hybrid bowed to him with an awkward smile. Although the hybrid felt that the situation was a bit surreal, as someone who was experienced with all sorts of individuals from his business, he still knew how to quickly adapt. At this moment, the arrogance the hybrid previously had was nowhere to be seen.

    Seeing the change in the behavior of the Trappers'' leader since theyst met, Tristan decided to tease him, "I wonder where your old bodyguard, the tiger hybrid, is. Is he well?"

    Even though Tristan was only joking, his words only brought fear to the Trapper leader as it reminded him of how he challenged the mayor who had now turned into the king.

    "Haha... He is fine, my lord, but I came here today as a friend of the pce, so there is no need for a bodyguard... No need at all, haha..."

    "Of course, Mister Faunt. I am satisfied with your current service. Now, let me see the goods," Tristan said with a smile.

    "Yes, my lord. Please let me show them to you," the hybrid responded as he rose from his bow and pointed at the dozens of caged magical creatures behind them.

    As soon as Tristan walked down toward the pce, he heard the sound of someone running toward him while shouting his name. Tristan took a deep breath. Only one person would dare to behave that way to him.

    "Brother!! I want to see it!! Oooh!! They look amazing!!"

    It was none other than La, forcing herself to join in viewing the animals.<sub> </sub>

    Faunt walked toward one side of the cargo and showed the first cage. However, to their surprise, it was actually not a cage. Instead, it was a big aquarium. Inside the aquarium, Tristan saw three fish-like lizards swimming about.

    Tristan quickly analyzed the water creature in front of him.

    [Lionfish Monitors]

    [Magical Creature - Level 60]

    Despite only looking likerge lizards as they were currently under restrictions, not only were their teeth and long ws very strong and sharp, but their scales could even be made into sturdy shields. They also had extremely venomous spikes that would pop up when they felt threatened or were about to hunt.

    "A scratch from one of those spikes can knock an adult human unconscious in less than a minute," Faunt patiently exined.

    Tristan observed therge horizontal stripes on one of the Lionfish Monitors. There were no visible gaps between the scales, yet venomous spikes coulde out of its body.

    Without waiting for Tristan to respond, the hybrid moved on to another row.

    It was a small dome-like cage made out of ck steel. Though, from the shape of it, it was more like a steel instead of a cage. Inside, there were about two dozen bat-like creatures with glimmering silver skin.

    [Silver Bats]

    [Magical Creature - Level 30]

    These creatures were not only extremely fast, but their senses, especially their hearing, were exceptionally sharp. Although their ws were not as strong as those of Lionfish Monitors, they were much sharper.

    "They also have very high vitality, which makes them quite a hassle to deal with," the hybrid shortly nced at the dozen Silver Bats after exining.

    Tristan was actually not very interested in them, but his eyes slightly lit up when he heard thest sentence. A creature with high vitality should be able to give him quite a good amount of Blood Essence.

    Afterward, Faunt walked him through a dozen more cages; there was a boar-like creature, arge swan, a spoder as big as a car and half a dozen more.

    Although he was here to get some creatures for Blood Essence, walking around while looking at these animals with the always-excited La really made him feel like he was bringing his sister for a zoo trip.

    To his surprise, the girl did not show any signs of fear of any of the creatures here; even the most awful-looking ones were simply considered unique to her. Even worse, she found that the most exciting creature was thest one that was locked inside thergest cage

    It was arge ape with crimson fur. Looking at it, the roaring ape seemed about four meters tall.

    "Please be careful, my lord. This particr creature has killed half a dozen of our guards since captive" Faunt warned. After all, he did not want anything bad to happen because of the creature he brought in.

    However, as soon as La came close, the king kong broke out of its chains and charged at her.

    "La!!!"

 Chapter 348 Animals

    St!

    La''s eyes opened wide when she saw the blood sttered on the ground in front of her.

    Nowying on the ground was the crimson ape that previously rushed at La. Medium-length hiltless swords made of blood were all over its still body; one stabbed its head, two stabbed the middle of its body, one in its shoulder, and another one cut its arm and leg.

    Tristan coldly looked at the crimson ape. Even though it was dead, it still had the fierce expression it previously had before it died. However, he did not care about the crimson ape on the ground. After making sure that the creature was dead, he turned to look at the dazed girl in his arms.

    Just a moment ago, as soon as he saw the ape breaking its chains, he instantly created several des with his [Blood Synthesis] to stop therge red ape and rushed to pull La back.

    Meanwhile, the others on the sidelines looked at the scene with shock. Faunt froze in fear when he fullyprehended what just happened.

    "La, are you okay?" Tristan asked the silent girl.

    When La heard him call her name, she immediately snapped out of her daze.

    "Ah¡­ Mm, I''m okay," she weakly responded with a smile. She wanted to assure him that she was fine, but her unconscious act of tightly holding the side of Tristan''s clothes told him otherwise.

    Tristan turned to look at the hybrid standing a distance away. The moment their eyes met, Faunt felt chills down his spine.

    "My apologies, my king! It is due to my negligence that things turned out this way!" the hybrid fell into a kneel. His eyes looking at the ground were filled with fear as his body trembled from the pressure.

    ''I should''ve triple, no, quadruple-checked that thing!''

    When he saw those piercing eyes, he felt as if he was going to have the same fate as the crimson ape on the ground. Although La walking toward the legendary creature''s cage was something he could not control, this would not have happened if he had been more careful!

    Tristan stroked La''s head to calm her down before walking to the crimson ape on the ground. Feeling him move away, La wanted to follow him, but when she saw that he was walking toward the ape, she decided to stay where she was.

    Tristan crouched in front of the crimson ape. After briefly scanning the legendary creature''s body, a sharp de made of his [Blood Synthesis] came out of his palm and pierced the dead creature''s head. La, who was watching him from behind, felt that it had been a while since she saw her brother use this bloody skill.

    <o>,m Tristan was absorbing the ape''s Blood Essence. After a moment of silence, he finally stood back up. At the same time, the hiltless blood swords on the crimson ape''s body dissipated into thin air.</o>

    "Mister Faunt," Tristan called while turning to the kneeling hybrid. "Let''s continue, shall we?"

    "Y-Yes, my king!" the hybrid instantly stood up. However, when he saw the cold smile on Tristan''s face, he froze. He wanted to kneel back down.

    Faunt shortly thought of which creature they werest at before walking to another row of cages. While Faunt briefly exined about the various magical creatures one by one, the hybrid sometimes stuttered and stumbled over his words. This annoyed Tristan a bit, but he still managed to stay patient.

    As Tristan walked from cage to cage following the hybrid to observe the numerous magical creatures, La quietly followed behind him. She still curiously listened to the exnations about the creatures and looked around, but this time, she was more careful and did not run around on her own.

    On the sidelines, Herrera and Illiana only silently watched the two, each with their own thoughts.

    "...And that is thest of the creatures we brought today, my king. Are they to your satisfaction?" Faunt asked while nervously looking at Tristan.

    "Yes, they''re quite satisfactory," Tristan said with a satisfied smile. In total, there were about four to five dozen magical creatures. Looking at them, he really hoped that they would be able to give him arge amount of Blood Essence.

    "I will take them all," Tristan said with some anticipation.<sub> </sub>

    When the hybrid heard this, the expression on his face became a bit awkward.

    "That puts me at ease, my king, but¡­" Faunt seemed to be hesitating to mention something.

    Tristan looked at the hybrid with a questioning expression.

    "Actually, these creatures are all I currently have in my collection, so if you were to take them all, I''m afraid I won''t have any left, so, my king¡­"

    Of course, how could Tristan not understand? What else would this money-hungry hybrid want?

    Tristan rxedly smiled.

    "Tell me how much more you want, as long as it''s fair.. I will see to it you will receive them".

    The hybrid was thanking him as not only he wasn''t harmed, the king was even willing to pay him more. Tristan also told Faunt the hybrid to look up for more of such magical creatures in the future for him. He was willing to pay good money for them, after all money was not a problem at all for him now.

    The hybrid''s face lit up even more and quickly agree.

    "Of course! Thank you, my king!"

    Soon after, theypleted the magical creature transaction. When the night came, Tristan did not waste any time and immediately absorbed the Blood Essence from the various magical creatures.

    Shrieks and roars from different creatures echoed through the night, but no one dared to ask what happened in the pce backyard that night.

    For Tristan himself, he had no feelings of attachment or the sort when he pierced these creatures with his blood weapons. When thest of the creatures died in front of him, an image shed in his mind. It was a memory of the stray cats and dogs of his teenage days. Unfortunately, it felt like such a long time ago that he had already forgotten the feeling he had toward it.

    He took a deep sigh. The memory reminded him of how much of himself was still left in him.

    After he finished, he quickly checked the amount of Blood Essence he had andpared it to the amount he needed to upgrade his skills.

    [Tristan]

    [Blood Essence: 130,796]

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 200,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

    Tristan was satisfied with the amount he got from this transaction. From those four to five dozen magical creatures, he got a little over 50,000 Blood Essence.

    It was quite a harvest. But looking at the skill upgrade requirement, the satisfied smile on his face faded.

    He still needed more.

 Chapter 349 More Blood

    Early the next day, Tristan headed toward Illiana''s room. He had already told Tobias to personally take care of the little mess in the pce courtyard, so he was not worried about individuals who should not know finding out.

    Recalling yesterday''s events, Tristan''s eyebrows unconsciously furrowed. While it was true that he got a lot of Blood Essence from those creatures, it was still not enough in the end.

    ''These upgrades are just too expensive.''

    Even so, he did not n to give up upgrading them. After all, they were essential for his survival.

    "Follow me. I need to show you something," Tristan said to Illiana. He did not borate and turned around to head to his destination.

    "This is¡­ the dungeon of Prontea City?" the dark elf questioned when they arrived in front of their destination.

    She could not figure out why Tristan brought her here. ording to the information she knew, this ce was just a ce where offenders were kept prisoner. Although there were some slightly dangerous individuals kept in this ce, in the end, none of them were noteworthy enough for her to keep in mind.

    Tristan only smiled when he heard her question.

    When the guards saw that their king had arrived with a guest, they immediately saluted and made way for them to enter.

    As their footsteps echoed deeper into the dungeon, Illiana noticed something strange.

    ''It''s too empty.''

    Although Prontea was never a city known for having a lot of criminals at all, it was too emptypared to the Prontea dungeon she knew about. There were a few prisoners here and there, but most of the cells were empty.

    Even though she had never been to this ce, she was not so unknowledgeable as to not notice how strange it was.

    She even began to suspect that Tristan was dragging her into something bad.

    ''Is this why he didn''t bring that purple-haired woman along?'' she even thought to herself. Although she trusted Tristan to an extent, she was never the type to give anyone herplete trust. She was not a child, after all.

    Even so, despite her suspicions, she did not say anything and only followed Tristan with her guard slightly up.

    After going past the quiet cells for a while, they finally arrived at an area deep below the surface. As Tristan opened the iron door, they were immediately greeted with the sharp smell of rust.

    Illiana''s eyes slightly widened when she saw what was behind the iron door. Inside, hundreds of prisoners consisting of mostly Asgardians were chained to the walls and the floor. Although the dungeon was filled with prisoners, it was not noisy with the talks and shouts of the prisoners. Instead, the prisoners inside the dungeon were all silent; only the nking sound of metals could be heard from time to time.

    When the individual ''guarding'' the ce saw that Tristan was here, he immediately rushed to greet him.

    "My king, you havee!" a slightly round elf hurriedly ran and bowed.

    It was Uriel, the fat elf who was now one of Tristan''s most trusted people.

    Tristan only nodded in response. It seemed that the elf had lost some weight while he was tasked here, but Tristan did not really care and went straight to business.

    "How has everything been going?" he asked the elf in front of him.

    "Everything has been going well, my king," Uriel reported. He was exhausted, so it was only now that he only noticed that someone also came with Tristan. Although he did not know Tristan''s exact aim in bringing her here, he roughly knew what to do.

    "Please follow me," Uriel bowed before walking ahead of them.

    As they walked closer to the chained prisoners, Illiana could observe their state more closely. Theirplexion was pale, their breathing was weak, and fresh slice marks could be seen all over their bodies.<sub> </sub>

    There was no trace of light in their eyes; it was as if their life had been sucked dry from them.

    As the three walked further in, they began to see people in uniforms inside the prisoners'' cells. Each of them brought a dagger and a medium-sized basin. The prisoners tried to get away from the people in uniforms, but they could not even move their bodies, much less struggle away.

    When they walked past the cells, they could barely make out the weak and hoarse pleas from the prisoners.

    "Please¡­ let me out¡­"

    "I''d rather die than stay here, please¡­!"

    "Why must you... do this¡­?"

    Uriel''s hand slightly trembled. Even though he was not very sharp, he could vaguely hear them.

    ''I should really get used to this¡­'' Although he felt that the thought was not quite right, he had no other choice.

    After walking for a short while, they arrived in front of another iron door. This was a private room where Tristan usually discussed certain matters like discussing with Uriel about the matters in the dungeon.

    Uriel opened the door to the private room and bowed. After Tristan and Illiana entered the room, he closed it and went back to do what he had to in this ce. He could not afford to ck off with the task Tristan assigned him.

    "This is¡­?" she looked at Tristan with a questioning gaze. Although she had an idea as to what this ce was after seeing the people in uniforms and prisoners'' condition, she still wanted to hear it directly from the man who brought her here.

    Tristan smiled. "A blood farm."

    She had expected the answer, but she was still in disbelif. Even so, the dark elf was not disgusted or afraid. On the contrary, she was amazed. In her eyes, these prisoners were not only useless baggage, but problems to the kingdom. If they were not, then why were they thrown into a prison like this ce?

    For Tristan to turn such trash into resources, the dark elf was impressed. At the same time, she understood why Tristan chose to bring her to this ce with him.

    "Our dungeon has quite a lot of prisoners as well. If you''d like, we can have them supply you with blood as well," Illiana offered with an understanding smile.

    Tristan showed a surprised look in response.

    "Oh? Are you really willing to do that? Are you sure your father won''t oppose it?" he casually asked.

    "Isn''t that the reason you brought me here?" she asked back. "If you really cared about my father''s opinion on this matter, you wouldn''t have brought me here in the first ce."

    "Well, I''m sure you''ll find a way even if he disagrees," Tristan shrugged. "It''s really easy to talk to smart people after all."

    The dark elf only chuckled.

    Seeing that she was in a good mood, Tristan continued speaking, "That''s not the only reason I brought you here though."

    Without waiting for Illiana to respond, Tristan took out a ring.

    Illiana, who was curious about what this was about, became a bit confused when she saw the ring in his hand. Feeling the dark elf''s gaze, Tristan satisfied her curiosity through action.

    As Tristan took out the objects from the ring, Illiana''s face showed a look of astonishment.

    They were cubes of frozen blood.

 Chapter 350 Elf Blood

    "That''s¡­ frozen blood?" Illiana doubtfully asked.

    Although it was clearly blood, it had a slightly different scentpared to the smell of human blood that she knew. It felt much more¡­ familiar?

    She looked up to meet Tristan''s eyes.

    "Elf blood?" the dark elf voiced her suspicion. Even so, despite her questioning tone, she was almostpletely sure that she was right.

    "As expected of you, princess," Tristan casuallyplimented. "These cubes of blood are from frozen Forlorn elf blood given by our donors. I will get straight to the point, i wish for some of your elites to donate some of theirs. Do you think you''ll be able to do it?"

    ? Although Tristan used the word ''donate'', the dark elf understood what he meant and teh girl answer did not disappoint.

    "I doubt they''ll willingly serve their blood on a silver tter. Nevertheless, I''ll find a way to get you as much as i can without breaking the peace that was just created" she assured with a firm smile.

    "I''ll leave it to you then," Tristan said with a satisfied nod. Extracting from the blood spit out by those dark elves sounded a bit unpleasant, but Tristan did not really care. After all, it did not matter what, who or where the blood came from as long as it could provide him sufficient Blood Essence for him to be stronger.

    Now that he had said everything he needed, Tristan prepared to extract the Blood Essence.

    He first took today''s batch of blood from the dungeon prisoners and began extracting, and after a short while, Tristan opened his eyes and checked the amount of Blood Essence he gained.

    [Blood Essence: 134,014]

    "A little over three thousand¡­" he murmured.

    ''It''s less than yesterday.''

    Tristan subconsciously frowned a bit as he thought about it. Even so, he did not dwell on it any longer and turned to the cubes of frozen blood on the table.

    He took the ring again, and a momentter, more cubes of frozen blood came out. Now, there was about twice the number of blood cubes on the table than previously.

    He took a deep breath before beginning the extraction, and after a while slightly longer than the previous extraction, he opened his eyes to check the amount he had.

    His eyes widened.

    ''Over 12,000 Blood Essence!''

    Two months worth of Forlorn blood donation gave him quiet a good number. If he have more of the wood elves to donor and added the dark elves then it would really help with his progress.

    He quickly checked the skill upgrade requirement.

    [Tristan]

    [Blood Essence: 146,216]

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 200,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 6 requires 100,000 Blood Essence.]

    ''55,000 more for Blood Synthesis¡­''

    Tristan fell into deep thought. He was a little conflicted. He began contemting whether he should collect enough and upgrade [Blood Synthesis] or upgrade his [Blood Monarch Body] instead. He wanted to upgrade his [Blood Synthesis], but there was not enough time for him to collect that much.

    In the end, he chose to use what he had to upgrade [Blood Monarch Body].

    [Upgrading to Stage Five Blood Monarch...]

    [100,000 Blood Essence used.]

    [Advancing to Blood Monarch - Sixth Stage¡­]<sub> </sub>

    The moment thest notification appeared in his mind, Tristan immediately felt changes happening in his body.

    He could feel the blood running through his veins stirred as it all flowed backward simultaneously and headed to his heart. The beating of his heart sped up, and came with it was a deluge-like sensation. New, more powerful blood pumped out and circted throughout Tristan''s entire body.

    [Stage six advancementpleted.]

    [Advancement has affected the host''s physical body.]

    [Battle power increased significantly.]

    [Battle Power: 350]

    Tristan could feel the upgraded power throughout his body. This upgrade gave a quite significant boost and it made him much more confident for the uing battle, but¡­

    ''Not enough.''

    He still felt that he still needed more power to go against them.

    After the upgrade, Tristan felt some kind of calling from inside him.

    Tristan closed his eyes, and within seconds, he had already arrived in his [Heart of Monarch].

    He went into the bloodke and to the construct in the center. As he neared the ce, he found that someone was already waiting for him. It was Nara, the Bloodgem Dragon.

    "My Lord Monarch, I have fully recovered," Nara conveyed the joyful news with a bow.

    Nara previously could not be summoned as she was badly wounded from thest battle against the space knights, but now that she could finally be summoned again, Tristan felt much safer.

    He quickly cast his innate skill, [Blood Summon].

    His consciousness returned to the real world, and at the same time, blood started to form in front of him, slowly forming into the shape of the dragon Nara.

    [Summoned the mythical beast Bloodgem Dragon.]

    [10.000 Blood Essence required.]

    He was momentarily taken aback when he saw that it required twice the amount of Blood Essence it previously did, but he immediately understood why when he saw the fully-formed Nara in front of him.

    The Bloodgem Dragon was now at least twice bigger than she previously was thest time Tristan saw her. Curious about her change, Tristan checked her level.

    [Bloodgem Dragon]

    [Magical Beast - Level 70]

    ''Level 70¡­''

    No wonder it cost that much more, her level upgraded from level 50 to level 70!

    The little reluctance he felt from the amount of Blood Essence used to summon the dragon swiftly dissipated.

    Seeing the dragon, Illiana was both surprised and ted. She had never even imagined that it would be possible for her to witness such a beautiful dragon from afar before, much less at such a close distance.

    On the other hand, now that Tristan had achieved his goal of upgrading an innate skill, he felt that he could not think of anything that could help him be stronger within such a short time.

    Except...

    "Illiana, do you know of a way I can quickly obtain a spirit soul?"

 Chapter 351 The Mist

    On the easternmost of the Arcadia continent between the eastern impassable mountainsid a gap about 5 miles apart.

    Right in the middle of this gap were rocky hills with a construct; a pagoda stood in the middle of those hills.

    At the moment, a few figures gathered just on the hill next to the pagoda. These figures were the strongest elven elders of the continent.

    A few momentster, three flying creatures came approaching; two purple-skinned wyverns and a huge one with ck skin. The ck wyvern was an elder wyvern, a mythical creature just below dragons in terms of power.

    Seeing the three wyverns approaching them andnding next to the pagoda, a man in white robe spoke with a cold voice.

    "King Vizier."

    The elf who just spoke was Castian, the king of the high elves.

    "Wee. We are grateful that you decided to join us," the king greeted. Despite uttering words of gratitude, his expression contained absolutely no trace of it. Instead, there even was a hint of disdain in his eyes.

    The one just arrived was the king of the dark elves, Vizier the Unbroken, with two of his magi dark elf elders.

    The dark elf only nodded at the high elf''s weing greet and gestured for the two elders behind him to follow as he walked forward. The two dark elf elders followed him without speaking a word.

    The gathering room in the pagoda currently consisted of those who were going to join the expedition to the Mist. Among them were the Queen of Vanyar Leena who came by herself, the King of Mirkwood Hdar with one of his elders, and the king of dark elves Vizier with his two elders. In total, there were six guests, and there were all magus-level elves.

    Castian, the king of the high elves, however, had five magus-level high elves with him and an army of 50 saint-level elves; the high elf king brought the full force of the high elves in the Arcadia continent.

    "Wee, all of you. Thank you for joining us in this expedition," Castian greeted the present elves and turned to look in the direction in front of them, causing the other elves to follow his gaze.

    ? In the distance in front of the pagoda, the Mist extended to approximately 100 meters into the air, separating the two hills. Although they were a distance away, they could still feel the unsettling air emanating from the Mist. Even the two hills on its sides seemed lifeless.

    The high elf king then swept his gaze at the present elves.

    "Today, we will finally follow the will of our ancestors and learn about our origin. Once again, I am grateful for your participation," he began speaking.

    Just as Castian was about to continue his words, he heard the sound of a flying ship approaching.

    The high elf king and the others turned to look in the direction of the sound. To their west, they could see a flying ship heading their way.

    It was the famous flying ship normally used by the king of Arcadia, the Firefly.

    As soon as the Queen of Vanyar saw the flying shiping their way, her neutral expression slightly lit up. Meanwhile, the unknowing elves'' curiosity was soon answered when they saw Tristan and Illianaing out of the flying ship.<sub> </sub>

    The moment Vizier saw Tristane out of the flying ship with his daughter, he immediately walked toward them with a big smile on his face.

    "So you decided toe after all!" the dark elf king''s cold face turned much warmer seeing the two newlyweds.

    Illiana only responded to her father''s enthusiasm with a smile. Meanwhile, Tristan nodded and greeted the present elves.

    "An honor to see you again, King Castian, King Vizier, Queen Leena. I hope I am not toote."

    Tristan''s arrival was not something the present elves expected. After all, everyone here knew that Tristan was looking for powerful individuals to gather in the capital in preparation for what he imed was a threat from outer space.

    He himself also did not think that he would join the expedition. However, after the little discussion he had with the clever and charming Illiana yesterday, he realized that a lot of the most powerful elves would gather in this expedition. Knowing how dangerous the expedition was, Tristan was actually hoping to see some casualties among them. Which means a source of quality Blood Essence and maybe even spirit souls for him.

    Of course, Tristan would never tell them about his real intention. He only told them that his scientist managed to gain a deep understanding of the space knights''munication system, and from it, he believed that the enemy would not arrive within the week. Because of that, he had time to see what the Mist was all about.

    Although this was not his main reason for deciding to participate, it was not exactly a lie either.

    Tristan''s exnation confused the listening elves, but among the confused faces, there was someone who was unfazed.

    "I always knew you woulde," Leena, the Queen of Vanyar, remarked.

    "You knew?" Tristan asked with a curious smile.

    Noticing Tristan''s curiosity, Leena cited a phrase that piqued the interest of the other elves present.

    ¡ªThe leaves are falling, the seas are raging, and the forests are drowning. Blood will rise and the Monarch will lead through the mist.

    After hearing the prophecy of thousands of years, many of the elves began to look at Tristan differently. At the same time, their confidence in seeding in this expedition soared up.

    Castian was slightly displeased with Tristan''s abrupt visit, but the feeling did notst long as he still remembered the reason they all gathered here.

    The high elves king reminded, "We have no time to waste."

    Everyone present turned their heads toward the high elf king, and they quickly prepared themselves to enter the Mist.

    As they walked toward the Mist, the corners of Tristan''s mouth rose. Looking at the Mist in the distance made him think of what they would see inside and the amount of Blood Essence or spirit souls he could get.

    In total, there were 14 magus-level elves and 50 saint-level elves entering the Mist. It was the biggest expedition the elves had ever had in thest 4,000 years since the Mist existed.

 Chapter 352 Outer Layer

    Castian, the strongest high elf, along with the rest of the group members led a total of 64 elves to one particr side of the Mist.

    There was nothing like a post or guards stationed here. In fact, the whole 5-mile area between the mountains was open for anyone to enter.

    However, for dozens of years, no one dared to even get near the area, let alone enter the Mist. As Tristan followed their lead, he quickly realized why.

    The air inside the mist was so dense and polluted to the point that it was nothing less than poison to normal humans. Even stronger humans would still at least fall sick if they breathed in the air here, but fortunately, that did not apply to the elves present.

    They walked through the thick smoke, and after a while, a vast, lifeless forest greeted their sight.

    As far as the eyes could see, there were only dead trees and nts veiled by gray mist, but as they walked deeper inside, they suddenly heard a distinct sound of crunching from beneath their feet. Upon hearing the sound, the elves reflexively looked down.

    Beneath their feet were hundreds and thousands of brittle gray bones varying in shapes and sizes. Tristan closely observed the bones. He was trying to figure out whether these bones were from humans or some other creatures, but they were so corroded by the mist that their forms had be too unrecognizable.

    "This is only the outeryer of the Mist. We should speed up, but remember to keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary," Castian said, his eyes still vigntly looking around the deep forest.

    When Tristan heard the high elf lord''s reminder, Tristan rolled his eyes.

    Anything out of the ordinary?

    As far as the eyes can see, everything here is out of the ordinary!

    "These are the remains of the battle between humans and elves more than 4,000 years ago," Leena exined when she noticed Tristan scrutinizing the bones on the ground.

    Tristan nodded. In truth, he had studied about the ce beforeing here. Illiana also informed him that Castian and her father Vizier also went together with the first group 50 years ago, but they decided to only stay at the outeryer and never went inside.

    So even though some of the people here had been to this ce, none of them had actually entered the inneryer before.

    At the moment, being in a group with the most powerful elves on the, Tristan decided to just stay inpliance. As a newbie, there are always benefits in listening and learning, and he would not be disadvantaged by doing so.

    However, his first goal was always on his mind.

    Spirit souls.

    While these elves were dashing through the dead forest and looking for any signs of danger from the outside, they did not think the main danger toe from among them.

    Tristan knew that the saint elves would not have any spirit souls, hence he only had his eyes on the magus elves.

    There were four half-moon magi elves among them.

    The half-moon magi were Castian, the high elf lord and the strongest among them with [3,290] spirit force, and Vizier with [3,050] spirit force.<sub> </sub>

    The two other half-moon magi were both high elves. One was a skinny high elf with [2,810] spirit force name Kolvar, and the other one was Osgith, a slightly muscr high elf with [2,575] spirit force.

    The rest were peak crescent moon magi. Among them were Queen Leena and Illiana, both of them at peak crescent stage with [2,000] spirit force and had been unable to break through for hundreds of years.

    There was only one crescent moon magus who had not reached peak crescent stage; it was Hdar, the old Mirkwood king with [1,545] spirit force. Even the one aide he brought, a younger magus with green hair, had reached peak crescent stage.

    Except for Leena and Illiana, Tristan thought of all 11 magus-level elves as potential targets.

    After dashing in full speed for about an hour, they were finally out of the dead forest. However, now in front of them recing the forest was another area covered in thick mist.

    Castian stopped in his tracks and turned around with a serious expression.

    "I have never been past this ce. 50 years ago, the best of us went in, but none of them returned. If any of you have second thoughts, this is your chance to turn back."

    Tristan thought that there would be at least one elf who treasured their life. But to his surprise, when he looked back, the expressions of both Leena, the Queen of Vanyar, and Hdar, the old king of Mirkwood, were actually filled with excitement as they readied along with the other elves.

    King Vizier approached Tristan.

    "I would feel better if you had not chosen toe here. I might not be able to protect you two."

    Of course, the dark elf king''s message was ultimately for Illiana, his precious daughter, but instead of being touched or anything of the sort, the dark elf princess smirked when she heard his words of concern.

    "Don''t listen to him, he''s only trying to tease you."

    The dark elf king wanted tough out loud, but he only shrugged with a casual smile in the end as he remembered the ce they were in.

    These two certainly had a weird rtionship.

    Seeing that none of the elves had any intentions of backing down, Castian turned around and once again shouted.

    "Well then, let''s enter!"

    After walking past a hundred steps, the group finally heard some growling noises.

    This made everyone take out their weapons. The moment the growl sounded, Castian swiftly charged out of the mist.

    Tristan quickly followed suit, and the moment he caught up, he saw the elves fighting against hundreds of ck furry creatures as big as an adult man.

    "Dark wolves!!"

 Chapter 353 Wolves

    Growwlll! Rrooaarr!!!

    "Darkwolves!!"

    As far as the eyes can see, hundreds of wolflike creatures were charging towards them.

    They have pitch ck fur, and when they stood, they stand tall, twice the size of an adult man. Large, defined limbs and sharp ws glinted under the light, and their eyes looked rabid and cruel. Tristan would believe it if these wolves were called demon wolves.

    Using the scanner, Tristan stared at the creature. Within moments, a few lines appeared in front of his eyes.

    [Dark Wolves]

    [Magical creatures - level 70]

    "Wow, they really aren''t kidding."

    Not just there are hundreds of them, all are powerful creatures.

    The group of 60 elves were fighting hundreds of high-leveled magical creatures.

    With such a level of strength, Tristan has no time to kid around and created two swords constructed with the help of his [Blood Synthesis].

    The des appeared just in time for him to greet one of the creatures with a mighty swing of his de.

    Splaatttt

    Like a hot knife through butter, the attack managed to split the wolf in two. His [Blood Synthesis] sword has strength equivalent to a tier 4 weapon, and if it couldn''t kill these creatures instantly Tristan would quickly run back into the mist.

    As if called by the scent of blood from its brethren, more creatures surround Tristan and came charging at him. Right as he raised his sword, multiple fireballs exploded in front of his eyes, each st powerful enough to throw those creatures away from him. The wolvesnded on the ground with a massive thud, leaving them in pain.

    Tristan nced towards the source of the magic and saw that it was Illiana''s fire magic that supported him.

    "Ha! You''re being a great wife, aren''t you?" Tristan joked

    However, right as Tristan were about to celebrate his victory, the dark wolves that were burned and writhing in pain a mere few seconds ago slowly stood again. Plumes of ck smoke could be seening out from their wounds, but it was not smoke from Illiana''s fire, the smoke wasing from the wolves'' body.

    "That''s a high-level regeneration ability!"

    As the wolves started to surround them again, Illiana got annoyed, and she cast her spell, summoning multiple des made of shadows. With a wave of her hand, the des dashed like boomerangs, and cut the wolves into pieces. It was a high rank Darkness magic that were not inferior to Tristan''s Blood Synthesis construct.

    Once again, Tristan was impressed with his new wife.

    "Here more of them areing, wife!"

    The two fought back to back, covering each other''s weaknesses and plowing through the swarm of wolves.

    As he moved and shed the ck creatures back and forth with his wife, Tristan nced towards the high elves'' warrior saint. They gradually pushed the creatures back and slowly formed a long defense formation.

    He saw first hand how the gold-armored elves raised their curved de upwards and spun it together, cutting apart the creatures that stood in their way like meat grinders.

    Dozens of the wolves roared in pain, unable to pass such tight defense lines.

    Tristan had to admit, the 50 saint warriors were probably the strongest army he had ever seen. Even with a quick nce, he could tell each of them are stronger than Siegfried or Sterling, his strongest general.

    If the 50 saint elves could defend themselves, certainly all Magus also could.<sub> </sub>

    Leena was floating in the air while using nt magic to conjure vines all around her. With them, she captured and strangled all the wolves who came too close. As more wolves came, she noticed they could reattach their bones, and she took out her tier 5 weapons, long silver whips.

    While strangling them with the nts, she swung her whips around, cutting apart and killing the wolves she had binded.

    Hdar, the king of Mirkwood elves, fought alongside the young Mirkwood elves. The elderly elf mmed on the ground, creating a wave of energy that spread on the ground. Rocks and dust started to gather and form into multiple huge stone golems that proceeded to crush the dark wolves, while the young elves shot their crossbows, turning each wolf into a pincushion.

    Meanwhile, the powerful king of dark elves, King Vizier, fought empty handed yet still managed to ughter them like it was nothing. With his bare hands, he caught the creatures that dared toe close and tore them apart from their jaws. Even as more and more creatures came, he stood his ground. He was like a mountain, and none of the creatures could push or hurt him.

    Castian cut a few of the light wolves using his de of light. As a few wolves attempted to surround him, he floated into the air and gave amand to the skinny Elder Kolvar. As the order resounded in the air, the elder shouted the name of his spell.

    [Frost Nova]

    As the words left his mouth, the one-mile range in front of him turned freezing cold. Dozens of the wolves charging at them instantly turned into frozen statues.

    The other elder high elves dashed forward and swung arge hammer before mming it in the ground, creating a shockwave that shattered the frozen wolves into pieces.

    From high up, Castian''s expression changed, and he warned the others.

    "Be prepared! More areing!!''

    Right at his warning, the new wave of wolves charged at them. This time, the swarm was twice the size of the one before, and there were half a dozen of them which were different.

    Creatures two times bigger than the other wolves and ran on two limbs. The creature looked exactly like a werewolf on steroids.

    HOWWLLLL!

    As therge werewolf creatures howled, the other dark wolves turned frenzied.

    Tristan nced at the creatures, scanned them, and saw an information came to his mind

    [Night wolves]

    [Mythical creatures - level 40]

    "Mythical creatures!!"

    Mythical creatures are beings that are as strong as a dragon. Even if it said level 40, its actual strength wasparable to a level 100 magical creature.

    One of these mythical monsters was able to brokes the powerful elves'' defensive lines, bite off one of the poor saint warrior heads parts.

    Hollll!!

    The elven warriors quickly pierced their swords toward the creature, however, the creature can still rage on and throw these saint elven warriors away.

    Apparently, It also has the powerful regeneration ability, even more, feasible than the dark wolves.

    The battle just raised to a new level of madness.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 354 Nightwolf

    Not only were the three meter tall nightwolf able to strike with such ferocity, every time they let out a howl, the hundreds of wolves around them would be furious.

    With eyes full of murderous frenzy, one nighwolf mowed the elves'' defensive lines, while the other four quickly charged toward the closest elves he could find.

    One nightwolf ran toward Vizier, and the king of dark elves grabbed the creature by its arms. Unexpectedly, the nightwolf was able to match the dark elf king''s strength for a second. They spent a moment locked in an attempt to overpower each other, before VIzier kicked the monster hard in the chest. A loud crunch echoed throughout the ce, and blood burst from the wound on its chest.

    With the high regeneration, the monster returned for another round, and Vizier cast a spell on his two arms. A shinyyer with the color of molten, burning metal covered his hands up to his forearms, before he punched the wolf, cracking its skull open never to rise again..

    On another side, Tristan saw the young Mirkwood elf magus being tackled down by one of the nighwolf. Their king, Hdar, used his magic to restrain the wolf and save him.

    Another nightwolf lumbered towards the strongest elf, Castian''s direction, only to be stopped by the skinny high elf elder. Light started to gather on his hand, and in less than a second, the monster suddenly lost its head as a high tier light sword stabbed it.

    Thest wolf headed towards Queen Leena, who was busy fighting by herself.

    When he saw that, Tristan felt responsible for being her son-inw and decided to go help the queen, apanied by Illiana.

    His de met the monster''s w, and with his other sword, he swung downward, cutting the monster''s arm and throwing it on the ground. Not even a second passed, and the arm gradually reformed.

    Bit by bit, gooey flesh came out from its shoulder stump, forming a new w.

    "That is disgusting! Are you a wolf, or a lizard?!" Tristan shouted.

    Tristan ced all his strength onto his legs, jumped up, and swung one of his swords towards the creature''s other w. The nightwolf responded by opening its massive maw and stopped the sword with its bite. Seeing a chance, Tristan used his other sword to sever its head, and finally, the creature slumped to the ground, its blood oozing and staining the grass.

    The nightwolf along with a few dozen dark wolves around them have been killed. Tristan decided to take a look at the high elves'' saint defensive line.

    When the one nightwolf broke the lines, it open a gap that lead to the dark wolves trampling over them. One by one, the lines of warriors were pounded by the dark wolves.

    Moments after, three magus level high elves who were at the back of the lines decided to use abined tier 6 spells. Pale green-blue light surrounded them,and all of a sudden, a powerful wind swept through all of the wolves, pushing them back before three powerful tornadoes started to form and spin through all of them.

    It was nothing short ofplete destruction, killing hundreds of the wolves with gusts of wind powerful enough to sh through bone and flesh.

    Half an hour passed, and finally, the group was able to clear up the horde of wolves.

    Everywhere they could see, wolf corpses littered the grassy ground and stained the dried trees with splotches of red. The wolves were either cut into pieces or crushed, and some were even stepped on in the heat of the battle.

    The elven saint warriors walked around the ce, making sure none of the wolves were still alive.

    "How many casualties?"<sub> </sub>

    The high elf king, Castian, asked one of the saint warriors.

    "3 dead, 5 wounded"

    Tristan nced at the young magus from Mirkwood who got a massive scar on his shoulder. He wasid on the ground while the other magus tried to heal him, yet his face was still in pain.

    "The healing spell doesn''t work," Hdar said.

    That was enough to get the attention of almost everyone, as they nced at King Hdar in surprise. Magus elves all have an immortal body, and they could heal from any wounds no matter how severe, even restore limbs that are cut off during battle.

    Castian, however, stayed calm. He nced at one of his elders and gave the signal to try curing him. This once again initiate how much the wood elves'' healing magic was inferiorpared to theirs.

    Afterwards, Castian and the other magus elves went to check on the dead mythical creature.

    Amidst the corpses, they saw one nightwolf whose head were crushed, and it had just begun to die, as its eyes showed signs of struggle still.

    They stared at this particr mythical creature in shock,as the closer it got to death, the more its body transformed slowly. As it finally died, they were all shocked.

    The previously big, furry monster had turned into a brown-skinned human corpse.

    "A human?" One of the elves asked. "What does this mean? Who are they?"

    What just unfolded before everyone''s eyes brought them many questions. A human with the ability to transform into wolves, in a mist that has covered this ce for a thousand years¡­

    While they were still thinking, confused at the sight that had been burned into their mind, Tristan suddenly sensed two powerful figures flying towards them. Something about them was familiar, but Tristan decided to hold his de in caution.

    As soon as they arrived, Tristan could only stare at them in surprise.

    The one who came was a man he hated the most, a man d head to toe in golden armor.

    It was Can, the previous king of Arcadia, and he came with a peak magus level human who Tristan recognized as the strongest Kingsde warrior, Hanz.

    Castian merely gave the former king a nce, not even surprised in the slightest. However, that immediately changed the moment Can spoke.

    "This human, he was a member of my father''s expedition. He was one of the Arcadian royal guards who entered the mist 50 years ago."

 Chapter 355 Cursed

    The information given by King Can made everyone twist their faces in disgust. It was clear what they heard had disturbed them..

    It was a known fact that in thest expedition, everyone wasst heard heading into this secondyer, before they all went missing, never to return.

    Knowing all this, and finding out in this expedition 50 yearster that the humans who entered this forest had transformed into a mythical creature like this was something difficult to believe. If they didn''t witness the proof themselves, they would dismiss this information as the ramblings of an insane man.

    It was King Castian who broke the silence by saying.

    "I believe this is the result of the Asgardian curse, i read about this in the text about the Asgardian Ragnarok"

    When he heard this, King Can nodded "Yes, I believe so, we have the same text in Arcadia".

    He then added "However, now is not the time, more wille, let''s go somewhere else, follow me."

    Right afterwards, the half-elf floated in the air, picked a direction, and flew away.

    Everyone who came into this ce was either a magus who was naturally able to defy gravity or a high elf who could cast wind spells to fly. Hence, everyone else quickly followed King Can by flying.

    At that moment, Tristan discovered that he was the only one who was unable to fly. Fortunately, he has his [Blood Synthesis] to help him fly by creating a construct and manipting said construct to float.

    However, right as he stepped onto the construct, he turned back, almost forgetting about the hundreds of corpses scattered on the ground. No way he could leave such a feast hanging.

    He waved his hand and cast [Blood Extraction].

    However, no red mist came out of the corpses. Instead, he received a new notification he had never seen before.

    [Blood essence is corrupted, unable to be extracted.]

    "What the hell!"

    A part of him was tempted to find out the reason why the extraction failed, but right as he was thinking, Illiana called out to him, and Tristan was forced to leave all those tasty corpses.

    Such a damn shame, he wondered how much he would got from them, to make matter worst even the elf corpse were being brought away by their friends, hence from the battle Tristan still left hanging with zero blood essence.

    Three high elves died in the skirmish, but with Can and Hanz the two joined the group, their numbers were kept. Both were Magus level fighters, hence, despite their losses, the group''s overall power was only increased.

    Hanz, the quiet Kingsde who followed Can, was a peak crescent realm Magus who wields a huge sword strapped to his back, while Can, to Tristan''s surprise, was actually a halfmoon Magus who were almost as strong as King Vizier.

    [Male, Half Elf]

    [Magus - half-moon]

    [Battle Power - 265]

    [Spirit Force - 2,850]

    [Element Affinity - light, Earth]<sub> </sub>

    Now that Tristan has already upgraded his scanner, he can see that the half-elf Can was certainly stronger than Tristan, or at least he was at thest time they dueled.

    Back then, Tristan was still unable to check Can''s stats, but now that he knew the truth, he only felt even more annoyed. This fact only proved him right, Can really did let him winst time.

    This once again brought the hate he has to the half elf king. He is secretly trying to find a way to have his payback.

    More than 60 elves were all flying through the inneryer, just right above the dark forest.

    From up here, everyone could see that there were still hundreds of thousands of those dark wolves they encountered inside the forest. They only flew for a few minutes, but they seemed to have passed at least a thousand of them, if not more.

    If there are any non-magus who cannot fly who decided toe to this ce, they would not stand a chance to pass through the forest at all.

    While watching the ground beneath, everyone decided to blindly follow Can, each wondering where the half-elf would lead them.

    The high elf king mentioned during the meeting that Can dide to the high elves'' pce before and talked about his n to enter and check the mist. Considering what Castian said, it seems that Can had wandered in this ce for days.

    Tristan nced at the former king, and Can looked back at him before saying.

    "Thank you for taking care of the kingdom while I was gone, I hope there weren''t too many troubles to deal with in thest few weeks."

    Tristan could only curse internally. Wasn''t too much to deal with? He didn''t even have days before the space knights came to attack the kingdom! However, Tristan kept his mouth shut. He has no ns to share his woes with the man.

    On his behalf, Queen Leena decided to answer. Before that, she shed a teasing smile towards Tristan, of course.

    "King Can, since thest time you were gone, an outer spaceship as big as the city came to attack the kingdom. Your recement here managed to be a hero for the people and fended off the attack. Within such a short time as well, he managed to gather all the elves in a peace treaty, including the dark elves. In addition, he sessfully subjugated the southern ins and solved the trouble with the orcs. I believe that the sum of his achievements are no lesser than yours."

    King Can was truly surprised when he heard the news. First, he stared at Tristan, and then for no reason, he stared at Illiana who flew close to him. While Can was still confused, Queen Leena decided to add.

    "Yes, Can. Your Arcadia now is governed by two queens, my daughter Serene and the dark elves princess Illiana here."

    When he heard that, Can let out a loudugh.

    "Hahaha! That is amazing, Tristan! You dare to take two queens?. That is something I would never even dare to attempt! Hahaha!"

    It was not something to beughed at, so Tristan decided to keep his silence.

    <o>,m Once again, they quieted down, and a few minutester they finally arrived at what appeared to be the ruins of an old, abandoned fortress. What used to be walls had crumbled into almost nothing, while the towers of the fortress somehow still stood, even as everything around it degraded.</o>

    "Let''s enter. Those wolves won''t daree close to this castle." Can said.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 356 Corpses

    It was a stone castle in the middle of a dark forest. The ce was pitch ck. Light shone from the sky beyond the mist, but it was very faint, even almost invisible to the naked eye. If it were not for their enhanced perception, they would not be able to see a thing right now.

    Tristan observed the ce. Rather than a castle, this ce looked a lot more like an ancient fortress. The ce had three entrances wide enough to fit ten adult men side-by-side, but the gates were broken.

    As the group flew down, they saw that within both the inner courtyard and the outer courtyard, nothing else apart from bones filled the castle grounds.

    Almost all of the bones on the ground had already turned gray. They seemed so brittle that they seemed as if they would turn to ash with just a touch.

    Most of them seemed to be at least a thousand years old, but they also saw some who were obviously much newer, most likely only about a few dozens of years old.

    "I believe arge battle urred here in thest expedition," Can said after observing the sight in front of them.

    Can lit up a torch before entering through the main entrance.

    He ordered the saint elf to guard outside while the wounded elves were brought inside to be checked upon and treated. Those elves included the young Mirkwood magus elf, Levi, who had arge scar on his shoulder.

    As they carefully walked inside,rge inner chambers greeted their sight. Some of them wererger than others, but each of them was at least 29 meters high.

    A huge staircase sat right at the center of those chambers.

    After the group checked and made sure that the ce was safe, the wounded wereid there to be treated and the elders began to treat them with various spells and healing potions.

    As for the rest who were uninjured, they followed Can to walk up the stairs into anotherrge chamber. The chamber was simr to the ones they saw on the ground floor, but when they entered, all the magus steps simultaneously halted.

    In front of them was an enormous skeleton at least 15 meters tall. Looking at the skeleton''s ws and jaws that were each asrge as the palm of an adult man, they could tell at a nce that it was not a human skeleton.

    "A dragon?" one of the magus right behind Can muttered in confusion. It seemed to be, yet it did not.

    Can shook his head when he heard the magus'' words, but it was Vizier who spoke in response.

    "No. From the skull''s shape, it''s definitely a wolf."

    "What!? A wolf this big!? I have never heard of anything so absurd!" Hdar, the old wood elf, eximed in disbelief.

    "Yes, it is indeed a wolf," Can affirmed while still observing the skeleton.

    This statement caused the eyes of the previous magus to widen in disbelief. Even Hdar turned silent and began to observe the skeleton with more scrutiny after hearing Can''s words.

    While everyone was mesmerized by the huge skeleton, Tristan looked around the room. Just as he began observing, he noticed huge, long scratch marks all around the room.

    He also realized that a few of the skeletons in the chamber looked different.

    "Those are elven skeletons," Illiana said. Noticing Tristan''s curious gaze, she began exining the slight differences.

    Can, who had been in this mist far longer than any of the elves present, began telling them what he found. He believed that this huge skeleton was the main guardian of this inneryer and that thest expedition team managed to kill it 50 years ago.

    To convince them further of his conjecture, he began to point at a few corpses. Upon seeing them, all of the elves present immediately recognized who they belonged to.

    After all, those corpses were of powerful and well-known warriors who were part of the expedition team 50 years ago.

    Hearing such a thing, Queen Leena quickly looked around. She wanted to walk around and check if her husband was also there, but Can stopped her and shook his head.<sub> </sub>

    What he meant was clear: He was not there.

    Contrary to Can''s expectation, Queen Leena did not get disheartened because she could not see her husband. Instead, her eyes lit up with hope.

    "Does that mean he is still alive!?"

    Can paused. "I don''t know."

    Castian''s group, however, recognized two of their high elf magi among the corpses. Not only that, but Vizier also knew one of the dark elves.

    As the elves in the group observed different things, Hdar''s scream suddenly resounded in the chamber.

    "My son!! Ooo... my son!!"

    The old elf who came to find his son found the elf he was looking for.

    The air surrounding them went from slightly tense to depressing.

    King Castian approached Can.

    "So, what have you learned, Can? Why are we here?" the high elve king asked.

    Can thought for a brief moment before answering, "I have walked around all the inneryers of the Mist for days, but I have not found any other ce like this. Not to mention, despite the death of this creature, we are still missing some bodies. I believe there is still anotheryer after this one, and those who survived entered thatyer."

    Can''s deduction was sound, so everyone agreed.

    "I believe the secret is within this skeleton."

    As soon as Can said those words, Castian immediately understood what he wanted.

    "I see you want me to use my [Soul Seek] ability."

    "Yes, precisely," Can affirmed with a nod. "But Lord Castian, it might be very dangerous."

    Can''s warning made Lord Castian think about it again, and after giving it some thought, he decided to agree.

    "I have promised to see it until the end."

    The high elf king walked toward the enormous wolf skeleton and put his hand on it.

    "With this kind of creature, seeing its soul memory might take time, so do not disturb me while I am at it."

    Although Lord Castian looked at everyone in the chamber while speaking, those words were actually intended for the two elders to hear. Understanding their king''s intention, the two elders slowly walked toward Lord Castian and stood next to him.

    Lord Castian put his arm on it, and a few minutes after, light gradually appeared and brightened the room.

    But as soon as the process finally began, howls suddenly echoing the sky, heard from outside the castle. It was as if the huge skeletons was calling them over, the forest around the castle shooks there must be thousands of theming toward the castle

    "The wolves areing! Defend the gate!"

 Chapter 357 Siege

    The castle where the elves were on an expedition suddenly shook violently, as if a massive earthquake was happening.

    Using his enhanced senses, Tristan could see that the trees in the forest hidden by the thick fog seemed to be moving. Due to this, he firmly believed that thousands of wolves were on their way to the castle.

    His theory soon be proven when his ears picked up the roars, howls, and growls of the wolves mixed into one and filled the air that reverberated in the distance.

    Unexpectedly, the Wolves that came were quite varied; It turned out there were many different types of wolves.

    From the east, the wolves were slender and 3 meters tall on average. Thanks to the fact that they have strong and muscr legs, they were the fastest of their kind.

    Thick ck fur covered the upper part of their bodies with a slight silver stroke on its back that gave them an eye-catching appearance. They had long, slender snouts with saliva dripping through the gaps of their pointed teeth.

    Meanwhile, from the west,rge-bodied wolves with a simr height of 3 meters were approaching.

    Their body was filled with prominent and defined muscles. The ck fur that looked very rough sticking out and covered most of the skin on their bodies.

    With their ck eyes emitting a ferocious gleam, the wolves looked absolutely terrifying.

    Even though this group of wolves moved rtively slower than the ones before, their strength was far greater. They even made the ground around the forest tremble with their every footstep.

    However, the most terrifying were the wolvesing from the south. Although not as many as the other two, the atmosphere that this particr group of wolves gave off was certainly distinct.

    Their size was almost twice asrge as the previous two packs of wolves, with fur that almost looked like armor because of their thickness. They ran with their bodies slightly bent, rapidly darting through the forest while also destroying anything in their path.

    All of these wolves were at different battle power, within each of the group Tristan can see the Nightwolfs among them.

    Seeing thousands of high level creaturesing, Tristan immediately doubted the strength of the elves to survive this.

    Especially at this time, when the king of the high elves who led the elf expedition couldn''t leave his ce because he had to use his [Soul Seek] skill on the giant wolf''s skull.

    "The wolves areing!" shouted Can, a serious expression could be seen on his face.

    However, Castian, the expedition leader, didn''t budge, or rather, he couldn''t - because he was still submerged in his special spell.

    In response to this, Kolvar, who was the right-hand man of the high elves king, decided to take themand and send Osgiliath to help the oing fight. In the meantime, he would stay by the king''s side, so that he could guard the king and provide protection in case anything untoward happened to thetter.

    If they wanted to win in this uphill battle where they were outnumbered and attacked from all directions, the elves would certainly need amando.

    Vizier, the king of the dark elves or Can, would be the best and optimal choice for this situation. However, before Can could say a word to suggest this, Vizier chuckled then said to him;

    "You know this ce better than I do, I leave themand to you."

    Quickly all the elves agreed, and they all now faced Can, waiting to be given an assignment.

    Even though he was caught off guard by Vizier''s words, Can swiftly regained his bearings and did what he needed to do.<sub> </sub>

    Under the eyes of every elf present, Can began his opening speech. "We have 43 saint level high elves ready to fight."

    "Three gates of the castle need to be guarded. Ten saint level high elves for each gate." The expression on his face was firm, giving confidence to those who would fight.

    "Master Osgilliath and the high elves elders, please defend the east!" Can gave his first order with the strategy he had just made set clearly in his mind.

    Afterwards, the high elves who were selected quickly rushed down the castle steps to carry out their duties, guarding one castle gate facing east.

    "The dark elves, King Vizier, Princess Illiana, and the dark elves elders, please defend the south!"

    Can gave his orders in a careful manner, as he still prioritized how to behave. Especially the people he was giving the task of fighting were those who had high magic power, a magus with half-moon level.

    The dark elves and a few selected saint level elves swiftly followed the ones who had descended to the lower floors of the castle. They dashed out in front of the castle gate facing south, the gate with the most stone ruins as a battlefield.

    Can''s eyes were now on Queen Leena, Lord Hdar, and the Kingsde warrior, Hanz.

    "The Wood Elves will go together with me and Hanz, we will guard the west gate."

    Hearing this, Queen Leena, Lord Hdar, and Hanz nodded their heads and ran towards the stairs to go to the lower floor of the castle.

    At this point, Can felt that the division of the elven saints and magus was quite bnced. Now, it was time to give orders to the remaining ones.

    "The 13 saint level high elves stay here and attack them from the top floor! You guys are also in charge of helping rece the injured from each gate." Can finished his first task, dividing the elves for war.

    Tristan, who was waiting for Can to mention his name from the start, looked confused because the man didn''t mention him.

    "What about me?" Tristan asked confusedly to Can, who almost disappeared from the staircase.

    "You can choose whichever you want, or just guard the center," Can answered in a sarcastic tone.

    Hearing what Can said, Tristan could feel the blood inside his body boiling. He was angry by the fact that the man clearly belittled him. However, that feeling didn''tst long since he quickly recalled his main goal of joining the elves'' expedition.

    "Alright, fine i will guard the center then," Tristan replied with a small smile appearing on his face, which softened quickly.

    Tristan main purpose of joining the expedition was to gather high-quality blood that he could only get from elves and some mythical creatures. With high-quality blood, he could use his [Blood Extraction] skill to harvest arge amount of blood essence in a short period.

    Seeing the elves had to face an inevitable battle, Tristan instantly felt he was indeed fortunate. Moreover, if some of those magus level elves died, he could take their spirit souls as a bonus from joining the expedition.

    He would ultimately be ying the role of scavenger, while asionally giving assistance when it didn''t cost him anything.

    In the end, Tristan decided to just watch from the top of the castle, keeping an eye on Queen Leena and his second wife, Illiana, and making sure the two of them were kept safe.

    As for the rest, he couldn''t care less for them. In fact, he hoped that some of the elves would die so that his arrival on the expedition would not be in vain and just a waste of time.

 Chapter 358 Barrage

    The 13 saint level high elves that stood on the center began to arrange their positions, utilizing the destroyed windows as space to aim their bows and arrows. Meanwhile, Tristan walked to the nearest window, waiting to see how the elves would start a war with a clearly disproportionate number of enemies.

    "Charge!" shouted a female saint level high elf, giving an order while her hands that had prepared three arrows at once mounting them on her short bow.

    [Hail Shot]

    Using a tier 4 magic skill, a light blue light swiftly appeared on the bowstrings they were using. The light grew thicker and thicker until it eventually turned dark blue.

    Standing not far from them, Tristan watched the details in silence as he couldn''t wait to see what would happen next.

    As time passed, the expressions on the faces of those saint level high elves seemed to harden. Finally, when the wolves shot out of the thick fog that shrouded the forest, themander of the saint level high elves, the woman with a strong and deep voice, shouted,

    "FIRE!"

    Three arrows from each saint level high elves were fired from the bow into the air, carrying a blue light trail at a speed of over 400 feet per second. And after flying for 10 meters, each of the arrows seemed to glow and three new arrows appeared nearby. This was the result of the [Hail shot], allowing the arrows to be able to split themselves.

    Tristan was astonished to see how the three arrows continued to split apart until hundreds of arrows filled the air. The arrow flew silently across the sky, as if the air had also hidden its presence.

    The hundreds of arrows were hidden in the thick fog before they eventually struck and ended up piercing through the head, chest, stomach, and vital organs of the wolves'' body. Those wolves clearly hadn''t expected them at all.

    Stab!

    Stab!

    Stab!

    The wolves that were hit by the airstrike began to fall one by one. However, this didn''t affect the wolves'' charge at all as those who were hit soon got trampled on the ground by the pack who ran behind them.

    The wolves were brutal and uncontroble. Stepping on their ownrades seemed to not cause any fluctuation to their emotions, making those who had fallen die even more quickly.

    Wolves kepting from three directions - east, south, and west - shed out of the thick fog that hid their existence. The noise of roars, crashes, fallen forest trees, broken branches, howls, and growls made the atmosphere in the air turn tense.

    While the wolvesing from the east and west suffered some casualties by the rain of arrows, the arrows that managed to hit the brutal Night Wolves that were twice as big as the other wolves did not manage to inflict any significant injuries.

    Those who were hit by arrows did not flinch when hit, and some even pulled arrows from their bodies as if they were nothing.

    HOWL!

    The Night wolves let out a very loud roar and shouted, trying to intimidate the opponent with their roar that managed to make the ruins and the inner walls of the castle tremble.

    The 13 saint level high elves who were guarding the castle were now preparing for their next attack, as it took them five seconds to charge using the same skill [Hail Shot]. However, as they did so, the wolves continued to approach the castle.

    This was when the others took action. The high level elven magus in charge of guarding the east gate, the high elven elder Osgiliath, currently had his hands raised high in the air. He was in the midst of preparing a high tier magic skill to finish off the wolves before they could get close.

    [Storm Heist] [Magic spell tier 6]

    As the spell gradually took effect, the sky suddenly turned very dark. ck clouds came and gathered at a point to the east of the pce, concentrated and condensed.<sub> </sub>

    shes of light began to chant across the sky, waiting for the high elven elder, Osgiliath, to finish casting his skill. After seven seconds had passed, Tristan, who was watching from above the castle, was ready to close his ear holes entirely.

    A very strong wind suddenly blew from all directions. An early sign that a storm wasing.

    Then suddenly, more than a hundred strokes of lightning formed a direct line from the sky to the ground. The bolt of lightning struck the wolves'' bodies and electrocuted them so badly that ck smoke shot out from the top of their heads.

    The Wolves from the east couldn''t dodge the fatal attack and several fell instantly with their bodies,pletely turned ck, charred by the high voltage the lightning contained.

    [Storm Heist] really was terrifying magic. Not only did it strike the wolves who were running from the thick fog, the lightning that came out also struck the towering trees, incinerating them instantly.

    Tristan then turned in the other direction. The south castle gate.

    The dark elven princess, Illiana, had been waiting for the wolves that had managed to survive the air raids. She waited for the right moment for them to rush towards her direction.

    Princess Illiana took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air, preparing a high tier fire magic skill [Fire Missile]. She created hundreds of flying-burning projectiles that surrounded her body in a short time. Then she suddenly exhaled, and the flying-burning projectiles shot fast to the night wolves lining up in front of her.

    BOOM!

    KABOOM!

    The fire projectiles rapidly flew in the air and exploded on impact with the wolves'' bodies, causing blood and body pieces to be flung in all directions. The terrifying [Fire Missile ] made the night wolves'' ferocious roar instantly turn into a painful howl.

    Tristan could clearly feel the cold air in that ce instantly turning hot. The fierce fire magic used by the dark elves managed to burn arge part of the forest hidden in the thick fog around the castle.

    Meanwhile, the dark elven king, King Vizier, had prepared an even powerful fire magic to kill the wolves from the south.

    In the previous fight, he only had the time to use his bare hands to ughter the wolves as there were not so many of them.

    This time, he would demonstrate one of the tier 7 fire magic.

    King Vizier clenched his hands together tightly in concentration. He started to call forth arge ming rocks from the skies that randomly fell into the targeted area. Then all of a sudden, the south side of the castle turned red from above ground level to the surrounding ceiling.

    [Meteor Fall]

    From a height, it looked like the gates of hell opened very wide above the ground from the south of the castle.

    BOOM!

    KABOOM!

    The brutal destructive wolves from that direction were instantly scorched, they simply did not have the time to escape from the fire meteors that fell from the sky.

    "That was a really big deal," Tristan muttered, impressed.

    At the same time, the situation on thest side of the sh also seemed to be leaning on the sides of the elves. To the west, the wolves were not given a chance to get out of the forest area at all.

 Chapter 359 Defend

    To the west of the castle, the forest hidden by thick fog waspletely under the control of the wood elves'' magus. Forests with living trees could be a lethal weapon in the hands of wood elves like King of Mirkwood, Hdar, and Queen of Vanyar, Leena.

    The vines of tree roots had entangled the legs of the wolves who hade from the west because the wood elves'' magus was controlling them.

    Lord Hdar seemed to be frowning, concentrating fully without blinking a nce at the trees in the forest from a distance. There was still a painful wound in his heart after discovering the harsh reality of his son''s fate who had be a bone in the castle, so Lord Hdar wanted to avenge his son''s death.

    SRRRAK!

    [Earthbind] [Tier level 6]

    The [Earthbind] magic seeded inpelling the root of the trees hidden underground to grow beyond its limit, spreading very long and then sticking out above the ground. Under his control, the living roots of the trees immediately bound anything that moved near them tightly.

    It didn''t take long for the wolves'' feet that were running on the forest ground surface to be instantly bound by the roots of the trees. This caused most of the wolves to fall, ending up bing the footing of thousands of wolves running after them. The fate of those unlucky wolves were simple, bodies destroyed entirely and ended up meeting their death instantly.

    While the wolves were wrecked by the living roots controlled by Lord Hdar, Queen Leena also didn''t remain still. She quickly brought her arms parallel to her chest, preparing traps for wolves by using magic spell tier 6.

    CRACK! SRAKKK!

    [Bramble Maze]

    Queen Leena created a maze of brambles that grew in the targeted area after just one second. Wolves that ran into the brambles area were rooted in ce, they would not be able to move any inches. Moreover, the bramble''s bonds tightened each time the wolves struggled to free themselves.

    SPLAT!

    Hundreds of strong and longer than 10 inches thorns suddenly appeared on the brambles, stabbing the trapped wolves'' body until they died on the spot with blood gushing in all directions. The moment they sensed their prey had died, the living Bramble immediately let go of its restraints.

    Watching all this, Tristan smirked, excited.

    BLARR!

    Returning to the east side, another loud deafening explosion sound originating from the high tier magic from the high elven elder Osgiliath that he had just performed made Tristan startle.

    The [Storm Heist] that Osgiliath had cast managed to create a gigantic vortex of wind with bolts of lightning shing continuously from its surface.

    The giant vortex managed to attract dozens of wolvesing from the east at once, grinding them at a speed of more than 300 meters per second. When the vortex spewed out those wolves, their bodies had all dried up because it lost all the fluids in them, especially the blood.

    Even though the magus elves had cast their mighty magic, the night wolves who survived and managed to break through were still thousands in number. It was as if the fierce attacks of the strongest elves had only managed to finish off a small part of their n.

    The distance between the elves and wolves was getting shorter. Thus, closebat was inevitable.

    The saint level high elves who were already prepared with swords and shields in both hands had justpleted their strongest buff spells [Bless] to strengthen their body and speed up their movement in attack and dodge.

    CLANK!

    SWITCH!

    Swinging their swords with the help of the wind buff, the saint level high elves managed to keep up with the speed of the wolves, who only used their canines and sharp ws as weapons.

    The meleebat looked very difficult. The number of enemies of the elves was too much. The ratio of the number of elves and wolves troops was one in one hundred.

    SPLAT!

    Hanz, the Kingsde warrior from the Arcadia Kingdom, wielding two long swords with metallic ck des in both hands, shed the bodies of the two night wolves vertically into two halves.

    Hanz stomped on the upper bodies of the two lifeless wolves, giving him a foothold tounch himself towards the ten nearby night wolves. They were growling, grinning through their sharp teeth furiously, responding to Hanz''s gaze with their shiny ck eyes.<sub> </sub>

    HOWWL¨C

    SPLAT!

    A night wolf''s head fell to the ground in front of Hanz after he shed it, when the wolf in front of him suddenly roared loudly.

    "Return to where you came from, Beast!!"

    Despite being very confident at first, hundreds of wolves had now surrounded Hanz while continuing to growl, responding to the call of the wolf that had been beheaded by him.

    Hanz gulped as he realized his suddenly difficult position. When he saw around him, only the wolves grinning, baring their fangs that he could see.

    Then suddenly, help came.

    SPLAT!

    A powerful swing of a silver de with a wide base managed to sh the belly of one of the wolves that were surrounding Hanz, making it copse instantly into two pieces.

    It was a 1.5-metre long sword with a silver de and golden guard. The de was wider on the base part, which led to a heavier swing. Another powerful sword belongs to the former king of Arcadia, Can.

    "Don''t let your guard down!" Can shouted.

    CLANK! SWITCH!

    The Kingsde warrior, Hanz, and his Arcadian King, Can, turned their backs on each other, continuing to swing their swords at the wolves. They kept repeatedly jumping at the two, intending to pounce on them directly.

    Wolves who were injured while getting a scratch from the sword or were cut by theirrge ws immediately pulled themselves back.

    Fortunately although these wolves have high regeneration ability, not all of these different kind of wolves have one as crazy as the Night wolves.

    Meanwhile, in the castle on the top floor, Tristan looked very disappointed after seeing Can''s appearance and his sess in rescuing his Kingsde warrior, Hanz. Too bad, he had been in a threatened position.

    The battle between the elves and wolves had alreadysted for more than 30 minutes. However, so far, no elves have been killed. Not even a level saint high elve had returned to the castle to ask to be healed for being injured. It made Tristan even more annoyed.

    However, suddenly someone shouted from within the castle downstairs¨C

    "AAAARGH!"

    Tristan immediately rushed to the stairs to check if any elves were killed downstairs. He followed a female saint level high elve who had descended the stairs ahead of him with enthusiasm.

    However, Levi and the 5 wounded elves seemed to start moving strangely downstairs.

    Their bones snapped into new positions, lengthen, and pop through the skin and back into ce. Their skin looked like a shred in some ces and stretched in others.

    "Are you okay?" the saint level high elve asked carefully while approaching them.

    But, suddenly¨C

    SPLAT!

    Levi and 5 wounded elves jump over her and tear her apart. Not long after, six of them lifted their faces and stared at Tristan with their new yellow-glowing eyes. Their pupils started to dte, just like predators finding their prey.

    "Damn, apparently I chose the wrong ce to be."

 Chapter 360 Cursed

    The battle between the elves against the wolves in the thick fog outside the castle continued on ferociously and managed to produce the sound of violent fire explosions, thunderous lightning strikes, strong winds, the sound of weapons shing, as well as screams of pain and howling wolves without breaking.

    The high elves almost seemed like a god as they freely dominated the weather around the castle under their control, creating wind and lightning storms, uniting and manipting them at their own whims, as well as utilizing weapons to destroy wolves that keeping from the east forest.

    On the other hand, the dark elves were so powerful that the southern region of the thick foggy forest turned a reddish color as if the depth of hell had descended over there. Hot air made any object mmable, especially forest trees that were swiftly dwindling in number as the amber mes devoured them with each passing second. The charred smell of burning wolves filled and overwhelmed the air in that area.

    Wood Elves ruled the forest and everything in it at the west didn''t seem to want to lose in disying what they were capable of either. The many trees growing in the fog gave them an advantage in the ongoing war, as under their control, the wolves were decimated and annihted one by one without even seeing their killer.

    The saint level high elves outside the castle were already sweating and getting tired from swinging their swords non-stop and exerting all their might. However, they knew better than to be careless; if they were careless, their lives would be at stake as the ongoing war could easily determine life and death.

    Meanwhile, inside the castle, the six elves who were injured from the previous attack started to show strange behavior.

    Their bodies began to move in a bizarre manner, the bones in their bodies began to elongate and widen, making their bodies grow bigger than before. This drastic growth caused the skin of their body to be pulled in the direction of bone growth, making it thinner, transparent like premature skin.

    But afterwards, a new-tightened albeit fuzzyyer of skin slid over their nowrger and more muscr bodies. Their ears stretched up out of the side of their head before finally forming pointed ears like wolves and their hearing abilities got enhanced to another level.

    Their faces started to push forward and split away in snout forms. Their jaws started to dislodge to make room for a massive, deadly maw. It was as if someone just grabbed their face and yanked a new one straight out. At the same time, they grew a brand new set of fangs fit for tearing flesh.

    Their smooth and well-cared fingernails were reced with therge, hairy, dangerously wed hands of a beast. Then their eyes turned to yellow-glowing orbs, just like predators radiate from their eye sockets.

    "Magus Levi! Are you alright?" asked Tristan carefully.

    As if the creature knew its name was being called, it tilted its head and looked back at Tristan for a second. That was before roaring loudly from within the pce.

    HOWWWWLL!

    The rocks above the ceiling that became the foundation of the upper floor shook violently due to the loud roar. They looked like they could fall apart at any moment now.

    "Dammit!"

    Knowing the situation had turned for the worse, Tristan immediately used his scanner system to recheck the battle power of Levi and some of the elves who had just physically changed.

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power - 310]

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power -215]

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power -195]

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power -203]

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power -209]

    [Male, Elf]

    [Battle Power -199]<sub> </sub>

    As predicted, the battle power of the elves increased dramatically, almost double the increase. Even Levi, his battle power had now almost reached 300.

    However, the cost of this tremendous increase of strength seemed to be the loss of intelligence and rational thinking, reced by the ferocious instinct of a wild beast.

    Tristan had no other choice but to get himself involved in a one on 6 fight.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Six long swords appeared hovering near Tristan''s head, formed from clotted blood and then condensedpletely. He had already targeted one sword for each of the monstrous creatures who were staring at him at the moment. All of them disyed a savage grin, baring their pointed teeth that were smeared with clear, thick saliva.

    GROWLL!

    ROARR!

    SWITSH!

    Just as the 6 creatures jumped at him, Tristan shot his [Blood Synthesis] sword swiftly at them. The swords rapidly flew in the air and arched in six different trajectories, as they made their way towards their target.

    SPLAT!

    One sword was sessfully drawn towards one of the mythical creatures that was previously a high-elve saint who was injured, while the other five swords were sessfully dodged by the others.

    At a time like this, Tristan knew one sword was not enough to finish off the wolf-turned elf, so under his control, the five missed swords simultaneously made a turn in the air and quickly aimed at the fallen elf who was injured.

    The 6 synthetic swords all prated and pushed the elf to pin him directly on the castle''s wall behind him.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Tristan did not forget his main goal of joining the expedition of the elves. The moment the six swordsnded on the elf''s body, red mist came out of Tristan''s body and then moved around the lifeless elve.

    [1500 blood essence obtained]

    Finally, Tristan was able to get his first [Blood Extraction] result.

    The five cursed elves who managed to dodge Tristan''s first attack looked even more furious, growling until hot steam spewed out through their snouts and between their teeth.

    GROWL!

    "Come to me!" Tristan pulled out his greatsword.

    This time he could use his physical strength of [Blood Elf Monarch Body Stage 6]. With a battle power of 350 points, far above his opponents, Tristan was very confident that he would win.

    BAMMM!

    [Blood Elf Monarch Body Stage 6] had increased Tristan''s physical strength so much that he could destroy the castle''s stone walls in one hit. That''s also why Tristan had to be even more careful in attacking the mythical creatures.

    After all, thest thing he wanted to happen was for the rest of the castle to fall because of his actions. Moreover, there were still rituals that had not beenpleted on the floors above.

    SPLAT!

    Tristan swung his greatsword at the two cursed saint level high elves and managed tond a hit, shing their chest crosswise with great force. He did not expect that his efficiency in controlling the greatsword also increased, making his hands even more steady when shing two creatures at once.

 Chapter 361 Siege 2

    The three Cursed elves who had nned to attack Tristan at the same time now managed to aplish what they wanted, knocking the man down and hitting him while the bloodthirsty look on their faces grew fiercer every second.

    GROWL!

    ROARR!

    ? Even though it felt a little heavy, Tristan''s hands were holding the sword right above his chest, preventing the three murderous creatures from having a bite of himself. Right now, he gave his all to try and defeat thebined power of the 3 cursed elves who were scrambling to sink their sharp teeth into his body, tearing him apart if they could.

    Tristan''s one hand was scratched by the de of his own sword, causing his blood to drip out and blending with the blood of the cursed saint level high elves he had shed earlier.

    In response to this, Tristan growled and unleashed all the strength he could muster. The muscles in his arms, chest, and neck seemed to tighten, straining from the brunt of weight he had to push.

    In the meantime, the saliva of the cursed elves that were half transformed into wolf forms continued to drip all over Tristan''s body, some even sshing onto his face.

    While he was struggling against the wolf-turned elves, Tristan remained confident in his [Monarch Body Stage 6] strength. And his sharp eyes caught a glimpse of the gap, his legs free to move.

    And without thinking, Tristan kicked the creature that used to be a peak crescent moon level magus.

    CRASH!

    Levi''s body was thrown backwards and flew in the air, far enough to hit the stairs that lead to the top floor. As a result of his impactfulnding, the man let out a pained howl that shook the wall.

    At the same time, now that the burden he had to fight had been reduced, Tristan managed to get rid of two cursed saint level high elves with ease. Then without any hint of hesitation, he swung his sword with all his might.

    SWISH!

    SPLATTT!

    In the blink of an eye, two heads were separated from their bodies. The bodies of the two cursed saint level high elves convulsed on the spot for a second before stopping moving and hit the ground with a thud.

    Then, the two heads that were shed apart from their neck slowly turned back into the face of a high-elves saint level, normal, as before. However, both of them were already lifeless, with their tongues sticking out.

    Tristan stood up again and immediately used his [Blood Extraction] skill. His body was now covered with the elves'' blood, but it didn''t seem to faze him one bit.

    [Blood Extraction]

    The familiar red mist swiftly came out of Tristan''s body, moving to cover the lifeless body of the elves.

    [1500 blood essence obtained]

    Tristan''s sharp eyes immediately moved towards Levi, the only cursed elf left. However, the creature possessed a higher level of intelligence than the other wolves, especially the wolves who were still busy attacking from all directions outside the castle.

    Seeing that he had very little chance of winning against Tristan, Levi seemed to choose to hold himself back.

    Instead of pouncing on Tristan, he decided to look for other prey now that his sense of smell had drastically improved. It appears that the prey he sensed was now on the top floor, as Levi was seen quickly dashing towards the stairs.

    "No¨Cno, don''t you go from me¡­!"

    Tristan immediately rushed to catch up with Levi, who had jumped up the stairs quickly ahead of him. Arriving upstairs, he found Levi immediately jumped at Kolvar, who was guarding the high elf king, Castian.

    Unfortunately for Levi, the opponent he chose this time was not less weaker than Tristan.

    [Sub Zero] Tier 7 Ice element spell.

    Levi''s body instantly froze from head to toe as he leapt for the man, bing an ice sculpture frozen in the air.

    ¡­

    The battle between the elves against the wolves outside the castle was still going on, and was getting even fiercer as time went on. However, judging from how the battle was progressing, it seemed that the elves were slowly losing their advantage.<sub> </sub>

    The wolves that weren''t killed from the elve''s magic attacks seemed to have managed to heal themselves. Very quickly, from the burned or blistered skin, a newyer of skin that coverspletely has emerged. The charred flesh had grown into fresh new meat with increased muscle mass.

    The most brutal and destructive Night Wolves had managed to enter from all directions. From the east, south to west, they relentlessly tried to approach the castle ignoring the casualties urring among them.

    The roars, growls, and howls of wolvesbined with explosions, storms, and the cracked ground painted the very depiction of a scene of destruction.

    The former Arcadia King, Can, and his Kingsde warrior, Hanz, were back in the line of defense of the west gate with Queen of Vanyar, Leena, and Wood elf''s elder, Hdar.

    "Keep it up!" Can shouted while swinging his long sword without stopping for a second to ward off the wolves.

    SPLAT!

    One of the wolves lost both front limbs when it tried tond its sharp ws at Can. The wolf howled in pain as blood gushed out of his perfectly severed paw.

    However, the wolf''s severed bones regenerated in a matter of seconds along with perfectly flexed musclesplete with new blood vessels, flesh andyers of skin.

    It was apparent that the wolves'' regeneration process was extremely fast, that as long as it wasn''t a severed head or a torn heart, the wolves couldn''t be stopped.

    "sh their heads off or stab their hearts! Don''t waste the time!"

    SPLAT!

    Can shed at the head of the wolf that had just finished its regeneration. With its brain pierced through, the wolf convulsed on the spot and its blood gushing out profusely from the wound in its head, drained before ending in silence, motionless.

    GROWL!

    ROARR!

    A Night Wolf pounced from another direction towards Can in surprise, and it managed to stab its pointed teeth into Can''s golden armor. However, before the sharp teeth touched his skin, the man had already raised his sword, aimed it at the wolf''s heart, and stabbed it horizontally with great force.

    SPLAT!

    The tip of the silver de pierced the wolf''s heart until it came out through its back. Immediately after, Can pulled his sword back out of the night wolf''s body and kicked it with his right leg. Its body was quickly flung and fell to the ground, where it didn''t move anymore.

    "This will take forever," murmured the Queen of Vanyar, Leena, while spreading her arms in the air. She prepared to cast another skill even more powerful than her trap magic [Bramble Maze].

    "Are you tired now?" Can''s reply made Leena feel offended as well as motivated to show her prowess.

    "I will finish them all!" Hanz eximed tirelessly, swinging four swords at once using both hands.

    "HIYATT!"

    Hanz lunged at the four wolves at once in front of him. His target now focused on shing at the creature''s head. He then activated a magic skill that he had been hiding all this time, the [Luminous de Talisman], a sword skill thatbined with magic power to unleash extraordinary prowess.

    CLANK!

    In one fell swoop, Hanz mmed the four swords in both hands.

    [Luminous de Talisman]

    A bright light suddenly appeared on the de of the long sword. As time went on, the light grew brighter and more dazzling. The wolves who were nocturnal creatures seemed to tilt their heads, covering their eyes in an instant before being blinded by the light.

    Hanz''s four swords had fused into one, arge sword with a broad de from root to tip. The de glowed ording to the magic skill that was being used by the owner.

    SWISH! SPLAT!!

    The de of light on Hanz''s hands relentlessly shed his enemies around as fast as the light speed.

 Chapter 362 Siege 3

    Hanz''s sword skill [Luminous de Talisman] was truly terrifying.

    SWISH! SWISH!

    SPLAT!

    The Wolves who were near the man didn''t even have the time to dodge the sh of the greatsword because their eyes were blinded by the piercing light that the sword gave off like a blessing.

    Dozens of wolves'' heads were separated from their bodies in a matter of seconds, lying on the ground and being trampled by those who had just joined the fierce melee. At the moment, Hanz looked like he was dancing as he yed his luminous greatsword around with fleur, causing blood to stters from all directions every time he swung it at the nearest wolves.

    Hanz''s sword alone was enough to give the wolves the worst nightmare, if they had one.

    In the meantime, the Queen of Vanyar, Leena, decided to jump into the hundreds of wolves after sessfully cast her strongest spell

    [Mystic Form] [Tier 6 Magic Spell]

    It was a high rank nature body transformation spells

    The Queen of Vanyar''s body had already floated to a height of 2 meters above the ground after her body looked like being covered with a green nt-like armor with four wings resembling dragonfly wings that grew on her back. She now looked like a dryad, the mythical forest keeper, in flight. However, before long, her figure shot into the forest.

    As she flew in the air, her body emitted a mist of steam, causing the previous forest fog to turn even thicker.

    The next thing that happened was the sight of Queen of Vanyar''s body vanishing, invisible to the eyes of the wolves surrounding her. The wolves who had seen and locked their attention on Queen Leena''s whereabouts now looked very confused, their heads turned here and there looking for their prey that suddenly disappeared.

    On the other hand, Queen Leena started tounch her own assault by using multiple powerful roots and spear-like water projectiles that rushed all around her as she travelled in the air above the wolves.

    BOOM!

    KABOOM!

    Loud explosions urred everywhere as the projectiles released by the Queen of Vanyar exploded on impact with wolves'' bodies, tearing them into small pieces that scattered on the ground and in all directions.

    "Ha ha ha ha!" Queen Leenaughed while hiding in the mist she had created.

    It was clear that the confused expression on the wolves'' faces was an entertainment for her.

    While the others were guarding their respective area and fighting courageously, Lord Hdar, the king of Mirkwood, was starting to lose his concentration still affected by the death of his son.

    Just from being in a daze for a second, the two night wolves that had managed to run from the south to the west simultaneously jumped at the old man. They pounced on him from the opposite direction.

    GROWL!

    ROARRR!

    "ARGHHH!"

    Can, who was standing closest to the wood elf elder, immediately turned around to help. For a moment, time seemed toe into a standstill.

    SPLAT!

    The two night wolves had lost their heads, blown away by Can''s long sword. The body of the wolves measuring more than 3 meters quickly hit the ground, and coincidentally was about to copse right on the still stunned King Hdar.

    In an instant, Can went on and kicked the wolf''s body which had slowly turned into a human-like form from above Lord Hdar. He then pulled the body of Lord Hdar, dragging him away.

    Even though his body was badly wounded by the bites and ws of the night wolves, full of blood, Lord Hdar was still able to stand up. He immediately used his healing magic skills.<sub> </sub>

    But again, unfortunately the healing magic skill couldn''t work, it was able to heal the wounds from the mythical creature.

    Can immediately pulled Lord Hdar''s body to withdraw from the battlefield, leaving Queen Leena and Hanz to take charge for a while.

    At this moment, Can as themander once again tried to observe the situation on the other side.

    On the east side, the high elf elders continued to create new, literal storms.

    Osgiliath was busy sowing destruction by creating an ice storm with a tier 6 magic skill.

    [Blizzard]

    Hundreds of ice shards descended down from the sky like a divine retribution and pelted the wolves around him until they couldn''t even move an inch anymore. The shards swiftly froze their joints, so that their movement speed lessened by lots.

    Behind Osgiliath, another high elf elder had created dozens of icences from cold air generated by the wind around his body. When he saw the wolves struggling to move their feet on the ground because of [Blizzard] magic skill, he immediately unleashed the icences, targeting the heart of the wolves.

    SPLAT!

    The nearly frozen wolves died on the spot after having their hearts pierced through and ripped apart by the [Ice Lance] attack. Fresh blood dripped from the hole on their chest and back.

    While things had gone extremely cold in the east, things didn''t look that good on the other side of the battlefield. In the south, the most brutal and destructive night wolves managed to surround the dark elves and saint level high elves.

    GROWL!

    One saint-level high elf who had reached his limit had just been pounced on by the night wolves, helpless as his body got abused by the wolves with each passing second. The night wolf swiftly tore the man apart with its long pointed ws, thenstly it tore the saint level high elf''s neck with its sharp teeth.

    HOWWL!

    As if announcing victory, the night wolf roared loudly after sessfully killing the saint level high elf. Its snout was already filled with fresh elven blood. The monster immediately went in search of a new target.

    Seeing the battle against the wolves getting tougher, Can as themander of the war, had to make a decision. It was clear that several high elf saints were seriously injured and needed immediate help, therefore he did what had to be done.

    "Retreat! Return to the castle! Defend from the inner core!" Can shouted so loudly that all the elves who were fighting on the battlefield could hear his voice.

    Meanwhile, the dark elven king, Vizier, immediately told his daughter to follow the others back into the castle.

    "You should return now! I will follow you right behind," King Vizier ordered his daughter.

    Hearing direct orders from her father, Princess Illiana nodded firmly then ran back into the castle with the others without looking towards her back. She believed that her father wouldn''t lie to her.

    After the dark elven king watched Illiana and the rest of the dark elves safely back into the castle, he suddenly felt a powerful aura.

    He turned and looked back towards the south, where he saw a wolf figure that was different from the others. The wolf''s height reached 8 meters, running on its two hind legs and making the ground that was under its foot tremble violently every time it took a step.

    But suddenly¨C

    WOOSH!!

    CRASSHH!

    The giant wolf dashed out of sight, andunched a sudden attack on King Vizier with its muscr fist extended forward, causing the king''s body to be thrown with a bang. Thetter''s body flew in the air and hit the castle wall so hard that the wall shattered and fell on his body.

 Chapter 363 Siege 4

    A few minutes before King Vizier got flung and mmed into the castle''s outer wall.

    Tristan walked over to Levi''s body which was already lifeless due to the fatal attack of the high elven elder, Kolvar.

    The current appearance of Levi''s corpse looked very terrible, pitiful even. Even though the man had slowly changed back into his normal elf form, Tristan could still see the blood vessels under the man''s skin were blue and thickened unnecessarily.

    However strange the situation was, Tristan''s mind was focused on something else entirely. To be exact, on the fact that finally one elf magus was dead and with that realization he quickly turned his gaze toward the dead man''s chest, where a glowing stone-like crystal slowly flew out of the corpse.

    "Spirit soul!"

    When he saw it, Tristan was so ted that his face turned really bright for a second. He wanted to extract the soul right away.

    Unfortunately for the excited man, the half-moon magus Kolvar was faster than him. Using just a slight gesture from his hand, the spirit soul was suddenly pulled into a silver jar, as if it was sucked by a ck hole.

    "What¡­? Why?" Tristan was unconsciously asked because of how caught off guard he was.

    When he heard that, Kolvar looked at him strangely before saying, "What do you mean by why? I will return him to the Mirkwood elves, of course. What is your reason for wanting it?"

    Not wanting his n to be discovered, Tristan quickly made some excuses that sounded believable and then swerved the topic by exining about the strange transformation he had just witnessed, not just Levi but the other wounded elves as well.

    Kolvar, who was still standing before his king Castian, decided to take a few steps and look at Levi''s corpse closer. As he did so, the man seemed to be deep in thought.

    In the meantime, Tristan had his focus on something he desperately wanted - the silver jar where Levi''s spirit soul was. His mind quickly went into drive to find a way to get that jar; he needed it.

    A momentter, the two''s attention were attracted by the sounds of footsteps on the stairs. Someone apparently came to the second floor room, and the two immediately turned their heads to the stairs. It was the dark eleven princess, Illiana.

    "What''s going on here?" asked Illiana when she noticed the dead body between the two.

    Tristan looked at his wife with an expression of relief. He was d to see her back in good condition.

    "It''s the curse of the wolves. The elves here were corrupted by the wolf blood" said Kolvar, basing his words on the evidence he found.

    "How could that be?" Illiana couldn''t believe what she had just heard. Moreover, she only saw the corpse of Levi, who had returned to his normal form. Only, the man''s skin was pale and blue because they were lifeless.

    If it wasn''t because of Tristan who help exin, Illiana would have thought that the high elves Kolvas just killed the poor magus Levi.

    Illiana''s face suddenly changed as she asked:

    "Is it because of the wound from the wolves'' attack earlier? Or is it some kind of disease that makes those infected from the wolves'' attacks turn into wolf-like creatures?"

    When Iliana said those words, Tristan immediately turned anxious. His mind couldn''t help but think about the battle outside.

    In his head, he thought back to the science fiction films he had watched while living on earth. It was about the existence of a virus that infects humans and makes humans turn into the walking dead - zombies.<sub> </sub>

    "Is it that bad? The wars? How many of them got injured from the wolves?" Tristan asked curiously, with a hint of apprehension.

    Illiana stared at Tristan for a few seconds before letting out a deep breath and replying, "Many of them get bitten and scratched by the wolves. Do you think that they will transform into wolf-like creatures too?" Thetter part was obviously directed at Kolvar, who showed a thoughtful expression.

    However, the high elven elder, Kolvar, seemed to be busy thinking about other things after hearing the conversation between Illiana and Tristan. His eyes suddenly looked far away, as if he was recalling events that had taken ce in the past.

    "The wound that they got from the wolves. It made them transform into their kin." Kolvar suddenly muttered.

    "There is a legend from the Asgardian, a very old one. The legend said that there is an almighty wolf called Fenrir. People of the Asgardian believe it was the giant wolf will who kill their almighty gods and with it from the blood of the wolf came the cursed that turn even the strongest of them into a beast"

    Kolvar strongly believes that the legend of Ragnarok that befell the Asgardians was true. Especially after he saw firsthand the existence of the night wolves army that was now besieging the castle, initiating a war.

    Before Tristan could respond, suddenly there was amotion from the lower floors of the castle.

    BAMM!

    CRASSH!

    "Retreat! Defend the castle! Don''t let them in!" Can''s voice shouted from under the floor loudly, followed by the sound of noisy footsteps of several people who had returned to the pce.

    Tristan immediately ran towards the stairs to see what was going on downstairs.

    Dozens of high-elve saints seemed to have returned from the war injured, their bodies covered in fresh blood that was dripping profusely, staining their armor. Several parts of the body seemed torn apart down to the flesh, the w marks from the w wolves looked very deep tore through their armor.

    This certainly made Tristan anxious. It took only less than two hours for Levi and the other saint to turn into one, he wonder how long this batch going tost. The worst of this situation was when they turn into one, these elves blood will be extractable.

    "Darn it!"

    At the same time, the sound of Can shout can be heard as he called the Elves to retreat.

    "Retreat!, Leave the gate! hold back to the central gate!"

    All the dozens saint level elves entered the lower castle and there were at least another dozen wounded being carried inside. Seeing those wolf bite wounds on their bodies, Tristan knows that the situation just escted to another level.

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 Chapter 364 New Plan

    The war between the Elves against the wolves was still ongoing, the elvenmander, Can, had just ordered his troops to withdraw from the three gates.

    Meanwhile, the saint-level elves who were fighting from above the castle had already rushed out to defend the castle''s courtyard. Helping the others retreat.

    Upon hearing the order, those who were still alive swiftly went back into the castle area as they were about to try and defend the castle from the main door.

    Dozens of high-elven saints were heavily injured from the battle to defend the castle gates. Some had wolf w wounds all over their bodies, deep enough that it tore their flesh apart along with their skin.

    There were also a few of them who also received bite wounds from the wolves. The flesh on the shoulders, calves, or even the stomachs of high-elve saints was ripped and showed the muscles underneath.

    It was impossible for the wounded to return to fighting on the battlefield.

    The Queen of Vanyar, Leena, could be seen walking while carrying the body of the King of Mirkwood, Lord Hdar who was badly injured. She seemed to hasten their footsteps, heading into the castle, deeper, to a ce she felt was safe enough to rest those who were injured.

    "Stay with me, old friends!" The woman motivated Lord Hdar to stay conscious.

    "What happened?" Illiana, the princess of the dark elves, asked Queen Leena who appeared along with several injured saint level elves upon arrival at the castle downstairs.

    Tristan immediately reced Queen Leena to help Lord Hdar to his feet. He looked at the wound that the king had received and saw that the other party''s condition was far from great. An obvious gash on his chest, and a tear from the wolves'' bite near his neck.

    Meanwhile, seeing the many injured elves in the castle, Illiana thought back to the curse mentioned by the high elven elder, Kolvar. That the ones injured by the night wolves'' attacks would receive the same curse, transforming into their own species.

    "Many injured, themander ordered the troops to retreat, fight within the castle area," replied Queen Leena curtly.

    "This is bad. Tris, do you think they will all turn into wolf-like creatures?" Illiana asked despondently.

    "I don''t know." Tristan shook his head. "We should prepare for the worse."

    Queen Leena who had just joined did not understand at all the conversation that was going on between Illiana and Tristan.

    "Wait, turned?! what do you mean?" She interrupted.

    Before one of them gave an answer, Can suddenly appeared with a pale face, as the elven troops he led in the war against the wolves had been pushed back. Everything didn''t go as he expected.

    "We need a new n!" Can said.

    Tristan, Queen Leena, and Princess Illiana quickly followed Can up the stairs of the castle to reach the top floor and returned to confer with the elven leaders, including Kolvar who was still loyal to his task of guarding his king, King Castian.

    "How bad is it?" Kolvar immediately asked Can for an update on the war, and from the expression on Can''s face, he guessed that the overall situation was very bad.

    "How many died and how many were injured?!" He added specifically with a grim expression.<sub> </sub>

    "8 saint level high elves died, 11 of them were badly wounded, and the Mirkwood King, Lord Hdar too, badly injured. We are currently defending the center, but we need to retread soo unless more will die. How long until king Castiam finishes?

    Can''s words made everyone in the room look shocked. But, out of all of them, it was Kolvar who seemed the most displeased.

    "My king, King Castian, still hasn''tpleted his magic spell [Soul Seek] and he couldn''t just haphazardly stop the casting! You will all wait until his majesty finishes. Anytime he needs it. No one can run away from here. Otherwise, I will kill all of you with my hands before the wolves can do so."

    Kolvar was angry while brooding, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became terrible. It was so strong that the stone walls of the castle cracked under the pressure and everyone felt as if their throats were being strangled.

    It was clear that the man was serious with his words and threats, as everyone saw how his eyes fixed on Can, his forehead and jaw clenched.

    Can replied calmly, "there is nothing to be worried about, we need the information that King Castian currently seeks, I am just looking for a new n"

    "Let''s not fight against each other. We don''t have time for this" The Queen of Vanyar, Leena, gave her opinion, trying to mediate between Kolvar and Can.

    Tristan interrupted the conversation, "we actually have a bigger problem than just defending this castle"

    Tristan''s words quickly made everyone startled oblivious to the situation. He then exins the cursed that affected the wounded

    Kolvar confirms Tristan''s words. He then reveals the bodies of five saint level elves and one magus elf behind him. Therey very pale corpses with blue veins, thickened, horrible. It was as if someone was torturing them and destroying their structure from within their bodies before death arrived for them.

    "No, Levi!" Queen Leena immediately re-examined Levi''s hardened corpse. She knew that all this was real, but she still couldn''t believe what her own eyes were seeing at this moment.

    "I kept his spirit soul here, we will send him hometer after the war." Kolvar showed an urn-like object the size of his palm to Queen Leena.

    Seeing that the spirit soul was in the hands of a very powerful high elf elder, Tristan couldn''t help but feel that he was incredibly unlucky.

    Knowing the wounded could turn elves into one of the wolves make Can lose in words.

    At the same time, old sounds can be heard outside

    BAAAANGG!

    All of a sudden, an extremely loud crashing sound was heard from outside the castle. The impact was so great that those inside the castle could feel the shaking, as if an earthquake appeared andsted for just one second.

    Princess Illiana staggered slightly off her bnce and bumped into Tristan who caught her right away. After looking at each other for a second, Tristan as well as the others immediately rushed to one of the nearest windows to see what had caused the horrific crashing sound.

    There, A giant wolf was seen very close to the south gate. The gate had even now been razed to the ground below. The wolf seemed to be standing on its two hind legs after causing the southern gate to copse. Then before long, he was back on all fours, his skin covered with jet ck fur and looked extremely rough.

    "What the hell?!"

 Chapter 365 Titan Wolf

    The loud crashing sound, followed by the sound of rock shattering was caused by a gigantic figure looming high in front of the main gate leading to the castle from the south. With a height of up to 8 meters above the ground, the wolf seen standing on all its four legs looked extremely terrifying to the eye.

    The breathing out from the creature''s snot and mouth seemed to give off thick hot steam that dispelled the white mist around where he was standing. Its body is covered with ck fur that looks rough; it grew very much and is longer around his neck, like the mane of a male lion. Beneath the fur, was a thick, matte ck skin.

    Unlike the other night wolves, the eyes of the giant wolf were bright red, as if there was light emanating from them. The wolf stayed where it was while the other night wolves seemed to circle nearby, bing more and more brutal with the appearance of its leader.

    HOWWWWWLLLL!

    The deafening sound of the giant wolf''s roar managed to produce a powerful gust of wind that came out of its throat, making the stones of the castle ruins fly towards the castle at breakneck speed and hit the remaining castle walls. Some managed to hit really hard and cause that part of the castle to simply copse.

    Tristan, who was facing the giant wolf, had to cover his face with the back of his hand because the strong wind was pushing his body backwards even though a limited amount only passed through the window. He immediately checked the identity of the monster using his scanner system.

    [Titan Wolf]

    [Mythical Creature Level Undefined]

    "Dammit!"

    Tristan''s scanner system could not work optimally to read the power of the terrible creature. This meant only one thing; the monster was so strong that its prowess far surpassed the parameter that could be calcted by his scanner system.

    "Father!" Princess Illiana, who knew that the south gate was being guarded by her father, immediately screamed in panic. Moreover, he did not see the whereabouts of his father, King Vizier, in the area.

    "We have to do something. Can, what''s yourmand?!" Queen of Vanyar, Leena, asked.

    Between the appearance of the giant wolf outside and the curse that affected the wounded, it make Can lose his calm.

    Seeing the obviously powerful figure approaching, Can must make a decision, with the Cursed being its main problem, Can hopes the High Elf king Castian [Soul Seek] would have the answer, hence defending the ce is even more important than before. He quickly express this thought briefly and everyone understood.

    "Also, I believe the saint will not be able to fight that thing, it''s up to us. Leena, Hanz, Tristan, Lord Osgiliath and I will go help King Vizier against this wolf. Illiana you will help the others to defend the central castle with the other elders!" Can ordered.

    Everyone whose names were mentioned by Can nodded in agreement with the warmander''s orders. The four of them immediately jump out of the castle flew toward the southern gate,

    Meanwhile, the dark elven princess, Illiana, grabbed her husband, Tristan''s wrist, quickly and held it firmly.

    "Be careful, don''t let your guard down." The princess only let Tristan''s hand go after he nodded his head.

    After exiting the castle, Tristan could see dozens of the wolf creatures already entering the three gates.

    Only sounds of chaos, explosions of magic, roars and growls of wolves filled the air in the ce.<sub> </sub>

    Tristan and the others shot south and found the dark elven king, King Vizier just pulling his body up from the ruins of the stone gate that fell on him, making the stones melt due to the fire magic he cast [Lava Melt].

    Tristan was relieved to see that King Vizier was still alive and looking fine even though some wounds appeared on his skin. Nevertheless, the man had just received a fatal attack from the boss wolves which sent him flying so hard that he hit the walls of the southern castle gate until it was crushed.

    "Its head is mine," King Vizier announced angrily. Getting a sudden attack from the boss wolf made him feel like he was getting an insult from the wolf though it was probably not the case at all.

    GROWLL!

    The wolf boss snarled as it saw Tristan and the others'' arrival, baring its pointed teeth which were much bigger than the heads of the elves standing before it, trying to intimidate the opponent.

    As if the long growl that shook the air around it was the signal to attack again, the night wolves that had been silent around the huge wolf immediately jumped forward again, followed by the smaller dark wolves who were trying to pounce on anyone they could reach. .

    Tristan immediately initiated his skill. He use his [Blood Synthesis] skill as an opening attack.

    Clumps of blood seemed to ooze out of Tristan''s body, floating in the air as if it had no mass. The blood clot then moved in ce to change shape to resemble a dagger-shaped projectile that was still very rough. It didn''t take long for the blood elf''s daggers to grow to a hundred in number, hovering near Tristan''s body and facing straight ahead, ready to shoot at the target marked in the creator''s head.

    "Let''s see how many wolves I can kill with this round of projectiles." Tristan muttered before waving his hand forward, shooting his daggers at the wolves in front of him. All of those daggers were aimed at the point between the hideous wolf''s pointed ears, its brain.

    SPLAT!

    SPLAT!

    SPLAT!

    The hundred daggers flew through the heads of the wolves who were jumping and dashing towards him. As itnded and pierced right on the cranium between the wolves'' pointed ears, one dagger was enough for one wolf.

    This quickly opens up the way for the other to charge toward the Titan wolf.

    The raging King Vizier casted an enchantment magic spell [Burning Speed]. Being enveloped by an aura resembling a powerful me that made the king''s speed increase twofold. As if there were rocket boosters embedded in his body from all directions, the man''s body shot sky-high and flew rapidly in the air passing through Can and the others.

    King Vizier crashed his body like a zing meteor from under the titan wolf''s jaw with all his might, sending the titan wolf''s head violently upwards followed by a sound like bones breaking.

    BANGG! CRACK!

    However, the first attack received was nothing to the wolf titan. It quickly moved his neck in the original direction and made another snapping sound as if it had just returned its broken bone to its original ce without showing the slightest sign of pain.

 Chapter 366 Siege 5

    Looking at the wretched state of the east and west gates of the castle, it was clear the two could not be saved anymore. With the elven magus leaving centered on the main gate facing south, the high elves were increasingly unable to maintain their position. Wolves continued to arrive from all directions inrge numbers, while those who were still able to fight were only numbered in mere pitiful 28.

    Because there were no more people defending the gate as such a task was simply not possible, eventually, the gate was broken by the relentless assault of the wolves who immediately scrambled to enter the castle''s wide courtyard. In that courtyard, the dark elf princess, Illiana, the high elven elders, as well as the remaining high elves were already preparing to exert and unleash all their strength in order to prevent the wolves from entering the castle.

    BANG!

    BAMM!

    The war between races continued in full throttle. Night wolves, dark wolves of various sizes, were still as brutal as when they initially appeared, bringing destruction and wreaking havoc in the castle area.

    With the Titan wolf leading them in, the wolves seemed to have be even more destructive and savage than before, going and doing whatever they wanted daringly. It was as if they firmly believed that victory was in their hands ever since the Titan wolf had joined the battle.

    Meanwhile, in the southern part of the castle, at the main gate, the Titan wolf, who was an intimidating opponent to face, didn''t seem to be unstoppable as it initially looked.

    The left ear of the huge wolf seemed to have been torn at the end by something, leaving red blood scab that had dried and made its ck fur clump in one ce. In addition, there was a long scar line above his left eye, running down to the tip of its snout, causing the Titan wolf to continuously drip its thick saliva from the gap of the remaining wound.

    The existence of scars that still clearly remained on the Titan wolf''s body proved that the creature wasn''t impossible to face against and that there is a certain power that could be used effectively to defeat the Titan wolf, or at least, managed to injure him.

    A certain power capable of causing the wounds it created could not bepletely healed even with the incredible regeneration ability of the Titan wolf. However, the group of elven magus who were standing in front of him didn''t know, nor have an idea of what kind of power could make the Titan wolfpletely unable to heal itself.

    The Titans wolf moved its neck until it emitted crisp painful-sounding sounds from the bones around its neck after the dark elven king, Vizier, kicked it with the enchantment magic skill [Burning Speed] whose power could knock down the stone walls of the castle in one hit.

    However, unfortunately, the attack didn''t manage to deal an injury fatal enough to the Titan wolf whose strength could not be measured by Tristan''s scanner system.

    ROAR!

    GROWL!

    The dark wolves and night wolves from the south continued to jump and lunge at anything or anyone who tried to get in their way. All of them tried their best to break into the castle grounds and leave the leader, the Titan wolf, to take on the magus level elves.

    "Don''t let it pass! Defend the main gate!" Can shouted an order while he drew and prepared his sword for the battle against the Titan wolf.

    In the midst of this chaos, Tristan could be seen standing still. This was because he knew what to do to stop the endless thousands of wolves. He decided to initiate and unleash his special skill.

    This time, the skill he wanted to use would need a massive amount of blood essence at once in order to be activated. Tristan knew this fact very well, but he just gritted his teeth and proceeded nheless.

    The skill was the blood elf skill that he learned when he managed to get past his first death against elves in the kingdom of Forlorn.

    [Blood Legacy]

    [3000 blood essence required, proceed?]

    The blood elf monarch stage 6 body required Tristan to lose more blood essence to use his giant transformation skill [Blood Legacy], almost three times the blood essence he had to use nowpared to previously.

    To be honest, in his heart, Tristan really wanted to save on the consumption of the blood essence he had umted so far, but circumstances forced him to act otherwise.

    Tristan had no other choice but to use his blood essence to help the elves win a war that, in his eyes, was impossible to obtain unless a miracle happened. Therefore, instead of waiting for it to happen like others, Tristan decided to be the miracle itself.<sub> </sub>

    "Yes."

    [3000 blood essence has been consumed]

    Tristan could feel his heart beating faster to pump blood vigorously throughout his body, spreadingpletely through his veins which were instantly forced to expand like an object with high sticity.

    Furthermore, he could feel his body being tortured, cut by sharp objects, shed with swords, stabbed with hot spearheads. All of these excruciating sensations and their consequences made his blood move out through the pores of the skin surface intact unscathed.

    Tristan''s body gradually grew to a veryrge size with a very thickyer of red blood appearing to hide his true skin. His form has now turned into a massive humanoid figurepletely made of blood.

    Subsequently, Tristan again lost control of his own body. He knew that it would happen again, and using the blood elf ability that was hidden within him was the n for now.

    In the meantime, the dark wolves and night wolves around Tristan seemed to be distracted as they watched the changes that had urred in Tristan''s body. They yelped and howled, because Tristan''s form, which was more like a blood monster, made them feel intimidated and in danger.

    As the transformation was almostplete, the chant-like voice once again appeared in his mind over and over again.

    "ughter! ughter! ughter!"

    The muscles in Tristan''s body tightened behind the thickyer of blood that covered his body. His muscle mass continued to increase as if pumped from within his body with a tremendous flow of power. His teeth started to grow longer and sharp, filling his jaw until he eventually couldn''t keep his mouth shut; while his fingernails were reced by sharp ws that seemed to be able to tear through anything.

    DASH!

    The human figure, fully made of blood, shot forward brutally, crashing over several wolves who weren''t prepared violently and sending their bodies flying uncontrobly in the air. However, before the wolves couldnd again andnd hard on the ground¨C

    SPLAT!

    The floating wolves'' bodies ended up being stuck by Tristan''s terrifying long ws.

    On the other hand, the group of elven magus around Tristan had seeminglye into a tacit understanding and decided to leave the task of defending the main gate to Tristan who had transformed into something very promising to lead them to victory.

    Now that they were freed from the task of defending the main gate, they immediatelyunched attacks on the Titan wolf in unison.

    "Tie the wolf''s four legs with your wood magic spell, Leena. Make him immobile!" Can gave orders to the Queen of Vanyar, Leena. And she nodded in agreement, immediately preparing a magic spell that could be used to curb the Titan wolf.

    "King Vizier, Lord Osgiliath, go and attack the Titan wolf from above. Hanz and I will attack him from below."

    Mustering all the elven magus on the battlefield to defeat the Titan wolf was the only thing on Can''s mind.

    However, before the n even went ording to n, suddenly the Titan wolf raised its two front paws high in the air, then swung its ws in front of the elven magus who were standing crosswise in front of it.

    [Destructive ws]

    King Vizier who didn''t want to be attacked for the second time by the Titan wolf immediately issued a high tier fire magic spell protection [Enhanced Fire Wall] at the right time, protecting the unlucky group of elven magus from attacksing from the Titan wolf with a dense wall of fire that erupted very quickly and strongly.

    BANG!

 Chapter 367 Siege 6

    The sound of the collision between the intense air pressure that tore apart anything in its path and the dense fire wall that shone bright red had caused the ground in the southern area of the castle''s main gate that had been shattered to pieces to tremble violently. It was as if an unstoppable invisible wave swept over everything.

    BAMMMM!

    Thanks to the [Enhanced Fire Wall] that the King Vizier managed to throw out at the perfect time, the dark elven king had sessfully made the Titan wolf''s [Destructive ws] steer away from its target and instead disperse in all directions nearby. The powerful surge of air pressure that was the aftermath of the sh instantly tore apart the nearby wolves from all directions.

    The dark wolves that were hit by the airwaves in the form of invisible ws instantly cut into several pieces before falling to the ground, crumbling and scattering their parts of bodies on the ground. Meanwhile, the night wolves who were too close to the source of the disaster also couldn''t be saved, their regeneration abilities were unable to heal the wounds from the titan wolf''s dispersed attack.

    In fact, Tristan who was right on the left side where the attack had been dispersed also didn''t escape unscathed as his blood form was quickly torn into blood clots that fell to the ground around the stone ruins of the castle.

    However, even so, with the blood elf in its body, the lumps of thick blood seemed to havee alive as they quickly moved in unison, traveling like blood slimes on the ground, past the scattered carcasses of the wolves'' bodies, and ended up perfectly rejoining.

    The erged body of Tristan was slowly being reformed. Its ability to reform was no less great than the ability of wolves to regenerate itself, healing itself many times every time it received a fatal attack or even just a scratch.

    Meanwhile, the violent reflection of the waves managed to scratch the bottom of the Titan wolf''s neck, like a boomerang that was thrown but returned to attack its own master. Even so, the scratch didn''t mean anything, because in just a split second, the scratch hadpletely closed again as if nothing had happened before.

    The huge Titan wolf smirked as he growled, there was a thin puff of hot steam rising from the gaps between his long, pointed teeth. The creature looked furious because the reflection that King Vizier''s powerful [Enhanced Fire Wall] had done had cost him a lot of dark wolves and some of his precious night wolves.

    GROWL!

    The wolf shot forward trying to directly attack the dark elven king who had angered him with his massive ws. However, King Vizier immediately responded and dodged to the side, shooting off with fiery rocket thrust still enveloping his body, effectively thwarting the Titan wolf''s n.

    King Vizier soared through the air five meters above the ground, this time reaching half the wolf Titan''s height, and floated right on the level as high as where the tip of its long snout and full of incurable scars of torture was.

    CLANK!

    SWITCH! CLANK!

    Can and Hanz were already running towards the wolf Titan''s hind legs which had turned around following King Vizier. Both of them repeatedly swung their weapons at the wolf''s hind legs, which were towering like sturdy pirs and armor-like fur covering the surface of their skin.

    BANG!

    The wolf kicked its torn hind legs vigorously at its attackers, which instantly sent both Can and Hanz''s bodies who weren''t able to dodge the attack flying back rapidly, then crashed into the rubble of the ruined stone gate of the castle.

    As if she didn''t want to let the wolf go on rampant again, Queen Leena was ready with her magic spell [Earthbind]. The spell quickly took effect, sprouting the roots of the forest trees hidden deep underground forcibly beyond their limits until they popped out onto the solid ground. Immediately after, the roots shot forward and moved to entangle the wolf''s hind legs and restrain it.

    However, the restraints of the tree roots were not strong enough to stop the angry wolf. What it managed to do, however, was further aggravating the monstrosity.

    BANG!<sub> </sub>

    The wolf stretched the distance between its hind legs, causing the tree roots that were entangling it to be torn apart easily as if no magic power had strengthened it. And as if that wasn''t bad enough of news, the shreds from Can and Hanz''s sword shes that managed to scratch the skin of the wolf''s leg were now gone, reced by perfectly fine-looking hind legs.

    ROAR!

    GROWL!

    Still seen chasing the dark elven king, King Vizier, the wolf stomped its giant head, trying to reach King Vizier with its muzzle. It opened its jaws wide and then clenched it firmly as the creature felt its target was within striking distance of its attack.

    BANG!

    To no avail, King Vizier once again shot off as fast as a fire rocket, dodging the fatal strike. But this time he did not remain silent. As the lower part of the wolf''s neck opened to receive an attack due to its still raised position, Quickly, King Vizier unleashed the tier 6 fire magic skill [me Burst].

    King Vizier aimed his fist at the wide open neck of the wolf. In an instant, a fist-shaped me seemingly appeared from empty air, its size steadily growing many timesrger with each passing moment. When the fist-shaped me was as big as the wolf''s head, the muscles all over King Vizier''s body seemed to contract and retract against the surface of his skin, he swiftly proceeded to m the zing fist hard towards the Titan wolf.

    BANG!

    KABOOOM!

    The wolf Titan was unable to dodge the attack of the high tier fire magic created by the dark elven king. It struck squarely and the monster''s gigantic body was pushed back ten meters from the attack. However, even though his neck was now blistered and his flesh melted on the ground, the wolf was still standing firmly on all fours.

    It didn''t take long for the burned skin and scorched hair to grow on the injured area. The monstrous creature growled and the color of its eyes which had been bright red, now turned scarlet red, a ferocious glint appeared from within its eyeballs because it was so angry.

    HOWWWLLLL!

    The Titan wolf''s roar got an answer from the night wolves who were right at the edge of the forest. It seemed that the roar had a meaning other than just a call to the herd.

    Because of the same reason, the night wolves who were to the south of the castle could also be seen to be running to gather near the Titan wolf. All of them were grinning and growling as they made their way towards their supreme leader.

    Not because of the dark elven king''s fire; The furious Titan wolf had its body temperatures continue to rise drastically, causing the surrounding air to be hot. In fact, the hot steam that looked thin previously from the wolf Titan''s breathing was now thickened.

    "This is extremely bad. How can we defeat such a monster?" Can was back free from the rubble of the remaining rock of the south gate that had fallen on him. Hanz stood nearby with a furrowed brow.

    Meanwhile, Osgiliath who had been silent since the start of the battle against the wolf Titan had just finished preparing something very big. His hands were intertwined as if he was praying, his head was facing the sky which was turning very dark as if the night hade sooner.

    The high elven elder summoned a storm into the war.

 Chapter 368 Teamwork

    Five elven-level magus had put their all into defeating a single Titan wolf for almost 1 hour, but they still couldn''t get a win. The dark elves'' king, the extremely powerful King Vizier with his half-moon level only managed to inflict temporary injuries on the titan wolf''s body. It even onlysted a few seconds due to its amazing regeneration ability. Nothing''s enough to finish him off.

    The former king, Can, with his half-moon level, had tried to provide close physical attacks along with his best warrior, Hanz, a crescent moon level, but still, their sword shes that managed to tear the titan wolf''s flesh didn''t mean much.

    Meanwhile, the Queen of Vanyar, Queen Leena, the peak crescent moon level elf, had been trying to strengthen her restraint magic [Earthbind] [Level 6] to restrain the titan wolf''s four legs and slow its movement, but its power was too great and the tree roots could only break easily.

    Suddenly, the sky turned very dark. ck clouds gathered in one area directly above their heads, and shes of lightning began to strike.

    BLARRRRR!

    Can watched the high elven elder, Osgiliath, the half-moon level elf silently standing where he was. His fingers were intertwined, and his gaze was fixed on the sky. Can knew what the high elven elder was preparing.

    A very powerful high-level offensive magic. However, because of its extraordinary strength, the time to prepare the magic was not short.

    Seeing this, Can quickly knew what to do. He shouted in a loud voice, again giving hismand. As a strategy had crossed his mind, one to finally defeat the titan wolve.

    "Hanz! with me!"

    he called upon his most trusted aide to join him

    Without the slightest hint of despair, he dashed back towards the titan wolf with Hanz and bith sword drawn into the air. He was preparing to give a direct attack on the legs and the bottom of the neck of the titan wolf monster.

    Meanwhile, Can told Queen Leena to persist in using her tree root restraints, but this time her target was no longer the lower half of the titan wolf''s four legs but its body. The goal was to annoy the monster.

    As the multiple powerful roots entangled, distracting the huge monster, the two strongest humans came swinging their de

    SPLAT!

    Can managed to sh his sword at the back of the titan wolf''s leg with all his might, making a chunk of flesh in that part cut off, separated from its body.

    GROWL!

    The titan wolf groaned from the attack it received, however, the cunning Can was already hiding on the back of its legs, so the titan wolf had a little trouble catching him.

    Meanwhile, Hanz immediately took advantage of the situation by shing the titan wolf''s hind leg, right in the upper thigh, which wasrge and filled with a lot of muscle mass.

    SPLAT!

    The Titan wolf reflexively twisted its body while wagging its giant tail. Blood gushed out from the sh that Hanz had sessfully delivered using three swords at the same time, at the same target point.

    GROWL!

    The wolf was getting more and more furious, hot steam escaping through the slits of its snout. The look in his eyes was getting more and more terrifying.

    As the Wolf turned its body to face Hanz, Queen Leena, who saw it cast her restraint magic spell from empty air. It entangled the wolf''s head, blocking his view, and deliberately locking his eyes so he couldn''t see.

    However, Queen Leena didn''t know that the titan wolf''s sense of smell was far more effective inbat than her sense of sight. The wolf knew where his enemy was from the blood mixed with sweat that fuses to form a special scent that was different for each individual. And it also knew where was the position of the enemy that he wanted to end now.

    Unfortunately, Hanz also thinks the same, which suddenly bes his demise<sub> </sub>

    BANG!

    Titan Wolf managed to kick Hanz with its hind legs just as the warrior was just nning to deliver another attack.

    His body was instantly thrown into the air andnded on the ground after flying for 10 meters. Blood sttered as the powerful attack mush have heavily injured the man

    The wolf scratched its own head using its sharp ws to break the restraints that Queen Leena had created with a single try.

    GROWL!

    It was continuously dripping thick saliva from the gaps of its sharp pointed teeth.

    Can realized that Osgiliath was still not ready with his ultimate magic. And without thinking, he shed the titan wolf''s belly with his sword.

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    The titan wolf jumped away from Can, who was deliberately hiding in his lower body, attacking him freely.

    With its agile jump, the monster rolled to the ground to avoid Can''s follow-up attack that had ripped its lower body apart.

    Even though the torn skin and flesh quickly regenerated, still, the titan wolf didn''t like the pain of getting those wounds on his body.

    And when its sharp eyes found Can''s position, the monster didn''t wait to shoot forward and swung its forelegs vigorously into the air and its main target was Can''s body.

    Can was quick enough to prepare the de of his sword as a shield, and a violent collision was unavoidable.

    BANG!

    The extraordinary airwaves, flyingrge dust particles, and rocks above the ground were created due to the collision of the Titan Wolf and Can''s forces which were now bnced.

    Can was still strong enough to hold the titan wolf''s front legs and jump away as he finally realized that the time hase

    The Titan wolf growled furiously as its attack was stopped. And at that moment,

    Osgiliath fired his powerful lightning strike for the first time¨C

    [Divine Thunderbolt]

    DAARRR!

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Join the discussion on discord through my website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 369 Teamwork 2

    Finally, the one powerful attack that Can and the other has been waiting on hase

    [Divine Thunderbolt]

    DAARRR!

    One giant lightning shot that spread straight from the dark sky above seemed to suck all the light sources in the area. The sh was very bright and terrifying as it sted toward the Titan

    It was a tier 7 single target offensive spell that required a powerful channel from the cater spirit power and the storm that has been gathered in the sky

    The first [Divine Thudderbolt] managed tond right on the Titan wolf''s back and made the bones inside its body visible in a matter of seconds before a gaping hole shattered most of its back to its hind legs.

    Roaarrr!!

    A shriek came from the creature. And the smell of charred flesh wafted through the air.

    Even Can, who was closest to the terrifying attack, looked visibly pale even though the lightning didn''t hit him.

    The creature was in such pain that the spell finally made him kneel to the ground. But still, the titan wolf tried to stand up again using the three remaining legs with great difficulty.

    The sight of the previously terrifying titan wolf has changed and it appears to be dying

    However, his regeneration ability really couldn''t be underestimated. New muscles began to grow and creep, condensing, followed by the formation of flesh that had been crushed previously. Bones that could no longer function properly, were pushed to separate themselves out of the body and were reced by new bones that grew stronger and stronger.

    Even though the wound didn''t closepletely this time, still, Can could feel the horror of being near the monster.

    And their actions seeded in making the titan wolf even angrier.

    The Titan wolf growled, not responding immediately. Until suddenly, the creature roared with a loud booming sound¡ª

    AWOOOO!

    This particr howl definitely different than the previous one, as Can can feel powerful spirit energy emanating from the huge wolf

    Instantly all the dark wolves and night wolves in the area raised their heads to look at the source of the call. The light in their eyes seemed to dim after receiving the call.

    DAP! DAP! DAP!

    The dark wolf and night wolf who had previously fought the elves on the castle suddenly scrambled to run towards the titan wolf. It lunged at everything in its path and ignored the other elve warriors who were still trying to defeat them despite being exhausted and injured.

    Their arrival was like a terrifying wolf tsunami.

    The five strongest elves immediately were back to being busy with the wolves.

    "Can what should we do!" asked Queen Leena as she once again created multiple walls of vines to block and entangle the iing wolves

    Can once again assess the situation and realized that the high elves Osgiliath was still not yet over. Therge high elves could still deliver a follow-up [Divine Thunderbolt] with some extra time, and lan believes it is still the most strongest spell the group have and the best way to finally ended the Titan wolf

    "Just one more!" Can shouted and Everyone follows<sub> </sub>

    This time Can once again he''s to depend on the strongest man in the group.

    "King Vizier your turn!"

    The Dark elves king had already sped up his movement, trying to hold the titan wolf who was getting more and more furious.

    This time the king creates a special metal armor with the aura ofva fire. This is the spell he has been preparing for thest few minutes. It was his strongest defensive armor and he was sure that this time his defense was perfect enough to be able to attack the titan wolf in a melee attack.

    BANG!

    King Vizier managed to hit the titan wolf''s muzzle until its head staggered to the side with his fierce fiery fist. However, there were no significant injuries other than the tip of his nose being melted on fire.

    GROWL!

    AWOO!

    With the Titan wolves already much weaken, the dark elves king action was enough to hold it down, waiting for Osgiliath final attack, however more and more of its pack came gathering toward him.

    The dark wolves and the night wolves responded to the roars with shouts, seeding in making the elves feel a growing sense of horror.

    BANG!

    King Vizier once again hit the titan wolf''s muzzle with his fierce fiery fist, however, it was barely able to make the titan wolf move from its current position.

    "We just need another minute!" Shouted lan as he once again return to fight trying to sh the titan wolf''s leg. But the sea of ??dark wolves and night wolves that hade to attack him put him in a difficult position of nearly drowning.

    And suddenly¡ª

    The titan wolf appear to use a powerful skill and managed to pounce on King Vizier, who was flying low with its jaws. Its sharp teeth managed to crush King Vizier''s left shoulder with a single strike.

    CRACK!

    "AARghhhH!!!" The dark elves King was hurting, it was definitely a very powerful attack

    King Vizier was still trying to escape the grip by burning the titan wolf''s lower jaw until its flesh and muscles melted and fell to the ground. Even so, the monster didn''t want to let go.

    It appears there was no way he could break free, on the other hand Osgiliath''s powerful spell was almost ready. If he dont dodge away, he might get hit by the powerful thunder spell together with the wolves.

    Can tried his back to help, but he still couldn''t get a pass

    Unable to break free, Vizier decides to shout "Just shoot! I am ready!"

    It was at this moment suddenly a gigantic figure in the shape of a blood monster running from a distance, its strong legs were not stopped by anything

    Dark wolves and night wolves that tried to block the blood monsters were kicked into the air, or some were even stepped on until their internal organs were instantly crushed.

 Chapter 370 Blood Legacy

    [10 minutes earlier]

    During the chaotic fight, Tristan received a fatal attack [Destructive ws] that was thrown at him. It manage to damage his [blood legacy] body and some of his skin was torn and scattered on the ground.

    It took some time before the lump of thick blood came alive as they quickly moved in unison, traveling like blood slimes on the ground, past the scattered carcasses of the wolves'' bodies, and ended up perfectly rejoining.

    He remained on his back on the ground while waiting for his body to recover. He nced at the battlefield between the five elves level magus and the titan wolf.

    It only took a little while for his body to return to normal and regenerate with the ability of his Stage 6 Blood Elf monarch body.

    However, when his body was back in one piece, his growth couldn''t stop, and Tristan could feel his body getting bulkier.

    "Something is wrong, what is happening!'' Tristan quickly tried to suppress the growth while observing the situation carefully.

    Meanwhile, the fights were getting more and more exciting on the battlefield. The magus level elves were getting serious about using theirbat abilities systematically and strategically.

    Can started shouting again, giving orders to directly attack the Titan wolf along with his trusted warrior, Hanz.

    Tristan''s jaw hardened when he saw how Can used his intelligence to attack the lower half of the Titan wolf''s body. Now, the wolf had a hard time counterattacking him with his body blocked by the tangled tree roots of the Queen of Vanyar''s magic, Leena.

    However, Tristan grew shameless with a little hope that Hanz would die when he saw the titan wolf''s hind legs suddenly kick hard at Hanz''s body.

    It was so that he could perform blood extraction skills on his body. Not to mention, because Hanz was a magus who, of course, had a spirit soul.

    But sadly, Can certainly wouldn''t let that happen. And Hanz wouldn''t die with one titan wolf''s back leg kick.

    A powerful wind surge hit Tristan''s face. He had to close his eyes for a moment when Can managed to stop the Titan wolf''s physical attack with hisrge sword. Tristan really had no idea that the former king could do something like that. And that fact annoyed him a little.

    And suddenly, a giant thunderbolt shot straight from the sky above them.

    BLARRRR!

    That terrifying lightning managed to make a gaping hole in a part of the Titan wolf''s body until the smell of charred flesh filled the air in that ce.

    However, the titan wolf was still able to move, and from the glint in his eyes, Tristan could tell that the titan was furious now.

    The titan wolf suddenly roared with a thunderous sound as if summoning an apocalypse to it.

    AWOO!

    It was such a powerful roar that able to shook his mind for a little. Soon after Tristan can hear rumbling as the dark wolf and night wolf started running at full speed to fulfill their master''s call. All thousands that previously attacked the castle turn back trying to defend the Titan wolf.

    Dusing such Chaos, Tristan''s previously urge that he has been trying to restrain finally broke through and a notification appeared on Tristan''s system.

    [Synchronize Blood Legacy with blood elf Monarch body stage 6 is in progress]

    [5000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [Battle power increased to 400]

    [3000 more blood essence is required]

    Tristan was surprised to see the notification. He was certainly excited to see the increased battle power that follow with the enhanced strength he felt however, he didn''t realize that the uncontrolled growth of his body was actually sucking his blood essence without asking for confirmation as usual.

    However, even so, the changes taking ce in his body were still progressing, and Tristan could feel tremendous energy coursing through his body. It allowed him to stand back up as the pain and difort he had received from the previous fatal blow had disappeared.

    He re-examined the blood essence he currently had.

    The total results of saving blood essence before he joined the elve expedition until he managed to extract some of the elves who died in the war was [38,780 Blood essence].

    But the synchronization of blood legacy, which was still in progress, made the rest of his blood essence now only

    [30,780 blood essence]

    It was toote to curse

    In addition, the sea of ????dark wolves and night wolves was getting more and more out of control. They ran in one direction, their leader, the titan wolf.

    There were no more wolves in the castle area fighting the elven warriors as everyone was running to scramble out.<sub> </sub>

    The existence of Tristan''s body bulking higher and bigger, while in close formation to the Titan''s wolf made him one of the targets of the hordes of wolves. A few jumped at him, however, none were able to outstrength him. Especially while he was in his [Blood legacy] body

    Tristan would snap all the attacking wolves apart and when more areing, suddenly teh [blood legacy] innate ability came out in form of multiple tentacles that start piercing all the wolves.

    Satt! Satt!!

    Dark wolves body start piling up under his feet and Tristan once again scream, apparently, the changes in his body were not yet finished

    AWOOOO!

    [Synchronize Blood Legacy with blood elf Monarch body stage 6 is in progress]

    [3000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [Battle power increased to 450]

    [2000 blood essence is required for the final stage]

    The notification reappeared and managed to make Tristan even more furious. But he couldn''t control the system with his orders.

    He just decides to unleash his anger toward all the iing wolves until he finally felt the maximum growth of the skill

    [Synchronize Blood Legacy with blood elf Monarch body stage 6 has entered the final stage progress]

    [2000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [Blood Legacy enhancementpleted]

    [Battle power increased to 500]

    Tristan''s heart suddenly stopped beating for a second before finally returning to a faster rhythm than before. His heart pumped blood to all corners of his body without missing a beat after thetest notification appeared.

    Tristan could feel a tremendous power coursing through his body at this moment. However, another notification suddenly appeared in front of him.

    [1000 blood essence will be consumed per 60 seconds when Enhanced Blood Legacy is used]

    The new notification made Tristan groan and feel like he was being toyed with. It was not only the Blood Legacy upgrade process that drained a lot of blood essence but also the time to use it.

    Blood clots moved out of Tristan''s body and then spread out of his body. His blood formed like skin outside his body until he looked like a figure madepletely out of the blood. Furthermore, the blood figure began to grow in no time, and he could feel how the angle of his eyes was changing and elevating as the growth took ce.

    [Warning: there is a possibility that the host cannot control the enhanced Blood Legacy in this current condition (55% chance)]

    He cants believed it, not only did the skill drain a lot of his hard-earned blood essence, he might even loose control and die because of it

    At the same time¡ª

    Can was almost drowned by the sea of ??dark wolves and night wolves that came to attack him. Hanz also seemed to be struggling to swing his three swords at once as the wolves charged at him, not giving him any space to move.

    Meanwhile, he could see King Vizier had just put his terrifying fiery fist into the titan wolf''s face until it burned the tip of its snout.

    Queen Leena had already used her magic to hide in the shadows and attacked the dark wolves and night wolves that were scattering around using her special spiked whip.

    Until something horrid happened

    "Aaaaarrrghhh!"

    King Vizier''s body got caught in the dreadful bite of the titan wolf that could pierce through the king''s special metal fire armor.

    Meanwhile, the second thunderbolt of the high elve elder, Osgiliath''s magic was already thundering above the crown of the titan wolf''s head, ready to give its terrifying strike.

    In a moment like this, with all the chaos within his body, Tristan really needs to make sure the battle to be over fast, at the same time seeing Vizier get hurt, not only would ruin the chances to win teh battle, Tristan also remembered the request of his wife, the dark elve princess, Queen Illiana, to protect her father and bring him back alive.

    Tristan immediately ran towards the titan wolf to save King Vizier, who was trapped.

    His new blood legacy form attacked the dark wolf and night wolf that blocked his path easily. Throwing, kicking, even stepping on them from behind until finally, he manage to stand in front of the Titan wolf.

    Two gigantic figures, one furry ck, and another bloody red. The two face each other ready for the final fight.

 Chapter 371 Monstrous Duel

    BANG!

    The giant blood figure managed to hit the titan wolf''s body right on the neck with a very strong fist strike.

    The titan wolf''s throat waspletely unable to withstand the attack, and the monster spat out its contents, simultaneously releasing his bite at the shoulder of the dark elve king, King Vizier.

    The badly injured King Vizier was still able to move to jump away before he was got hit by the lightning strike. Even now the lighting couldn''t hold itself back from striking the sky above.

    Tristan beat the titan wolf with his new enhanced ability. His new power manages to keep up with the Titan wolf''s strength.

    Meanwhile, all around the giant blood figure hung dark wolves and night wolves who were trying to w, bite, or even climb up Tristan''s giant body. However, Tristan felt that no matter how hard it was, he could still endure it.

    Tristan smacked the titan wolf down, delivering such powerful fists that it flew into its muzzle until the sound of bones cracking continued to be heard.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    He really enjoyed his incredible new power.

    The Titan wolf staggered to the side and almost fell to the ground, but Tristan didn''t let it fall.

    He pulled the titan wolf''s neck back with his left hand, gripped it, strangling it tightly while his right fist clenched into a fist and crushed the titan wolf''s head again until the titan wolf could only w its weak paws on the ground without being able to provide a counterattack.

    Tristan continuously punched and kicked the titan wolf like a crazy mad monster and the titan wolf has no chance to attack him back or even pull itself away.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Can and Hanz already united their power to kill the dark wolf and night wolf flooding around them while King Vizier pulled himself back. Queen Leena appeared from her shadow behind the dark elve king and gave him a hand for help.

    The magus level elves were amazed by how the giant blood figure destroyed the titan wolf''s body and cracked its strong bones in ease.

    "Is that really the Blood elf power!"

    Tristan can feel his body filled with anger, the temperature of his inner body has turned to hot and he could not stop himself from destroying the titan wolf more.

    As if it was not enough, he started to kick and crushed the dark and night wolves that kepting to attack him from everywhere. His giant hand full of muscles and veins grabbed five to seven of dark wolves at the same time then crushed them like nothing.

    ughter! ughter! ughter!

    ughter has made him be a nearly monster, much stronger than the titan wolf that could not even regenerate its injured body as fast as before the giant blood figure crazily crushed him.

    AWOOO!!

    The helpless night wolves tried to roar in panic when they saw how their leader was almost getting beaten by the other monster. But the wolves wereing in a solid pack.

    They still work together to attack the giant blood figure so that the titan wolf can be managed to get out of the blood monster''s hands.

    As theye more in number, Tristan can felt the scratch on his undeveloped skin. And the next wave of wolves tsunami finally managed to make him release the titan wolf at that moment.

    ? AWOOO!

    The second wave of wolves tsunami was too much. Their brutal bites and strong ws were trying hard to inject into the blood figure body. But there is no possibility that it will seed.

    Tristan started to use his dozen blood tentacles to help his two hands to grab the wolves that had climbed up to his body and covered it with its scratches and bites. The blood figure hands crushed the wolves like nothing then threw it away.

    Tristan moved his giant body by a single high jump and when his feetnded on the ground for the next second, almost 50 % of wolves hanging on his body fell and then were crushed by his feet.

    Their organs were destroyed and the undigested material inside were terribly scattered on the battlefield ground.

    As his body was bing lighter again, his main intention was back to the titan wolf that was still trying to regenerate its body by cracking its own bones and growing its flesh back to the right ce.

    Tristan will not let it happen that way. He dashed forward to hit the head of the titan wolf and

    BANG!!!<sub> </sub>

    The strong waves of air suddenly appeared after the impact and that made the night wolves and dark wolves on Tristan''s giant body fall to the ground and thrown away by the waves.

    The giant blood figure back to attack the titan wolf on its neck ripped it out like a reaper. Blood mud was dripping fast on the ground and created a pool of blood.

    Awoooo!!

    And at that moment, Tristan looked up at the sky above him and as a second powerful sh of lightning shed downwards from the top of the sky, Tristan used his full strength to throw the titan wolf''s body upwards so that the lightning could freely strike it.

    WUNG!

    [Divine Thunderbolt]

    BLARRRRRRR!

    The higher the target, the more terrifying the destructive power of the thunder strike.

    The sound of shrieks and howls began to sound heart-wrenchingly in the area. The dark wolves and night wolves seemed to be slowly retreating after witnessing the massacre that had urred to their leader.

    And the titan wolf''s body waspletely defeated and fell to the ground with severe burns. It was such a terrifying magic spell.

    Knowing that their leader was fully beaten, the dark wolves and night wolves roared and then scrambled to flee back into the forest area.

    AWOOO!

    Saving themself in panic before it was their turn to get hit by that terrifying lightning bolt.

    The fall of the titan wolf and the retreat of the night and dark wolves indicate that the terrifying war between elves and wolves has ended.

    However, just as the blood figure wanted to end the titan wolf by tearing its body into two pieces, suddenly the Queen of Vanyar, Leena shouted to stop it.

    Obeying the queen''s request, Tristan returned to his normal form. He cursed at the air because of how preupied he was while using his new power that he slightly forgot how much blood essence he had to pay after being in that mode for more than five minutes to beat the titan wolf to a pulp. He was even more annoyed because the titan wolf was still able to move a little after he had returned to his normal form.

    The magus level elves gathered around the titan wolf''s body warily. They couldn''t be careless. However, from the titan wolf''s movements, it didn''t look like it was about to give a sudden attack or even look like it wanted to attack in the slightest.

    They waited.

    Meanwhile, the titan wolf slowly moved its body oddly. The movement emerged from the inside of the titan wolf''s body. It was as if its blood was boiling and its bones had shrunk drastically.

    A thick ck smoke emitted from his body, shrouding him so that the magus level elves had a hard time seeing what was really going on in front of them.

    But before long, the smoke was carried away by a gust of winding from the direction of the forest, and the titan wolf was no longer there. Its body had actually shrunk by more than 10 times. And now in front of the six of them, was a person in the form of a human with pointed ears.

    A naked elve with very severe burns on his skin.

    Queen Leena''s eyes widened when she realized who the elve who had just appeared in the titan wolf''s ce was.

    She really couldn''t believe what she saw.

    He was the former Forlorn King, King Radulf. Once the strongest elf king that made the Forlorn known as the most powerful Wood Elves.

    He has two sons, one of them was already defeated by Tristan in the previous fight while the other one became the leader of the Forlorn Kingdom as a representative of Tristan.

    The former Forlorn King''s skin was slowly starting to heal itself. The titan wolf''s amazing regeneration ability could still work even though its form hadpletely changed.

    The magus level elves looked at each other while waiting.

    Meanwhile, Queen Leena immediately ran over to the helpless body and covered it with a leaf that she managed to create using her magic.

    The elve continued to groan from the truly unbearable pain. His body still didn''t move from its ce. However, he was still fully alive and none of the magus level elves was nning to kill him after learning that the titan wolf was someone from their n.

    The war between wolves against elves had officially ended with victory on the elves'' side.

 Chapter 372 Last Wishes

    The wound received by the former Forlorn King was too severe that his ability to regenerate was no longer able to work optimally.

    Queen Leena was still trying to cast healing magic on that defenceless body by exerting all her might. But in vain, the high elve elder, Osgiliath, had informed that the former Forlorn King could no longer be helped.

    "It''s useless, Queen Leena. Your efforts will not be able to save him. Let him go in peace."

    Meanwhile, the magus level elves just watched the heartbreaking event of losing such a powerful rtive in silence. The atmosphere had turned sombre and mournful.

    On the other hand, Tristan took the time to check how strong the former Forlorn King was using his system.

    [Male, Elf]

    [Full moon level]

    [Battle Power: 480]

    [Spirit Force: ¡­]

    "Full moon level? No wonder his strength is insane. Even the battle power is very high."

    After several minutes of trying to continue breathing through his mouth, his body finally ran out of time.

    Queen Leena lowered her head, followed by the other magus level elves.

    The already motionless body slowly began to undergo elerated dposition. The body shattered and emitted ck smoke that evaporated into the air. Leaving nothing but dust that could easily be blown away by the gusts of wind in the area.

    Then a spherical light appeared where the body was supposed to be.

    The light floated low above the ground. A very bright and dazzling light. The spirit soul of a full moon level elf waspletely different. The light was very bright.

    "Keep the spirit soul!" Can shouted.

    But¡ª before Leena took out a spirit soul storage bottle, the light dimmed strangely.

    "No!, there''s something strange about that spirit soul. It''s degrading." the high elve elder, Osgiliath, spoke up.

    And right after he gave out hurtful information to those elves,

    Suddenly a hoarse voice was heard from the direction of the light. The voice was as clear as if the former Forlorn King was speaking to them directly.

    "I wish all the elves to return to their ancestors. Return to the world that should be our ce of birth, death, until our rebirth."

    "I just want my sons, my grandchildren, to be able to experience what a very perfect life is like in our real home. Seeing their happy smiles, seeing how they grow into great elves there is my biggest dream."

    And suddenly, the light dimmed with the air. Just disappeared.

    Tristan was still trying to understand the message spoken by the former Forlorn King.

    "The real world? The ancestor of the elves?" Tristan thought questioningly.

    And the death of the former Forlorn King was followed by the sky suddenly pouring rain on the area of ??the battlefield that had ended. Not because of Osgiliath, who brought the rain. However, the sky seemed to share in the loss of a king who was known to be wise and loving to his two sons.

    The expedition had to continue, and they decided to let the former Forlorn King''s body remain on the ground outside the castle as a final tribute.

    Tristan, however, heaves a heavy sight. that powerful full moon spirit soul just disappears like that, after he works so hard for it.

    The six of them walked back into the castle area. Hanz had several scratches and bites on his body. Meanwhile, the worst was the condition of the dark elve king, King Vizier. The flesh and muscles of his torn shoulder looked hideous, his blood flowing washed away by the rain. Tristan helped him walk because the king really needed help.

    The elve soldiers in the castle area were very excited to wee the magus level elves who managed to bring victory. Even though most of them were also injured, they still cheered their leader from victory.

    Princess Illiana came running towards the west gate and watching from a distance, she realized that something was wrong with her father''s condition.

    She could not wait any longer and immediately ran with all her might toward the king. Her face was extremely worried.

    "I thought the titan wolf had killed you," Princess Illiana greeted her father sarcastically.

    "Small bites like this don''t mean anything. Wait¨C were you just worried about me? This is very rare. Ha ha ha ha."<sub> </sub>

    The Dark Elve King was still able to make jokes in a condition that looked very apprehensive. He was very sure that he was fine and would soon recover when the king of the high elve had returned. He could only hope that the high elve king brought good news from his vision.

    The strongest have walked into the castle once again, so the elven warriors opened the way for him.

    Tristan saw how most of them were already badly injured and who knows how long it would take until they would turn into werewolves like what happened to Levi andpany.

    On one hand, Tristan felt this was an opportunity to gain profit. On the other hand, if this many transformed, the situation would be very dangerous.

    Can red at Tristan, who was already busy imagining the next possibility.

    "Your blood powers are incredible, Tristan. How can you increase your strength so fast? What exactly did I miss earlier?" King Vizier seemed interested in knowing more about Tristan''s spirit.

    "I will tell youter after when this expedition is done"

    Tristan''s eyes moved to find King Hdar, the king of Mirkwood seemed to be still trying to restrain himself so that the poison from the attack did not spread to his body.

    Even though he couldn''t get the cursed poison out of his body, the king knew how to keep it from spreading quickly using his magic. At least, he had more time to remain unchangedpared to the elven warriors.

    Tristan brought the dark elve king, King Vizier to sit by King Hdar''s side. The two looked at each other with pained expressions. That was before suddenly bursting outughing in celebration of both victory and pain.

    Can started counting those who were left and those who were injured. This was a very unexpected number.

    Of the 45 saint level high-elve as elve warriors, 25 of them were injured by the wolf''s ws or bites. 5 of them were seriously injured, 3 died, and the remaining 7 were still in a state of exhaustion.

    Meanwhile, apart from the magus level elves who fought on the front lines against the titan wolf, there was Princess Illiana and the three elders of the high elves who were still able to fight to continue the expedition. King Hdar and King Vizier should get treatment as soon as possible.

    After counting those who were still able to continue the expedition, suddenly the two people who they had been eagerly waiting for their presence walked down the stairs.

    The high elve king, Castian was followed by his confidant, Kolvar.

    King Castian did the same with Can, counting those who were injured, those who had survived, and those who had died.

    However, King Castian brought news that managed to make the elves gathered in the castle have hope again.

    From the [Soul Seek] he had just finished, King Castian managed to find two important pieces of information.

    The first information was that there was ancient magic that could be used as an antidote to the werewolf curse. And he could perform that ancient magic to save the injured from being cursed.

    Even so, the curses could only be lifted without healing the wounds they had.

    And the second information was about the existence of a secondyer inside the castle. A hidden portal that connected their current ce to the other world they might have been searching for since the first expedition of the elves that took ce fifty years ago.

    After providing that information, King Castian immediately prepared the ancient magic he mentioned earlier.

    The king sped his hands as if in prayer while closing his eyes tightly.

    [Freya''s Blessing]

    King Castian''s body gave off an extremely bright white light. The light continued to grow wider. Then when King Castian suddenly opened his eyes, the light seemed to explode in a second and filled the castle room.

    BANG!

    Nothing was destroyed, only the sound of the explosion was quite loud. The white light disappeared after expanding to touch all corners of the walls inside the castle. It was as if arge-scale purification had just been carried out in it.

    Those who were injured and kept moaning in pain suddenly stopped moaning. The pain they felt suddenly disappeared. It was all because of the light created by King Castian.

    ? King Castian told them that the magic spell he had just cast was a very ancient magic spell from the Asgardian ancestors and the castle they live in today was a forbidden territory that was sacred to the ancient Asgardian ancestors.

    This fact brought more questions to Tristan and teh other, "What is this ce really is!?"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 373 Continue

    King Castian exined what he had seen from his [Soul Seek] ability against the skull skeleton.

    There was actually anotheryer that would lead them to the end of the elves'' expedition and within thatyer, the secret of the mist will be waiting for them.

    He couldn''t see more of the image behind theyer connecting the two different worlds as there was powerful magic blocking his abilities, even so, he firmly believed that wise decisions were needed to determine who would continue on this dangerous expedition and who should return immediately.

    King Castian and Can start checking the condition of the party, and see that the ancient healing magic cast by High Elves king could dispel the curse of the night wolves, however, it was unable to heal physical wounds so those who were seriously injured still needed to be treated.

    All of the magus level elves were busy casting their heal magic spell for healing those who were severely injured physically leading to the high elven magus levels using their sky-ability to heal those who were wounded from bites. They were trying to grow new flesh and bones but the effect will not ur in an instant. Growing flesh and especially bones takes time.

    Meanwhile, a magus level elve as strong as King Vizier could create metal imnts using his special magic to rece the muscle and flesh on his shoulder that had been torn apart by the titan wolf in an instant.

    "This is nothing. Everything is fine." He murmured to himself after final-checking his new build-up shoulder made of metal.

    "You really don''t want to miss anything, do you?" Princess Illianamented on her father''s action.

    "We''vee this far, there''s no way I''d be home early"

    The dark elve king really didn''t want to miss the opportunity to go to thatyer and continue the expedition with those who were the strongest.

    Unlike King Vizier, the Mirkwood King, King Hdar decided not to continue the expedition because his injuries were still severe and he was no longer interested to continue as he had found the remains of his son''s body.

    King Castian decided who would go and who would return to the pce.

    "Considering how dangerous the conditions behind thatyer are, it''s best if only the strongest and still able to fight continue." obviously King Castian told the reason.

    All magus level elves would be involved in the follow-up expedition except for King Hdar and the wounded dark elves.

    He included himself as the leader of the elve expedition, King Castian will be apanied by two of his trusted high elves, Kolvar and Osgiliath, and three high elve elders who had survived the war against the wolves with minor injuries.

    Then also the Queen of Vanyar, Can, and Hanz. They were very enthusiastic to continue the expedition until the final.

    The Dark elve king, King Vizier will be apanied by one of his dark elve elders.

    In addition,

    The high elve king asked King Vizier to lend the princess as the leader of those injured elves who had to return to the castle for further treatment and wait until fully recovered.

    "Don''t be a burden to the others in my absence, Princess." King Vizier still teased his daughter with his sarcastic words.

    "Are you talking to yourself? Look at that wound of yours!"

    "Ha ha ha ha."

    Thest one who will continue the expedition was Tristan. The blood elf who managed to defeat the titan wolf, making it helpless with his bare hands, has managed to gain recognition from the magus level elves, especially when the dark elven king really couldn''t stop mentioning his prowess from earlier.

    The decision was made, and the dark elves princess came to approach Tristan

    Illiana was actually don''t really like the idea at all, she was always a fighter and she really wanted to know what really lies in the center of the mist.

    The Dark elves princess look toward Tristan, asking for a decision and Tristan actually agree for her to return. Even the secondyer able to take magus''s lives, he really rather have one of his trustedpanion to stay out of danger.

    "Tristan, I will be waiting for you at the Arcadia, You shoulde home alive," Princess Illiana spoke to Tristan while looking her husband straight in the eye.

    "Of course i will, and i will not forget bring back souvenir"

    Although seems to be joking, Tristan actually dead serious for not given up on the spirit souls that he hadn''t been able to collect so far, and he wont return without it.

    In addition, his very high increase in battle power made him impatient to engage in more difficult battles.

    Princess Illiana said goodbye to her father, then to her husband, Tristan. She really hoped that the two of them could take care of each other and then return alive.

    Once again, Tristan promised his wife that, even though he himself had no clear idea how the situations in the nextyer would be as Tristan really believed in his abilities now

    After the final decision was dered by King Castian,They separated.<sub> </sub>

    The injured elves had to leave the castle and return to the castle under themand of Princess Illiana, while the others stayed behind to continue the unfinished expedition.

    Tristan followed King Castian into the castle, this time deeper into the castle grounds on the other side. A side they had never crossed before.

    There was a half-destroyed staircase at the end of the room, the staircase leading to the top floor.

    Tristan studied their various expressions. However, from the changing atmosphere of the air around him, he could sense how the magus level elves were serious aboutpleting the expedition.

    The atmosphere turned tense, while the sound of heavy rain outside the castle made the tension within the castle even more intense.

    Arriving at the top floor, there was only an empty room with walls that had been overgrown with mold and some moss which made the room feel very humid.

    There was no gap connecting the room to the outside of the castle, no damage whatsoever, and not a single speck of light from outside.

    Tristan used his enhanced senses to still see clearly even though the light in the room was minimal, and something caught his attention.

    At the end of the wall across the room, he saw something was moving very slowly. Something resembling a ck bubble that, at first nce, looked like a giant slime.

    The bubble seemed to stick perfectly to the side of the wall.

    King Castian led the elves to walk toward the moving bubble.

    He then exined that the bubble was ayer that he meant.

    "We are already this close to our ancestors. Soon we will return to our homes."

    Tristan watched the elves suddenly look excited, full of enthusiasm. He still didn''t understand what they were talking about.

    However, he knew that there would be another world connected to the giant bubble and they would have to pass through it toplete the expedition.

    The three high elve elders looked at each other doubtfully. Meanwhile, King Vizier seemed to be clenching his jaw.

    Can and Hanz seemed to be tightening their grips on their swords in tension.

    Meanwhile, Tristan just stared into the dark ck bubble with a serious look. Even so, he couldn''t see anything other than extremely dense darkness.

    "What''s in there? Can you add more detail about what we are up to?" Tristan asked.

    "I already told you all the visions that I got from [Soul Seek]."

    "We are going to find our home."

    Tristan had absolutely no idea what was behind the bubble. And what he had to deal with there. The answer he got from the leader of the expedition could not satisfy him enough.

    His eyes moved to look at Kolvar, who had just brought back the bottle containing Levi''s spirit soul. The trapped spirit''s soul kept shining bright like a firefly.

    Tristan still hadn''t found a way to steal it away secretly.

    Suddenly, King Castian decided to invite them in together through the bubble that functions as a portal.

    And as Tristan and the others walked closer and closer to the bubble, they could feel a terrible feeling. It was a sense of hopelessness, hatred, anger, and the desire to create destruction all of a sudden mixed into one like a whisper that kept calling from the other side.

    Therefore, Tristan knew, while in there, something very terrible was waiting for him.

    And as the whispers of negative feelings grew stronger, suddenly hopelessness and depression grew in his heart. It made him think of stepping back.

    However, it was toote.

    When King Castian touched the bubble, suddenly an explosion appeared.

    Bang!

    They lost their senses instantly because of the st of air. And before they knew it, their bodies had been transported to the other side of the world.

 Chapter 374 New Layer

    BAMM!

    The explosion was truly very shocking. However, even though it sounded extremely loud and terrifying, nothing was shattered in the room - not even the old dpidated stone wall which was very easy to copse. Everything did not experience anything as if the explosion was a mystical thing happening in that ce.

    The bubble expanded along with the explosion that appeared and enveloped the elves standing in the room. It clung like slime, and in the next second, as if there was intense energy emanating from the wall at the end, the bubble pulled the elves into its body with a single rebuke.

    BAM!

    The second explosion urred when the bodies of the elves were smashed through the wall. Just like they thought, it was a portalyer to another room.

    PYAKK!

    They fell on the knee-deep waterlogged surface in the same position, plummeting and having their bodies kiss the aquatic nts below.

    The magus level elves pulled their bodies to their feet after being thrown from another ce into a space of apletely different environment.

    As far as their eyes could see, there were only marshes with knee-deep puddles, with mangrove-like water trees of varying sizes, and clearly, the ceiling looked very dark, like a giant cave.

    There was a speck of light that helped them still be able to see with their enhanced senses, but the origin of the light was not visible. In fact, it seemed impossible to apprehend where it wasing from.

    "What ce is this?" Tristan couldn''t help but ask.

    His body was already half wet by the swamp water. He turned to see the giant barrier wall. The direction in which he and the others were simply thrown from. His hand touched the wall, hitting it hard. But nothing happened.

    "How do we get out of this ce?"

    "There''s no way out," Castian replied from a distance.

    "Seriously?"

    "Don''t tell me that Illiana and the others couldn''t go back past the firstyer of mist either?" Tristan suddenly remembered that there was a firstyer he had to go through before ending up in the ruins of the castle.

    "How are you so sure?" asked the dark elf elder curiously to the high elf king.

    "Don''t worry, the firstyer can be passed as the wolves have already been defeated. and to be able to return from this swamp, we must pass through the thirdyer and defeat the ancient monsters that are waiting there," said Castian confidently and exined that it was part of the information he received from the [Soul Seek] before.

    "Stay alert and don''t stand too far apart," said King Castian asking the elves to stay close to each other. He could feel how the air pressure in that world was very different from the air in the previous ce. Simply put, very dark and eerie.

    The air pressure was so strong, that it felt as if something terrible was hiding behind the puddle of water or behind the trees in that ce, stalking them.

    The air in that ce was also very humid and felt cold when it came into contact with the skin or when inhaled into their lungs.

    "We''d better keep going. Make our move less conspicuous."

    King Castian walked in the front, nked by Kolvar and Osgiliath. While the others quickly followed behind him.

    Tristan repeatedly nced at where Kolvar was while wondering where the high elf elder had kept Levi''s spirit soul so he could steal it when thetter was off guard.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, even up until this point, Tristan still didn''t have any clues and could only guess.

    No one else spoke as they walked very carefully through the swamp. Tristan watched the bottom of the swamp with his senses. He could feel the roots of the trees and swamp nts trying to twist and block his feet. However, there was nothing dangerous about it apart from mere annoyances.

    In the meantime, his eyes were constantly on the alert, looking around non-stop to make sure there were no sudden attacks from all directions.

    "Are you nervous, Tristan?" asked Queen Leena, who was walking closest to Tristan. She had covered her armour with several types of herbs that enhanced her defence.

    "Not a bit."

    Even though King Castian hoped that their footsteps wouldn''t attract too much attention, walking over knee-deep puddles without making noise and small waves were of course almost unavoidable.

    And after they walked a hundred meters from where they were first thrown out of nowhere, suddenly a gurgling sound came from the distance, seemingly approaching towards them. It appeared and rushed to them from all directions very quickly.

    "Somethingsing. Get ready!" eximed King Castian, having changed the position of the elves into a circle with their backs to each other to face those who were toe.

    While the others were ready to use their attack magic, Tristan was just waiting for the monster he had to fight to appear. He had to consider the urgency of whether his strength was really needed or not, considering his current blood essence was very low. After all, he was still unsure whether there was a source of blood essence in that ce either.

    However, as the rushing thing, whatever that was, drew nearer, Tristan could feel a rather dense forceing with the creature.

    Tristan used his enhanced senses to look deep into the darkness from where the trees seemed to be moving. And he found a figure, darting with a long body from the roots of the trees, spreading to the bottom of the swamp water.

    "Under the water!" Tristan shouted warningly.

    SRUUUK!

    SPLASH!

    They came out of the shallow water, leaping into the air like dolphins at y. However, their form waspletely differentpared to their adorableparison.

    Dozens of monsters appeared from all directions. Rising high into the air before finally showing their true form.

    They hissed, and their bodies extended 5 meters long, without arms or legs like snakes or eels. However, the size of their head looked veryrge with a diameter of up to 2 meters. There were also protrusions of sharp and hardened scales, spreading from the top of their heads to the back.

    Tristan immediately used his scanning system to check the identity of the monster.

    [Demonic Wyrm]

    [Mythical Creature - level 55]

    [Battle power 325]

    "What the hell?! They are very strong, battle power 325? Seriously?"

    "YEEEK!"

 Chapter 375 Wyrm

    Those monster''s hissing voices pierced Tristan and the others'' ear canal, very painful.

    They really didn''t carry any weapons. Only their body was too terrible to the eye.

    The monsters didn''t attack immediately but looked at the others with their pair of ck eyes that shed with very little light.

    "Find their weak spots! Kill them all!" King Castian gave the order.

    All the magus level elves immediately used their high-level magic spells to attack the monster. They fought one on one, except for King Vizier, who was forced to deal with two monsters at once due to the unequal numbers.

    12 monsters came closing in, very much in proportion to the number of them remaining on the expedition. A one-on-one battle quickly ensued between the twopletely different species.

    [Firebolt]

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    Before King Vizier''s incredible mes hit their bodies, the Wyrm monster swiftly infiltrated the swampy puddle and then dashed away. When they entered the swamp water, their bodies mysteriously ttened so that when in the water, they were very difficult to detect.

    [Earthbind]

    Queen Leena managed to bind one Wyrm using her tree roots magic. However, in just a matter of seconds, the Wyrm violently jerked its body and managed to free itself from the tree roots wrapped around it with ease. Caught off guard, its long tail wagged at Queen Leena and hit her so hard that she flew into the air for a few seconds before falling back down onto the swamp.

    "Shit! It seems there really is no other choice."

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Blood clots oozed out of Tristan''s body and then rapidly flew through the air before finally turning into two very sharp long spears.

    [200 blood essence has been consumed]

    SPLAT!

    Tristan''s spear of blood managed to hit the belly of the wyrm monster that had hit Queen Leena''s body earlier. And the monster groaned in a painful voice.

    "KYEEEEK!"

    As if screaming for help, a wyrm that was fighting Tristan suddenly came from under the water and hit Tristan''s body right in the stomach, with such force that Tristan was pushed back 7 meters. Even so, his legs still stood firm, and he quickly drew his sword out to avenge the attack he received.

    CLANK!

    BANG!

    From these exchanges alone, this was destined to be a very difficult fight for Tristan and the others.

    King Vizier''s fire magic did not seem very effective in the swamp, as if the water in the swamp was mystical water that could weaken his fire magic power. However, the king still had metal magic that could be used to create extraordinary weapons.

    Physicalbat was absolutely unavoidable. Hanz had pulled out three swords at once. But it seemed that he was overwhelmed by his opponent, as the Wyrm kept on jumping and disappearing in the water, just to ram him from below when he tried to look for it.

    The wyrms were very agile, they were very good at dodging fatal attacks by hiding in swamps and confusing the magus level elves with their rapid movements.

    "Stay alert!" King Castian eximed warningly as several wyrms at once had shot back into the water marsh and as they had no idea where they were now.

    Suddenly, a Wyrm''s head popped out, and the monster opened its jaws wide. The long pointed teeth suddenly grew irregrly in its mouth. That monster appeared right behind the slightly off guard King Castian''s back.

    However, a high elf elder who noticed it immediately jumped up, pushed the king''s body to avoid the oing attack.

    BANG!<sub> </sub>

    SRUGG!

    The elder actually sacrificed his body for the king, who was so shocked by the sudden attempt.

    The elder''s blood gushed out as his stomach was torn apart by the wyrm monster''s bite, which immediately ripped out the elder''s internal organs and ate them before jumping back into the water and disappearing.

    "Far, my old friend." King Castian walked over to catch the elder''s already limp body before it copsed on top of the swamp. The elder''s gaze dimmed, and a sphere of bright light shot out from within his body.

    "No, my old friend. Thank you for protecting me."

    Kolvar immediately took out an empty bottle to retrieve the spirit souls belonging to the high elf elder who had died in battle.

    Tristan walked over to the elve''s already helpless body before it was toote. At least, for now, he really can''t get that spirit soul. But, still, he wouldn''t miss the source of the elve''s fresh blood.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [12000 high-quality blood has been extracted]

    [23750 blood essence has been obtained]

    [Current blood essence 49,430]

    The battle against the wyrm was still continuing. These monsters simply didn''t give the group a chance to take a respite.

    With the blood essence extracted, Tristan calmed down a bit because his current amount of blood essence was quite good. Only by absorbing the blood of one high elf elder could he obtain a lot of blood essence. He couldn''t wait for the next victim, and he really hoped it would be Kolvar, the spirit soul gatherer. That way, he would be able to get everything he wanted.

    King Castian used light magic to attack the wyrm he had marked as the assassin of his oldrade.

    [Lightning Judgment]

    PTARRR!!

    The light came out in the form of lightning that radiated from the king''s palms. His attack managed to make the wyrm that was hiding behind the swamp instantly jump into the air because of the electric shock they received.

    The light electric attack only had an effect on the wyrm monsters. It didn''t hurt any of the elves who were in the same water.

    Suddenly, the Queen of Vanyar, Queen Leena shouted in a very loud voice.

    "Aarrghhhhh!"

    Instantly all eyes turned and were on the queen. Her body waspletely wrapped up by a wyrm who had caught her. She waspletely trapped and couldn''t move.

    The Wyrm''s head was ready to pounce on Queen Leena''s head with its terrifyingly pointed teeth.

    "No¡­no¡­no!" Tristan quickly reflexively shot towards the Wyrm, but to no avail, the distance was too far, and the Wyrm knew that it had to hurry too.

    But¨C

    Suddenly, Tristan could feel an even stronger auraing from behind the crevices of the very dark trees. The aura felt like it waspressing the air nearby, so his lungs needed to adapt to the sudden pressure.

    Right before the wyrm crushed Queen Leena''s head, a ck shadow rushed toward her.

    BANG!

 Chapter 376 Reunion

    An unexpected battle that was unavoidable reurred. This time, the magus level elves had to fight the mythical creatures with long snaking bodies that could merge with the swamp water and attack suddenly with their formidable strength.

    The number of wyrms that came forced the elves who were still continuing the expedition to face them in a one-on-one battle. Even so, the fight didn''t look easy with the opponent''s monster abilities that were very agile, fast, aggressive, and able to calcte their every move.

    Tristan''s blood spear managed to hit one of the wyrms, but the wyrm managed to pull it out with a tail that could coil around anything. They watched as the wyrm''s blood that was ckish red gushed out of the wound on its body. It looked disgustingly thick.

    The injured wyrm immediately shot straight into the swamp water, camouging with the darkness that helped and made it difficult to detect. Under the swamp surface, the monster seemed to have the ability to disappear.

    When Tristan was trying to find the wyrm he had to defeat, Queen Leena suddenly shouted in a deafening voice from a point not far from him.

    "Aargh!"

    All the elves'' eyes immediately fell on the source of the scream.

    They witnessed how the body of the Queen of the Vanyar Kingdom was entangled by a wyrm. Her feet were no longer on the ground under the water. Queen Leena''s body was floated by the wyrm''s restraints.

    "Dammit!" Tristan dashed toward the queen to save her before anything bad happened to her.

    However, though he already reacted very fast, in reality Tristan was still far from Queen Leena. The swamp water seemed to have a dark magical power that made the footsteps of those in it feel heavy and unable to move quickly.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Tristan had no other way but to create a new spear again with the power of his blood.

    Before the blood spear was fully formed, it had aimed at the head of the wyrm, which wasrge and wide, making it an easy target for a ranged attack.

    However-

    CLANK!

    The wyrm quickly dodged the blood spear and made it plunge into the tree trunk behind him.

    The creature was very intelligent, it studied the types of attacks of the elves so that the same pattern of attacks was recorded in their brains. It made them easily able to dodge fatal attacks.

    "Dammit!"

    It was toote. Tristan couldn''t reach her even though he was the closest to the position of Queen of Vanyar.

    While the others were busy with their respective wyrm opponents, they couldn''t do anything. Even though they wanted to help, they knew also that they couldn''t let their guard down, or their lives would end next in that dangerous battle.

    However, from the darkness in the forest behind Queen Leena''s back, Tristan could feel the air pressure blowing differently. Something or someone with tremendous power came from that direction and shot out from within in the form of a ck shadow.

    The ck shadow instantly conjured the nearby air to be cold and terrifying.

    SPLAT!<sub> </sub>

    Arge sword with a shiny silver de suddenly appeared from the shadow. It shed at the Wyrm''s head, which was ready to pounce on Queen Leena''s head and turn her into food.

    SPLASH!

    The wyrm''s huge head fell to the ground, and its body wrapped around Queen Leena slowly loosened.

    Before the Queen fell and plunged into the swamp water, the figure who swung the sword from the shadows had appeared and caught her, it was a male elf with strange clothes.

    "Leena¡­" the voice that came out of the elves'' mouths made the queen tremble. Queen Leena couldn''t believe what her eyes saw. Her lips trembled, and her eyes couldn''t even blink.

    Tristan observed the appearance of the elf who had just emerged from the shadows. That Elf, he felt that he had seen him somewhere.

    His light golden hair grew long and covered his back. His eyes looked sincere as he looked at Queen Leena. His body filled with muscles seemed to be holding Queen Leena tightly but with a soft touch so as not to hurt her.

    "I can''t believe it... It''s really you Leena,"

    "Iva¡­ Iva¡­ is this real? You are alive?" Queen Leena gently caressed the man''s jaw, and her tears were unstoppable.

    "This is real, I am real. Everything is real."

    The elf that suddenly appeared was none other than the lost King of Vanyar, King Ivassar the Tranquill.

    The king of Vanyar pressed his forehead with his wife in greeting, and the Queen of Vanyar immediately wrapped her arms around her husband''s neck and kissed his lips. Within, the longing that she had endured for the past 50 years was finally able to be conveyed.

    Tristan and the others stared at the two of them who were emitting an aura of happiness. At the same time, as if they had an agreement before, the wyrms they were fighting sank into the swamp water.

    "My old friend, the king of Vanyar, Ivasaar."

    Tristan and the magus level elves had the same reaction. They really didn''t expect to meet someone who was still alive from the expedition fifty years ago.

    Ivasaar, The King of Vanyar, was the husband of Queen Leena, the father of Tristan''s wife, Serene.

    Tristan suddenly remembered where he had seen him. From a painting in the royal pce of Vanyar, Serene once told him how her father was involved in an expedition fifty years ago and never returned home.

    No one knew whether Ivasaar was still alive or dead, like the son of the King of Mirkwood, Hdar.

    However, his unexpected appearance,ing to save his wife who was being cornered by the wyrm, was the proof. He made the elves in that ce know that there were still survivors from the expedition fifty years ago.

    Can''s face changed, looking much lighter than before. Hope had grown in his heart. He still hoped to meet his father alive. Because until now, the whereabouts and status were still unknown.

    The elves were taken aback for a moment, but the battle was still far from over. They soon returned to fighting.

    "Attack right between their eyes! Their weak points!" Ivasaar, the king of Vanyar, shouted.

 Chapter 377 Clear The Swamp

    Ivasaar chose to guard Queen Leena, who had some injuries, and treat her rather than engage in the fight against the wyrms. The others also didn''t urge the man to help, as they understood the concern and longing he had.

    In the meantime, despite being told that the wyrm''s weak point was on its head, still, it wasn''t so easy to hit its head with a direct hit. After all, the wyrms could and would nimbly dodge their approach.

    And because the magus level elves were aiming for their head, the wyrms seemed to have started to know that their weak point had been revealed, and they seemed to be increasing their defensive system, especially to protect their heads.

    "Dammit! How could this snake-like thing be so clever?!"

    Every time Tristan swung his greatsword at the wyrm''s neck, the wyrm would immediately abandon any form of attack and plunge back into the murky swamp water.

    And then, they gave a surprise attack from below.

    CLANK!

    The muzzle of the wyrm had what looked like armor and was extremely hard when it collided with the swords of the elves. Tristan blocked the attack from the wyrm with the de of his sword, but due to the tremendous force, he couldn''t help b

    Apart from their intelligence, the wyrm''s physical strength couldn''t be underestimated either.

    Tristan was confident that his [Blood Legacy] could defeat the wyrm, but he should save it forter in case a stronger enemy needed to be dealt with.

    But on the other side-

    One of the high elf elders looked exhausted. He was having a hard time controlling his ragged breaths. And when he was holding his chest that felt tight, suddenly, the wyrm he was fighting shot out of the swamp water with its jaws opened wide.

    Its spherical jaw was filled with spiky teeth that grew irregrly and

    KRAUSK!

    The wyrm stuck its pointed teeth right into the elder''s head. Its extremely powerful jaws could shatter the skull bones of an elder''s head with a single strike.

    "No¡­ Orrian!" King Castian screamed in disbelief when he saw how his one high elf elder was defeated again in such a horrific manner.

    The headless body copsed helplessly into the swamp, while the wyrm was busy munching on the head like a snack before switching its target to Hanz.

    Kolvar immediately collected the spirit souls from Orrian, the high elven elder, using a new empty bottle with great sadness on his face. He hoped that there would be no more spirit souls that he had to collect after this.

    Tristan, who noticed this, could only growl before deciding to dash toward the lifeless body and use his abilities.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [11500 high-quality blood has been extracted]

    [21080 blood essence has been obtained]

    [Current blood essence 70,500]

    Even though he couldn''t get their spirit souls, for now, Tristan was relieved. He was still able to get a bombastic amount of high-quality blood from the bodies of the magus level elves.

    No one said anything as red smoke emitted from Tristan''s body and enveloped the elder''s lifeless body.

    Meanwhile, King Vizier was just curiously watching the source of Tristan''s true power.

    "Stay focused! Don''t underestimate the enemy!" King Castian ordered.

    The one-on-one battles really drained those who relied on pure magic and those who used physical attacks like Hanz.

    Tristan didn''t care even though Hanz and Osgiliath had to face two wyrms at once now. He only focused on defeating his opponent. Instead, he hoped that one of the elves would die and he could get a chance to retrieve their spirit soul.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Blood clots came out of Tristan''s body and then moved upwards to form dozens of round projectiles. He wanted to use a weapon that didn''t cost much blood essence, but still boasted lethal destructiveness. So small projectiles were his choice.<sub> </sub>

    CLANK!

    Once again, Tristan''s wyrm opponent squeezed out from under the swamp and Tristan managed to block the attack with the de of his sword so that another strong impact urred, which managed to create a wave of water in the swamp.

    However, before the wyrm could return to hiding in the swamp water. Tristan cast his tier 5 spell [Pyro st] to force the creature out and then ordered his projectiles to shoot at the monster''s body at the same time.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    The projectiles exploded in contact with solids and in no time, the swamp water was colored by different color.

    "KIEEEK!"

    The wyrm squirmed with its body half crushed from the st it received. And before the wyrm could escape, Tristan swung his greatsword at the wyrm''s head vertically.

    SPLAT!

    The wyrm''s head split in two.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [5000 blood essence has been obtained]

    [Current blood essence 75,500]

    Tristan tried to use his skill to extract blood from two adjacent wyrms. The wyrm of the Queen of Vanyar and the wyrm that died in his hands and managed to obtain blood essence.

    "At least I can harvest their blood."

    After learning that the wyrm''s blood could still be extracted and fed him blood essence, Tristan changed his mind. He turned around and quickly helped Hanz, who was struggling with two wyrms at once.

    He used the same technique as before, but with [Blood Synthesis] this time he created a different form of projectiles. Although the function was the same. Now, Tristan already knew that the wyrm was very intelligent and wouldn''t be fooled by the same attack.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    Another wyrm was sessfully detonated before Tristan shed its head until the long body writhed limply.

    Seeing that what Tristan had done so far had seeded in killing two wyrms at once, King Vizier, who had been observing Tristan, had the same idea.

    Just as the opponent''s wyrm burst out of the swamp water, the king used his left hand which had turned into the full metal to withstand the impact from the wyrm. Then, he used his right hand to create a fiery fist that could explode.

    BANG!

    BOOM!

    Most of the wyrm''s body was destroyed, and as the creature let out a scream of pain, King Vizier formed a de in his left hand and used it vertically to sh the wyrm''s neck.

    SPLAT!

    "Defeat them with two different attacks at the same time!" eximed King Vizier after trying Tristan''s technique, and it worked.

    Everyone nodded in agreement, and a look of hope shone on their faces again.

    Can was the next person who managed to finish off the wyrm he was fighting.

    Meanwhile, Tristan found a new preupation with extracting the blood of the in wyrms.

    Can walked over to Queen Leena, who was talking to the King of Vanyar near the dark forest area.

    "My old friend, Ivasaar. We need to talk."

 Chapter 378 The King

    After they learned about the weakness of the [Demonic Wyrm] monster and the ingenious method Tristan used to deal with them, the magus level elves once again regained their focus and began attacking the weakness on the monster''s head to defeat it.

    When the group of magus counter-attack at full power, the 12 demonic wyrms that attacked them were finally defeated.

    The fight was filled with blood and sacrifice. Two high elven elders ended up dying and were killed in battle.

    While the others decided to take their much-needed break, Tristan instead kept busy with his new activity. He walked toward each of the monster corpses and extracted the demonic wyrm''s blood that had barely dissolved in the swamp water after being ughtered.

    [Blood Extraction]

    Tristan''s body emitted a red mist and it moved to envelop the torn carcass of the demonic wyrm with the body separated from its head. Others of the fallen wyrm still had their heads, but had their bodiespletely crushed by powerful magic explosions.

    When this Wyrm''s blood entered his body other than the feeling of power, Tristan also felt a little strange. There seemed to be something different about this bloodpared to the one he had ever extracted before.

    [8000...]

    [9000...]

    [10000...]

    Not only was this Blood a high-quality blood, but he could also feel the unique sensation. Different. Yet familiarity with him. That impression, however, was soon forgotten when a notification came to his mind about therge number of blood cells he got.

    From the 12 corpses of the wyrm he got about 10,000 blood essence from each,

    [A mix of 12000 high-quality blood cells were found]

    [Extracting and filtering the blood cells...]

    [97520 Blood Essence gained]

    [Current blood essence 168020]

    He smiled in satisfaction after he rechecked his current reserve of blood essence. Finally he started to get something he was looking for from this expedition. Even though he hadn''t managed to get a single spirit soul yet. If he could fight a dozen more of these monsters, the trip would somehow be worthy of his time already.

    His eyes then fell back on Kolvar who was leaning against arge tree trunk.

    "How can I take those spirit souls from him?" Tristan thought, still trying to find an opening.

    He walked over to the gathering of elves afterpleting [Blood Extraction] on the demonic wyrm. It seemed they were discussing how Ivaasar The King of Vanyar had survived in a ce like this for fifty years.

    "Uncle Ivaasar, I am d to see you again." Can saluted the Vanyar king

    "How many people survived the expedition 50 years ago besides you? Are you willing to give details?" King Castian had opened the conversation.

    Ivaasar''s eyes suddenly fell on Can with a changed expression and then he said.

    "Everyone,e and follow me."

    ? King Ivaasar invited the magus level elves to follow him.

    Everything went ording to the orders of the King of Vanyar. They followed him in silence.

    On the way, Tristan purposely walked in the back row to use his scanning system to check how strong King Ivaasar was. He distinctly remembered that the air pressure changed drastically when the king appeared to save his wife.

    [Male, Elf]

    [Full Moon Level]

    "Full moon level?! Dammit, just how strong he is?" Tristan muttered under his breath, not expecting that King Ivaasar would be that strong.

    After walking quite a distance through the marsh water that didn''t decrease in the slightest, Tristan followed King Ivaasar who led the path. They entered through the gaps in the trees, and Tristan couldn''t help but grimace.

    His trunks were drenched as the cloth continued to absorb water from the marsh.

    He sighed.

    Just walking in the swamp was already very inconvenient, plus he had to change his body position so that he could fit when entering through a very narrow tree gap.

    With his enhanced senses, Tristan could smell different scents from tree trunks and swamp water. He could also smell a very subtle scent, almost undetectable.<sub> </sub>

    His gaze soon immediately adapted to seeing from a distance. And up ahead, twenty meters through the gaps in the branches, Tristan saw arge tree house hanging over the trees.

    He assumed that was the ce they were going. King Ivaasar must have used his magic to create a treehouse that looked very sturdy and was well hidden in the trees that were very short of each other.

    When they were almost there, it was not only Tristan who managed to be amazed by King Ivaasar''s masterpiece.

    "Extraordinary. Did you make it yourself?" asked King Castian, unable to hide his admiration.

    Like an artificial tree house that was deliberately hidden inside the water trees that were barely attached to each other, there was no gap that separated them so that they were safer from monster invasion.

    A very strategic location, surmised Tristan. The size of the tree house was veryrge with enough room for many people living in it. At first nce, it looked like a mini castle made of nts that looked very sturdy and who knew how many years it couldst.

    King Ivaasar then used nt magic [Growing Root] which instantly turned footholds for magus level elves including Tristan. Footings made of nt roots that also moved upwards, growing so that they too can set foot on the tree pce made by the king.

    Tristan saw a figure that became the source of the human scent that could be smelled by his nose.

    There was a tree trunk in the shape of a majestic throne facing outward in that ce. On top of the throne, several pieces of clothing made of beast skins seemed to have been deliberately left lying on it.

    In addition, the broken head armor with bloodstains that had dried for some time seemed to be stuck on the throne, facing the direction of those who had just arrived.

    "My brother, Siegward, Look who''sing to visit today." King Ivaasar bent his knees down and faced the throne respectfully.

    The others looked at each other questioningly. However, not for Can. He seemed unable to believe what he had just heard.

    "Uncle¡­ is this¡­ this is my father? What happened uncle? please tell me"

    "After surviving the secondyer, there were only 4 of us left; however soon enough there were only two of us. me and my brother, Siegward The former King of Arcadia, who managed to survive."

    As the former king of Vanyar retell his story, everyone listen attentively

    "But he is no longer here with us. My brother Siegward sacrificed to give me time to save myself from a boss monster that we can''t possibly fight. I will always remember his sacrifice." King Ivaasar lowered his tone respectfully. There was a deep sense of loss in that sentence.

    Understanding the current situation, King Castian patted Can on the shoulder from behind.

    "I am sorry for your loss. He is a great king. The People of Arcadia will definitely be missing out a lot."

    Tristan could see Can''s body starting to shake violently. Eventually he wobbled to the side and Hanz immediately supported his body.

    "My father," Can who seemed to be trying to stay strong despite the sad news he had just received. One of the biggest reasons for returning to the elven expedition after 50 years ago was because he still hoped to meet his father, The former king of Arcadia.

    The Queen Vanyar Leena was also seen crying, Siegward was not only a brother to her. He was also the best of the wood elves and a symbol of peace between humans and elves. He was the one who worked so hard to rebuild rtionships between humans and elves for more than 1000 years and the creation of the Arcadia kingdom.

    The elves then paid theirst respects to the former Arcadian king who had died in the expedition 50 years ago by bowing their heads while kneeling on the ce they currently stood.

    Several minutes passed in silence. The atmosphere of mourning and loss left neither of them unable to utter a word.

    However, not for Tristan.

    He again thought about how strong the monster the king, King Ivaasar had fought before, that it had actually forced the man to run away and caused the human king to die in battle.

    Given that King Ivaasar is a full moon level elf, Tristan was getting more and more curious about the monsters the former can''t beat.

    "How strong exactly was the monster you encountered, King Ivaasar?" Tristan asked the question while the others were still mourning the king''s death.

    King Ivaasar looked at Tristan with a raised eyebrow. He seemed to be judging Tristan from top to bottom with a sour expression.

    "Who are you really?"

    Being asked so suddenly, Tristan confidently answered, "I am Tristan, the current king of Arcadia."

    The full moon magus was visibly surprised to hear such an answer.

    ----------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 379 Continue

    "Who are you?" asked the Vanyar King, Ivassar, who truthfully had been finding some suspicion about Tristan.

    While he wasn''t sure how to answer, it was Leena who interrupted him and said,

    "This is Tristan, he is my son-inw, which means¡­ the husband to your daughter Serene," Leena answered lightly, teasing him while holding him close.

    Tristan smiled at the queen''s answer, however, before he could respond to that sentence, suddenly the dark elven king, King Vizier intervened into the conversation.

    "You must know, Ivassar, that Tristan also marries my daughter, Illiana."

    King Ivaasar immediately showed a displeased face hearing this.

    "Is that true, Leena? Why did you let this happen? Who is he?"

    The previously lighthearted situation became serious and the Queen then exined it seriously.

    "This man is the Blood Monarch on the prophecy,"

    This statement took Ivassar by surprise.

    Leena exined how Tristan''s presence managed to make the almost impossible thing happen, namely uniting dark elves and wood elves.

    He also exined that Tristan was now the rightful king of the kingdom of Arcadia and how important he had been in this expedition.

    Queen Leena''s exnation managed to make King Ivaasar reflexively nce at Can. And in response, Can gave a nod of approval.

    "A blood elf? Him?"

    This time Tristan knew he had to speak. So he briefly exined how he and his sister, who came from another world, suddenly ended up in the ce of the elves.

    "So you believe you are the Blood Monarch in the legends?" King Ivaasar was surprised after hearing Tristan''s exnation.

    "I am as curious about it as you," Tristan answered honestly, not willing to be put in the spotlight. He once again asked his question, "So, can you tell me now what kind of monster you met before?"

    "It''s arge snake, a creature of legend, much stronger than me, a full moon magus. That ancient monster was extremely terrifying. Even after 50 years of trying, I am still far from able to beat him."

    King Castian interrupted and said, "Even so, we still have to try. Only by defeating the monster, will the gate to return to our ancestor open."

    Hearing what the high elven king exined, no one else spoke.

    There was no other way to achieve the expedition''s main goal than by defeating the ancient monster. Even when they had already sacrificed so many people.

    "We''ll go beat that monster and then finish all of this. We''re so close to our Ancestors, so close to home. The elves must return to their home." exined King Castian in the voice of wisdom. Full of confidence.

    King Ivasaar looked down for a while, then said, "Yes, I believe this is the time. With you all here, we can do it. But before that, we should prepare a strategy to defeat it."

    "Whatever clues you have, pass them on, Ivaasar." King Vizier made a suggestion.

    King Ivaasar nodded and started to exin everything he knew about the ancient monsters they would have to face after this.

    Listening to King Ivaasar''s detailed exnation without missing anything made the atmosphere tense and serious again.

    Tristan listened intently, facing an ancient monster that even a full moon elve couldn''t beat had managed to make his heart beat faster than before.

    He could feel his adrenaline rising as he couldn''t wait to see the ancient monster.

    Moreover, a thought crossed his mind,

    "Can he get blood essence from that monster?"

    After discussing and arranging a fairly solid and convincing strategy, the expedition continued.

    King Ivaasar, as a person who had lived trapped in that world, walked at the forefront as a guide. He had put on his age-old armor that still looked sturdy.

    Can, who lost his headgear during the fight against the titan wolf, had decided to take his father''s armor as a way of respect.

    Tristan could feel the change in air pressure nearby. He saw that those remaining were ready for battle and had put all their might into this final point.

    Before leaving the treehouse, thest ce of the human king, King Castian raised his wand into the air.

    "To return to our ancestors!"

    "To the king of Arcadia who sacrificed!"

    "For those who have fallen!"

    "May the ancestor guide us."

    The journey continued, and they walked back into the cold swamp water.

    No one else spoke. Only the sound of the swamp water gurgling from their footsteps apanied their march.

    However, having only walked 5 miles from where he was before, suddenly Tristan could hear the sound of gurgling water from a distance.

    PYAKK!

    Tristan increased his vignce, and the other magus level elves seemed to be doing the same. They stopped their footsteps after hearing that voice.

    From a distance, Tristan could see the swamp water was slightly moving in symmetrical waves towards him using his enhanced senses.

    The immense power once again came from a different direction. More than one. They swam very fast in the water.

    Tristan couldn''t predict how many of them woulde because the creature was really very clever when it came to camouging with swamp water.<sub> </sub>

    "Demonic Wyrms. They have locked our position," said King Ivaasar, then took out arge sword and drew it.

    He was the one who knew best about the atmosphere in that ce.

    PYAKK!

    The waves of water created by the movement of the demonic wyrm expanded, hitting the roots and trunks of the trees in that ce.

    Before the extremely difficult to defeat monsters revealed their bodies out from the swamp water, Tristan had readied himself. He readied his weapon to fight against the wyrm again.

    He couldn''t predict how many demonic wyrms woulde because it was shooting from all directions.

    Until the motion of the water waves drew nearer,

    King Ivaasar suddenly cast his magic, creating 7 tree creatures that quickly move around the waters

    SLUP! SLUP! SLUP!

    The seven tree creatures shot swiftly forward and plunged into the constantly moving swamp water.

    PYAK!

    It managed to disturb the creatures that were camouged in the swamp water.

    It made the swimming demonic wyrm take the bait and jump out onto the surface in a rage, revealing themselves to the group.

    KIYEEK!

    "KILL THEM!" King Ivaasar shouted in a loud voice.

    Tristan immediately shot to where the demonic wyrm had leapt into the air, ready to sh it in two.

    "Come to me."

    All the magus level elves were immediately reupied with the demonic wyrms which one by one began to reveal themselves above the water''s surface, jumping high into the air.

    In total, 10 demonic wyrms wereing from different directions.

    The one-on-one fight was back.

    Tristan tried to sh the head of the wyrm monster that was his opponent, but the monster seemed to be able to read his movements and was able to dodge by contorting its slippery body into letter S.

    To keep in mind, aiming for the head of a creature that kept twisting because of its extraordinary speed, agility, and intelligence was not an easy thing to do.

    Once again, Tristan used [Blood Synthesis] to create several blood spears to help him.

    CLANK!

    A loud sound resounded in the air as Tristan suddenly dropped his sword after hitting the hard wyrm''s head. Immediately after, he reached over and gripped the terrible creature''s neck with both arms, strangling the wyrm''s neck with all his might.

    The demonic wyrm continued to struggle, writhing, and its tail was already wrapped around one of Tristan''s legs. It was trying to free itself.

    But before that could happen, Tristan swiftly moved the one spear of blood that had been waiting for him to shoot through the demonic wyrm''s head out of his eye¡ª

    SPLAT!

    Tristan had to stab several times before his spear was able to pierce the demonic wyrm''s head. And without wasting any time at all, Tristan had already used his [Blood Extraction] skill to harvest the blood from the three dead wyrm monsters.

    [8,210 blood essence has been obtained]

    PYAKK!

    The swamp water behind Tristan''s back sshed violently, making his back wet as King Vizier managed to blow the head of one of the wyrms so that its remaining body was pushed back with a lot of force before hitting the surface of the marsh water.

    "I need more blood." Tristan immediately absorbed the wyrm''s blood before it lost its quality from being left on for too long.

    The remaining Demonic Wyrm sank back into the swamp water and made its presence difficult to detect.

    Tristan knew that to fight against the ancient monster, his current strength was still insufficient and he needed more blood essence to upgrade his innate ability.

    He wouldn''t let a single demonic wyrm that had arrived escape. Everyone had to die in that fight, for the sake of blood essence.

    nk!

    Winggg Stt!!

    After a fight that was quite draining of their energy and time, the group of demonic wyrm was finally defeated. Victory once again for the elves.

    In this battle, with Ivassar''s lead and assistance, no elves were hurt.

    The wyrm''s blood that was almost dissolved in the swamp water was immediately harvested by Tristan.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [78,320 blood essence has been obtained]

    From this battle, Tristan managed to get more than 80 thousand additional blood essence, quite arge number.

    Reflecting on the previous battle, Tristan''s blood spear was far from effective, because its form was still ineffective to kill a demonic wyrm.

    Tristan thought hard, now that he had so much extra blood essence, he should upgrade before fighting.

 Chapter 380 Serpent

    The journey continued after no more demonic wyrms came to attack them.

    On the way, Tristan, who was walking in the very back row, was deep in thought.

    Before arriving at the ancient monster''s ce and fighting against it, his strength had to be increased.

    [Blood Essence: 254,100]

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 200,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 7 requires 200,000 Blood Essence.]

    Which should be prioritized?

    The blood essence he currently had could be used to upgrade his innate ability. Blood synthesis to stage 4 or blood monarch body to stage 7 would leave 54,100 blood essence, which might be quite a stretch if used as capital for the next battle.

    Meanwhile Blood Seal was at stage 4, even though the cost for upgrading it was very cheap, he felt this was not the right skill for now. It was not like he could increase the strength of these magus elves, right?

    On the other hand, raising the blood monarch''s body to stage 7 might make the daily consumption of blood essence for his body increase drastically and he might even run out of blood essence because of it.

    Thest option was [Blood Synthesis], this innate ability would be very useful to help him fight monsters, especially if the monsters arrived inrge numbers and had arge size.

    However, the creation of tier 5 equivalent blood weapons that [Blood synthesis stage 3] could currently do was still ineffective at dealing damage to the monsters in that ce. So the level needed to be increased.

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 4 requires 200,000 Blood Essence]

    "Do it."

    [Upgrading blood synthesis stage 4 in progress]

    [200,000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [...]

    [Blood synthesis has been upgraded to stage 4]

    [Current blood essence 54,100]

    Tristan''s heart suddenly stopped beating for a second, it was as if he could feel a giant iron hammer being mmed hard into his chest.

    His footsteps stopped for a moment, but those who were already walking in front of him continued their journey without paying any heed to him.

    In the next second, Tristan could feel his body tingle as if a cold gust of wind hit the back of his neck and sent chills down his spine.

    However, after that, he could feel the abundant energy within his body. A strange sensation always came every time he did something to his blood elf''s body system.

    "This will be enough."

    "I guess."

    After recovering himself Tristan continued walking, quickening his pace to shorten the distance between himself and the front line.

    The condition of the ce was still the same dark, or even darker because the trees were getting closer to each other. However, Tristan and the others who had mastered Katra and had enhanced senses weren''t the slightest bit made difficult by the conditions in that ce.

    King Ivaasar was still leading the expedition team, his experience of being trapped and living in that world was really helpful for Tristan and the others who didn''t know which direction to go.

    Tristan felt that they had walked long enough. And sure enough, they had been walking into the darkness through the swamp for 45 minutes now.

    Suddenly, Tristan could feel his body, which was very sensitive to the power that coulde from all directions, suddenly stiffen.

    As he swiftly focused his enhanced senses, Tristan could feel the presence of a terrifying creature in front of him, waiting for him. The creature''s heartbeat sounded very clear and loud as if the creature''s heart was beating right next to his ear.

    From the sound alone, he was certain that the creature''s size would be muchrger than the titan wolf that had been defeated in the previous ce.

    "That thing knows we''reing, I can feel it," said King Ivaasar, who was able to detect it like Tristan.

    The strength of the full moon level elf was indeed different from the others.

    "Go as nned, we need to get out of the water." The king gave amand which got a nod from the elves.

    The magus level elves used their own magic that sent their bodies flying into the air. They were flying at the same height, swamp water dripping from their wet feet. However, Tristan still had his legs in the swamp as he couldn''t hover in the air like them.

    Again, Tristan had to use [Blood Synthesis] to create a foothold and set it up to help him fly

    Previously, King Ivaasar had already described the shape of the ancient monster he was referring to.

    The ancient monster was not alone, two other monsters were guarding it in the same ce as bodyguards.

    As nned before they went into this endeavor, three people - Can, Hanz, and Leena - would attack one of the two monsters. Meanwhile, King Vizier, the dark elven elders, and Tristan would attack the other one.

    King Ivaasar had calcted the strength of each one of the attack groups. He firmly believed that the two monsters could be wiped out by Team Can and Team King Vizier.

    Meanwhile, the main thing was the ancient monsters they were guarding.

    The monstrous monster had a body that was 3 timesrger than the other two monsters.<sub> </sub>

    King Ivaasar, King Castian and their best high-elve elders would be tasked with defeating the ancient monster. There were a total of five magus level elves.

    All attacks had to be done flying because the monsters could hold their heads high.

    King Ivaasar informed that the thing to avoid was the terrible poison of the ancient monster.

    Two types of poisonous attacks could be carried out by the monster, the first one was poison in the form of smoke, and the other one was poison in the form of liquid.

    "We elves are blessed with immortal bodies. Poison is no big deal." King Castian replied, reminding the advantages of being an elf.

    However, King Ivaasar clenched his jaw.

    "Divine Poison. That liquid poison can affect the souls of elves that you can never imagine before, King Castian."

    Hearing King Ivaasar''s exnation, the magus level elves instantly looked at each other in horror. If that was the case, it meant they couldn''t let their guard down even for a second.

    King Ivaasar continued his interrupted exnation. The liquid divine poison could be emitted by the monster at any time without a legible sign, so everyone had to stay alert and jump to dodge the attack.

    Meanwhile, to avoid the poison smoke attack, the elves must flee as far as a safe radius of up to 2 miles from the monster.

    Woosh!

    Tristan and the others shot through the air in the direction indicated by the King.

    Before them was only darkness. The trees were no longer visible in that ce.

    As if there was a barrier to anotheryer of dimension, there was a puff of thick ck smoke. It looked as if it was hiding something behind it.

    They shot through the thinyer that separated the clear surrounding from the barrier of smoke.

    As he passed by, Tristan could feel the touch of the air changing again, the temperature was dropping. He could even feel the very thin droplets of water in the air as if he were entering into a dense fog.

    No one else spoke, everyone focused on their respective tasks.

    After flying for five seconds in the smoke, the smoke suddenly disappeared, and the atmosphere returned to normal. Still the same, still swampy water.

    However, his feelings suddenly became depressed.

    It was as if a terrifying force was waiting for him in that ce.

    And sure enough¡ª

    Far in front of them could be seen a giant pir that stuck to the ground. It was drowning in swamp water. It was enormous in size as if the ce was created for the God and Goddess.

    From a distance, Tristan could clearly see the throne of the ancient monster that the elves were targeting.

    The ancient monster was seen coiling its giant body, sitting on a throne with its head poking up.

    It was a monstrous serpent. Its mouth, which was lined with venom-dripping teeth, wasrge enough to swallow a god or giant whole. Its body grew gills near the base of its head as well as numerous fins and spines, giving him a Sea Serpent appearance.

    Everyone froze in midair as the pair of round yellow eyes with t pupils formed a sinister line as if staring at the new arrivals one by one.

    [God Serpent-Jormungand]

    [Ancient Mythical Creature]

    [Level 90]

    In front of the monstrous monster, Tristan could see two smaller monsters staring at him.

    [Guardian-Znt]

    [Mythical Creature]

    [Level 60]

    Its body resembled a giant snake with a red body who also had yellow eyes with thin-shaped pupils. As King Ivaasar said, this one had a pair of wings and legs. It would allow it to perch on top of a partially destroyed pir.

    Beside him was a monster that had quite a striking body colour. It had a bright yellow colour, and it was clear from its shape that its body was so hard it was as if it was wearing a special armour that wrapped around its back so that it looked like pieces of giant scales.

    [Guardian-Naja]

    [Mythical Creature]

    [Level 60]

    The monster wrapped its long body around one of the giant pirs that were still intact.

    "How can we defeat these monsters?" Tristan doubted King Ivaasar''s calctions after seeing the monster''s appearance with his own eyes.

    "Quickly move to your respective positions!"

    "Now!"

    WOOSH!

 Chapter 381 Fierce Battle

    The closer to the ancient monster''s location, the clearer the sound of the monster''s heartbeat in Tristan''s ears was.

    Three monsters at once. Beating just one was not enough, but they must somehow defeat all three.

    Even though the magus level elves, including himself, had been divided ording to King Ivaasar''s calction of strength, still. Would he and the others seed in defeating those monstrous creature?

    Tristan dashed towards the monster he should defeat, led by King Vizier and a quiet dark elf elder who haven''t said much so far.

    The target was a guard monster that had thick, scaly skin resembling an armour. He hoped that the tier 6 equivalent weapon that he could create after upgrading his [Blood Synthesis] could prate the monster''s scales.

    WOOSH!

    All of them shot simultaneously towards their respective targets.

    ROAARRR!

    The two guardian monsters roared in anger as the uninvited guests harassed their home.

    Guardian-Znt began to p its two wings and flew upwards. The creature had long, stiff tails with bony, hammer-like clubs. Veryrge with the addition of a pointed bone-like structure sticking out above its surface.

    The only way to fight the creature was to fly, and Can, as the leader of the team tasked with defeating it, was ready to fight in the air.

    "ATTACK!"

    ROAAR!

    Can and Hanz dashed forward and mustered their strength to swing their swords. They hit the monster''s body from the front, a direct attack that made them have to rely on strong physical strength.

    Meanwhile, Queen Leena kept a safe distance. She shot into the dark shadow and hid within it while throwing projectiles from all directions.

    BOOM! BOOM!

    The projectiles exploded in contact with the monster''s tough skin but failed to make the monster hurt. It was just that the monster''s body was slightly pushed away by the explosion.

    Guardian-Znt roared in a loud voice, its mouth wide open.

    Can saw it as an opportunity to fly to the top of the giant monster''s body andnd on its back without being seen.

    "Attack from below!" He shouted loudly at Hanz, who had drawn all three swords at once and then attacked the monster''s chest.

    SPLAT!! SPLAT!

    Can and Hanz showed how powerful the Arcadian''s sword shes were.

    The enormous sh of the sword from two different directions made Guardian-Znt slightly overwhelmed.

    ROAR!

    The monster roared in pain as its body was torn apart until its blood gushed down.

    Queen Leena tried to trap the monster''s legs so it wouldn''t kick Hanz, who was so close to it.

    "Keep it up!"

    Suddenly the long neck of the terrible monster turned back and opened its jaws wide. Its eyes gleamed with hatred as it found Can tearing at the back of his neck, trying to create a deeper wound.

    ROARR!

    Can managed to block the mouth of the monster, who almost devoured him alive, with his sword. It made the monster''s upper jaw hurt and bleed from being hit by the tip of Can''s de.

    "Can, are you alright?" Queen Leena, who saw the sudden attack, turned pale. Her view was blocked by the monster''s long neck, so she had absolutely no idea about what happened back there.

    "I''m fine! " Can shouted in a trembling voice. All the muscles in his arms and legs tightened as he struggled against the monster and continued to make sure his grasp on his sword was firm.

    Hanz shot up, changing the target of his attack from the chest to the neck of the monster, which was wide open with nothing to protect it. And without thinking, he used his secret sword skill.

    [Divine Sword Dance]

    SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

    The flying dragon swooped up and threw Can and his sword into the air. The creature flew around as if trying to lessen the pain it received from Hanz''s sword sh.

    Meanwhile, on the other hand, Tristan followed King Vizier''s direction to attack from the front. A direct attack.

    Before crashing his sword into the monster''s body, Tristan decided to initiate his innate ability.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    A clot of blood shot out from the blood elf monarch''s body and then floated in the air nearby before transforming into a blood spear that was muchrger in size than thest time he created the weapon.

    "This should be enough to pierce through that thick skin." Tristan was more confident after seeing that tier 6 blood weapon.

    Before Tristan started attacking, King Vizier, as the leader of the Guardian-Naja attack team, had already made the first move. He created a terrifying gigantic fireball as if a stormy sun were floating in front of him.

    [Sun st] [Magic Spell tier 7]<sub> </sub>

    Different from the other guardian, Guardian-Naja seemed uninterested in moving away from the pir that his body was wrapped around. Its tongue kept sticking out every second like a snake, and its eyes shed as it watched the giant fireball.

    "ATTACK!"

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    The fireball shot past the Guardian-Naja and managed to blow it up, making the pir that became its perch instantly shattered and copse into the swamp water below. Even so, Tristan could still clearly sense the immense power from the direction of the pir ruin and the explosive light that hid it.

    "It is still alive."

    BANG!

    Guardian-Naja reappeared from under the ruins of the pir. It threw the pieces of the pir into the air in one fell swoop.

    The elves who were in that ce had to dodge the pir stones that were flying at them, or else they would be hit and crushed by the heavy objects.

    "Together!" King Vizier eximed on the signal.

    SUUP!

    Tristan shot his seven new blood spears at the monster''s body, which was still partly under the rubble.

    And-

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

    There were only two blood spears that managed to pierce the monster''s body. They created a wound and ck-red blood gushed out of its body. The two spears pierced the sides of its body.

    Meanwhile, another blood spear that hit the monster''s back seemed to hit something very hard and imprable, so it only ended up falling to the side of the monster. It didn''t manage to do any damage at all.

    Tristan realized that the creature''s back was impossible to prate with any weapon. However, the lower part of the creature''s body seemed normal enough for the weapon to prate.

    Seeing the results of Tristan''s attack, King Vizier concluded the same thing. About which part of the monster''s body should be the target to attack.

    "Attack the bottom!"

    King Vizier''s team together aimed for the lower body of the Guardian-Naja.

    While the two Guardians'' attack teams were already busy with their respective battles, the full moon elves along with the strongest high elves had already shot forward towards thergest ancient monster.

    Those yellow eyes shed horribly. Its tongue kept moving in and out consistently because it really helped improve its sense of smell.

    HISSSS!

    The creature suddenly moved from its throne when it saw that five elves were flying toward it. Even though the creature was moving very fast, still, its oversized body made it look a little slower in the eyes of the elves with enhanced senses.

    King Ivaasar had used the [Divine Earthbind] magic, which made the roots of the aquatic nts around the ce instantly growrge and elongate rapidly. They managed to wrap around the serpent-god''s body, and thus, they slightly stopped its movement.

    HISSS!

    The creature was truly furious because of King Ivaasar''s move. Its eyes widened, and it stared at the wood elf king as if he knew who had just used the trapping magic on his body.

    King Castian, who realized that the serpent-god was being restrained, immediately used a tier 7 magic spell, creating a very strong wind that could function like a terrifying de of a sword.

    [Wind des]

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    A terrifying sh of wind managed to scrape the serpent god''s scaly skin and send the creature''s blood gushing out.

    Even so, the scratches from a tier 7 magic spell couldn''t tear its body apart. It was only on the surface that the creature didn''t even appear to be in the slightest bit of pain.

    When the wind stopped tearing its body. Suddenly the god serpent doubled its body diameter so that the roots of King Ivaasar''s tree that were wrapped around it were instantly broken, cut into several pieces.

    "Again!" King Ivaasar ordered the others to keep attacking the serpent god''s body with their strongest magic from all directions.

    The high elf elders aimed for the monster''s body while King Ivaasar and King Castian tried to crush the monster''s head which didn''t seem to budge in the slightest.

    The fight was really very tough. Even though only the strongest elves fought against the three monsters, their strength, even when put together, was still not strong enough to defeat the three monsters quickly.

    The ce that was originally very quiet and peaceful had been filled with endless crashing sounds, explosive sounds, and sword shing sounds.

    Fighting took ce in the air, in the swamps, and in the gaps between the giant pirs. Several pirs were sessfully destroyed due to the great explosion. Time and time again, Guardian-Naja and the serpent-god monster''s body were buried under the ruins of the pir by the elves'' attacks.

    However, it didn''t injure their bodies that were too strong.

    Suddenly, the serpent god Jormungand puffed up the bottom of its neck for a few seconds and its eyes turned bright green. Not only that, the cracks all over its body seemed to close simultaneously.

    The monster''s body expanded to almost double its previous diameter. And King Ivaasar knew what would happen next. The serpent-god was about to prepare its ultimate attack.

    "Avoid! Now!" The King shouted to warn everyone.

 Chapter 382 Tree Of Life

    The ancient monster, the serpent god Jormungand''s body had expanded to almost double its previous size as if it was preparing something enormous hidden beneath its scaly skin.

    King Ivaasar had shouted for those within a 3-mile radius to retreat immediately. No matter what, they had to ignore the monsters they were attacking and instantly retreat, and all of them did so in unison.

    Tristan and the others retreated outside the radius that the king had mentioned when they were strategizing the battle n a few hours ago.

    From a distance, he only watched curiously what the full moon magus was going to do.

    Not only was the ancient monster preparing something terrible, but King Ivaasar as the king of the wood elves had also prepared something.

    It was the magic that he had managed to master. Just for the sake of dealing with that terrible monster.

    The king still hovered before Jormungand, staring into its green eyes without the slightest fear.

    Tristan could see a thin green aura starting to form around the king''s body. The aura grew thicker and darker in colour as the king raised his hands in front of it.

    "I pray to the core of this to suck in and then neutralize smoke that shouldn''t be there. I call you the spirit of the Tree of Life"

    King Ivaasar muttered while clenching his jaw. His eyebrows knit together and his hands began to move as if he was practising a simple dance.

    Suddenly they felt like the was experiencing a great earthquake, centred under the feet of the former Vanyar King.

    Even though the elves were in a floating position, the earthquake on the entire ce disrupted the gravity so they could feel it like a small push.

    Tristan tried not to fall off his footing.

    The power of a full moon magus was indeed powerful.

    A gigantic tree suddenly appeared from beneath the submerged swamp water. It was very fast and burst through the gaps in the pirs.

    Guardian-Znt and Guardian-Naja immediately moved away from the tree that suddenly appeared before Jormungand.

    Tristan and the others stared at the appearance of the tree with their jaws wide open. It was as if he couldn''t believe what King Ivaasar had prepared.

    At that moment, suddenly the serpent god Jormungand hissed in a loud voice.

    HISSSSS!

    Green smoke started toe out from the gaps in his open mouth as well as his nose. Next, the slits valves on his very long body opened, and thick green smoke was emitted from the gaps. It was billowing like ck smoke from a forest fire, only it was a different colour.

    The green smoke managed to envelop the snake''s giant body. Meanwhile, King Ivaasar was still waiting by the side of his giant tree.

    "Ivaasar,e back here!" Queen Leena screamed because she was worried about her husband''s condition.

    However, Ivaasar firmly believed in his abilities. He had done this before. And this time his confidence increased dramatically because he had matured the secret move.

    Tristan and the others had already received a warning that the green smoke was a poison to be avoided.

    But¡ª before the green smoke moved towards the elves slowly due to the almost non-existent gust of wind, suddenly the giant general Sherman tree sucked the green smoke out through the stomata on its thick leaves, and through the lenticels that were visibly protruding on its wide trunk.

    "Strike back!" cried King Ivaasar when he found out that his magic had worked as he expected.

    Waiting for the god-serpent to stop emitting poison was too long.<sub> </sub>

    "Protect the tree and attack the monsters!"

    Tristan shot back towards the target monster along with King Vizier and the dark elve elder. It was clear that the Guardian-Naja was moving swiftly towards King Ivaasar''s tree, and it looked like the monster was intent on destroying the tree.

    "Don''t touch the tree!" Tristan shouted while moving three blood spears at the monster to block its ns.

    Meanwhile, from the air, Guardian-Znt was already nning the same thing. He had swooped down hard to destroy the tree, but Can shot up quickly to block it with his sword.

    BANG!

    An extraordinary collision was unavoidable.

    "Defeat them!" King Castian, along with the high elf elders, had returned to King Ivaasar''s side to attack the god-serpent, who continued to hiss and emit green smoke from his body.

    Tristan and the other elves deliberately adjusted their breathing techniques to work slower than normal, because they didn''t want to identally inhale the green smoke in that ce. Despite the fact that the giant tree created by King Ivaasar sucked in the smoke non-stop.

    And the fight resumed.

    The battle between the elves and the three monstrous monsters was back. This time the fight was more difficult than the previous fight. It was because they also had to protect something veryrge from the three monsters that kept trying to destroy it.

    After nearly two hours of fighting, a glimmer of hope of victory came for the elves.

    "Tristan, attack!"

    Guardian-Naja began to look cornered when three-quarters of its body was buried under the ruins of a pir. The dark elve king had deliberately blown it up to block the monster''s movement and keep it away from the giant tree.

    Only its head was sticking out, and the Dark Elf King was holding the head with both hands, lifting it so that the neck could be exposed clearly to attack.

    While the king was struggling to muster all his physical strength to restrain the monster''s head, Tristan had already created a dozen blood spears from blood using his [Blood synthesis].

    They targeted the exposed neck.

    "Eat this!"

    SPLATT! SPLATT!

    Blood gushed from Guardian-Naja''s neck like a flooding out of a dam that had been destroyed.

    A dozen of Tristan''s blood spears managed to pierce the monster''s neck and create holes in its skin.

    Before King Vizier let go of his grip, the dark elf elder cast [Fireboost] magic to push Tristan''s impaled weapons deeper into the creature''s neck.

    BANG!

    King Vizier dealt the final blow with a hammer punch with his intertwined hands from the top of the monster''s head, sending the creature crashing into the ground with a bang.

    "We did it."

    Guardian-Naja dropped down and didn''t move anymore. Its blood made the swamp water around its body turnpletely red.

 Chapter 383 Back To Life

    On the other side of the battle, Can managed tond on the back of Guardian-Znt and plunged his sword firmly into the nape of the monster''s neck from above.

    KIEEEEK!

    The monster screamed, emitting a deafening sound from the pain.

    Queen Leena threw a dozen projectiles into the monster''s open mouth and¡ª

    BANG! BOOM!

    It didn''t stop there, Hanz had stabbed three des of his sword at once into the monster''s chest, right where its heart was beating weakly.

    BANG!

    Guardian-Znt fell from the air with a sharp dive. His neck that had been blown up from the inside seemed to have a hole now.

    Seeing his two guardians defeated, the god-serpent looked furious. It wagged its tail until it hit a high elf elder who was flying too close.

    BANG!

    "Conall!!" King Castian shouted. Meanwhile, Osgiliath quickly caught the high elve elder''s body before falling onto the stone ruins below him.

    At the same time, the high elves gathered to give a healing spell to Conall, who was injured by the terrible impact of the God-Serpent''s tail.

    King Ivaasar was still trying to defeat the monster with various forms of attack-type magic. His [Divine Earthbind] could only hold Jormungand''s body for thirty seconds before the monster increased in size to break the restraints of the [Divine Earthbind].

    HISSS!

    The god-serpent suddenly moved in a circle and stopped emitting poisonous smoke from inside its body. This time its long body seemed to be ttened, and it was already coiled like a millipede.

    While still trying hard to attack the monster that had just changed its posture, King Ivaasar''s [Rain of Thorns] attacks bounced in the opposite direction. It had indeed hit the God-serpent''s coiled body, but it proved his attacks unsessful.

    "What did it do?" asked King Castian in astonishment. The attack he intensified was reflected by Jormungand''s body that easily.

    "I don''t know, it''s never been like this before." said king Ivaasar, also confused.

    "Hurry up and help me heal Conall!"

    Right now, Jormungand was setting up an impossible to attack defensive position.

    King Ivaasar decided to approach the high elves to help provide healing spells to speed up the healing of the injured elve.

    However, something went wrong.

    Tristan felt a bad feeling seeing Jormungand''s strange behaviour from a distance.

    After positioning its body tightly in a perfect circle, Jormungand lifted its head slightly into the air and its two yellow eyes shed with light at the same time. It made Tristan and the others feel a strange sensation that affected their feelings.

    It was as if the monster''s two eyes had just hypnotized them. However, what happened was¡­

    ROAAARRRR!

    The gigantic airwaves sent the pir debris flying, drifting away from the source of the terrifying sound. The trees near the ce were even pushed almost uprooted.

    Tristan and the magus level elves who were startled by Jormungand''s roar reflexively closed the two of their ears while restraining themselves from being swept away in the powerful airwaves.

    And when the pair of yellow eyes returned to normal, Jormungand closed its mouth and hissed again

    HISSS!

    Suddenly Guardian-Znt and Guardian-Naja who had been defeated by the elves slowly began to move again. Their half-destroyed bodies had recovered. Even the attacks that had created gaping holes in the two monsters'' bodies had disappeared.

    The two of them let out a roar at the same time.

    ROAAARRR!

    "What the hell."<sub> </sub>

    Tristan and the others looked pale. How could the two defeated monsterse back to life just like that?

    It''s not only that.

    Tristan could feel the dozens of mystical powers he knew as demonic wyrms as if they wereing towards the ce from all directions. He estimated the number using his enhanced senses.

    "40¡­no¡­50."

    Everyone looked at King Ivaasar questioningly. However, the king was also as pale as the others.

    "I don''t know anything about this one," he said honestly with a weak voice, the memory of his first fight with Jormungand all these years, he never went this far before.

    King Vizier realized that, and he tookmand of the battle swiftly.

    "More toe! Attack! Improvise!"

    The two guardian raid teams again attacked the monster that had just risen from the dead.

    They could sense the approaching demonic wyrm.

    "Avoid the swamp water!" shouted King Ivaasar, having managed to control himself.

    Fighting just two guardian monsters was already very hard, let alone having to defeat the uing 50 demonic wyrms.

    The elves were cornered again.

    Was there still hope for the elves to win andplete this expedition?

    Tristan swung his sword again while creating several new blood spears to kill Guardian-Naja once again.

    "More blood to harvest." he was talking to himself. The arrival of the demonic wyrm made Tristan feel an advantage. But, was he able to defeat those 50 demonic wyrms with his current strength?

    BANG!

    The pir in front of Tristan was instantly shattered as King Vizier struck it with a terrifying metallic fist. The pir copsed into the marsh water, thereby reducing the volume of water in that ce.

    His move was deliberately blocking the way for the monsters toe.

    "It''s going to give us some time," he said confidently.

    The dark elf elder was already standing on a pir of ruins and was preparing high-level fire magic to attack the head of the Guardian-Naja before him.

    Can''s team had returned to flying through the air chasing the Guardian-Znt, who had pped his wings again.

    WOOSH!

    "Catch him, Leena," Can shouted, giving themand.

    Queen Leena let out nt vines from empty air to entangle the flying monster''s two legs, disrupting the monster''s bnce and causing the monster to sway to the side.

    Can and Hanz were ready to draw their swords.

    Meanwhile, the god-serpent Jormungand had moved back.

    However, its movement speed seemed to increase drastically after that mysterious roar.

    And before those who were fighting on the front line realized it, Jormungand''s huge head pecked very quickly at the elves flying at the front, challenging them.

    SNAP!!

    The three-pointed fangs in the monster''s mouth managed to pierce the body of the most important person of the high elve army, their king.

    "No! King Castian!"

 Chapter 384 Serpent God

    SNAPPS!

    Jormungand suddenly pounced on the body of King Castian, who was standing up to challenge him valiantly. The speed of the god-serpent increased so suddenly that the king had no time to dodge.

    "My King!" shouted the high elves elders at once.

    In a state of panic, the attacks they mustered turned out irregr and the strategy that had been carefully prepared slowly began to copse.

    BANG!

    Osgiliath and Kolvar hit the neck of the god-serpent using extremely powerful wind magic simultaneously.

    They couldn''t use the powerful thunder magic while the king was still under Jormungand''s power.

    PYAK!

    And it worked. The tremendous power of the two elves managed to make the god-serpent release its bite on King Castian''s body. It was as if it spewing him out freely.

    Quickly, Osgiliath and Kolvar dashed to catch the injured king. Blood had covered his body. There were three gaping holes in his body due to the bite of Jormungand''s fangs.

    King Ivaasar and Conall immediately tried to divert the monstrous creature together by using various explosion magic.

    Osgiliath and Kolvarnded on one of the pirs to inflict healing spells on the king. However, their magic was not working optimally, as if there was some kind of energy blocking its effectiveness.

    Meanwhile, the demonic wyrms had arrived. They took turns leaping into the air, leaving the surface of the marshy waters to grab the elves, who had purposely remained in a flying position.

    Everyone stared in horror at the marsh water, which was filled with demonic wyrms ready to catch on, taking out anyone who got too close to the surface.

    BANG!

    The previously injured Conall couldn''t fly on bnce after dodging Jormungand''s peck at him.

    He who lost his bnce from his footing wobbled down, fell and it was toote for him to create a new foothold that could help him fly.

    While King Ivaasar was still busy with Jormungand, Conall fell onto the fallen pir with a loud sound.

    BAMMM!

    The helpless body fell from a height of 10 meters and hit the rocks, but it was not enough to kill the immortal body of an elves.

    Until a demonic wyrm managed to jump to grab him and pull him into the swamp water, which turned into a sea of ??terrible wyrms.

    Osgiliath and Kolvar could only see it from a distance. The two of them were still preupied with the seriously injured king.

    One dot of bright light floated out of the swamp water.

    It was Conall''s spirit. And this time, Kolvar approached to collect it.

    Meanwhile, the battle that took ce between the elves against the two guardian monsters that had just been resurrected from the dead was still ongoing.

    King Vizier''s team seemed to have a hard time dealing with the thick-skinned monster that was very difficult to prate with ordinary attacks.

    The dark elves elder who had been using his magic non-stop was starting to look exhausted, his breathing became heavy, and his concentration in battle began to decrease.

    Tristan nced down at his feet. Many demonic wyrms there were trying to jump up and grab him. Make him be their meal.

    The thought of falling into the swamp right now would probably be thest sight in his life''s memory.

    Tristan returned to concentrate on the fight. The attack heunched using the blood spear was very well coordinated with King Vizier''s explosive attack.<sub> </sub>

    BANG!

    SPLATT SPLATT!!

    The blood of the Guardian-Naja monster was spilt again, splurted out covering Tristan''s blood spear, which pierced perfectly into its stomach. When at the same time, King Vizier managed to m his steel fist into the monster''s body so hard that it made the monster''s body lift slightly.

    However, a small wound couldn''t make the monster''s movement slow down in the slightest.

    And the incident that King Vizier had feared happened.

    BANG!

    The monster hit the dark elves elder''s body with its tail. So strong that the elves was knocked out of the air. He lost his ability to fly and was falling down as fast as a missile hurtling into the marsh water below.

    PYAKKK!

    Before anyone could move to save him, his body was torn apart by the brutal demonic wyrms. They scrambled to swarm the bodies that entered the swamp as if it were their food.

    "No!" King Vizier looked horrified at the tragic ending of one of his elders.

    However, the Guardian-Znt did not give the dark elves king time to mourn. Suddenly the monster extended its neck to grab King Vizier and peck him.

    While King Vizier was busy with the sudden attack,

    Tristan saw a spherical light float out of the swamp water. The light was very bright. Hovering very close to Tristan. It was the dead soul of the dark elves elder, torn apart by the demonic wyrm at the bottom of the swamp water.

    He looked around, everyone was busy with their respective monsters. In his mind, he actually wanted to suck that soul for himself right now. However, as this was Vir subordinate, he actually turn hesitant, at least now is not the right time as there might be some side effect of absorbing it.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    A bottle was formed from Tristan''s innate ability. He immediately took the spirit soul and put it in a bottle, stuffing it under his armour.

    Tristan sped up to help King Vizier, who seemed to be having a hard time defeating the Guardian-Naja monster that didn''t soften in the slightest.

    Seeing what had just happened made Tristan refocus and fight the monster more seriously. Otherwise, his body might be the next demonic wyrm''s food.

    Meanwhile, Can''s team did not look fine. Guardian-Znt seemed to remember the attack that had killed him in his previous life, and the creature seemed to be very careful not to get hit by the same attack again.

    It managed to make Can, Hanz, and Leena faced difficulties.

    The monster continued to fly higher every time Can wanted to jump on top of it as if it had read Can''s movements and recorded them in its memory.

    In addition, even though Leena repeatedly entangled the monster''s wings and legs using her [Earthbind], the magic was only effective at upsetting the monster''s bnce for 10 seconds. And that was a very little time.

    Hanz was pressed, he had to avoid the monster''s legs, pping wings, and tail wagging because of his position on the bottom of the monster''s body.

    "Leena, bind him!"

    Queen Leena used her [Thorn whip] to catch the monster''s two legs, pulling it from the opposite direction, trying to bring down the monster. However, the gap in physical strength between the two was very different. Leena couldn''tst long.

    BANG!

    The guardian-Znt pulled its leg so hard that Queen Leena was pulled with it into the air, soaring high without a foothold.

    Seeing the queen in danger, Can decided to dash up to catch Leena and save her, leaving Hanz alone to fight against giant monsters.

    And bad luck befell him.

 Chapter 385 Disasters

    Tristan could feel a strong impact from the air above his head.

    And his eyes saw how the monster suddenly swooped down and hit Hanz''s body with its head.

    Hanz was still trying to restrain him with his sword. However, something that was beyond the limits of his calctions happened.

    CRACK!

    The three swords that had protected him from the deadly attack suddenly broke, unable to withstand the pressure that was so great that it exceeded the limit.

    WOOSH!

    Hanz''s body was pushed, free-falling from a height of 100 meters above the ground. Beneath him were stones from the ruins of the pirs that had been partially shattered by the battle.

    Hanz threw away his shapeless broken sword and tried to find a way not to end up pitifully.

    He turned his body, changing the direction of his fall towards the giant poison gas-absorbing tree created by King Ivaasar. Then he started praying.

    SRUUGG!

    CRASH! BANG!

    The body burst into the tree. He crashed onto some of its leaves, broke some of its branches, and then ended up falling on top of the rubble, away from swamp water.

    Tristan could still feel the signs of life on Hanz''s body which was already covered in scratches and didn''t move an inch where hended.

    "This is bad."

    The fighting conditions on the front lines did not improve.

    Kolvar joined in helping King Ivaasar to attack the rampaging Jormungand, while Osgiliath was busy with the king, who had been unable to speak since the attack he received.

    "Forgive me. But this expedition cannot continue. i need to save my king first" Osgiliath felt that he had to make a wiser decision.

    The safety of the king was the most important of all. And the already helpless King Castian couldn''t say anything. Blood started toe out through his mouth and nostrils.

    "I will take you away from here, My King."

    He really didn''t care about the mission of defeating the monsters anymore.

    Meanwhile, King Ivaasar was getting tired. He had used his power without pausing for a moment. And defending the giant tree was also constantly draining his energy.

    "This is an impossible!, we need a different n!." Can dashed down to Hanz and carried him. Queen Leena did the same. And they made Guardian-Znt chase after them, swooping down from the air.

    "No! Protect the tree!" King Ivaasar shouted, but no one listened.

    Everyone was busy trying to save themselves. And-

    BANG!

    The Guardian-Znt seeded to destroy the mythical tree by sliding at full speed toward it. It broke the trunk, and the tree fell, some of it fell into the swamp water.

    ROARRR!

    When the tree had stopped functioning, the smoke from Jormungand''s body came back out through the cracks in his wide-open body valves again.

    "No! We have to retreat! regroup!" Osgiliath had already flown with the king''s body away from Jormungand.

    The copse of the protective power of the giant tree made green smoke billow again. King Ivaasar held his breath as his body was already in that puff of smoke.

    "Kolvar! We have to run for now! Retreat!"

    SPLAT!

    Tristan and King Vizier sessfullypleted the task, killing Guardian-Naja a second time.

    As he watched from a distance. Jormungand suddenly opened its mouth and shot a thick green liquid at Kolvar.<sub> </sub>

    PYAKK!

    The liquid shot at such a suprised that the high elves eleder couldn''t dodge it.

    His body felt burn all of a sudden. It was as if a fire was burning him from within not even a half magus could withstand. Kolvar started removing his armour one by one as he couldn''t contain the burning feeling inside his body.

    "The world serpent toxic" King Ivaasar looked a little desperate.

    "Am I going to die?" Kolvar asked hopelessly.

    HISSS!

    Jormungand hissed and then opened his mouth again. However, before he could aim at King Ivaasar, the king had already darted away in time to avoid the attack.

    The atmosphere was getting worse.

    The fall of the poison-sucking tree and the start of Jormungand shooting the [world seprent toxic] brought the elves closer to defeat.

    "We have to retreat. Now!" King Ivaasar gave themand. Still trying to dodge Jormungand''s relentless fire.

    When the pir was hit by the slime, it instantly melted and crumbled into pieces of goo.

    The only thing that could give the elve''s body more time before ending up the same as the stone was his immortal body.

    But still, no one could survive the poison.

    "Leave me! i will held it down" Kolvar already knew there was no way he could survive.

    However, just as King Ivaasar had slowly flown backwards away from him,

    Tristan suddenly shot forward and mmed into Kolvar''s body, forcibly dragging him.

    "What are you doing?" Kolvar looked displeased at his helpless position in the blood elf''s hands.

    "Save your life!" Tristan made his point, even though he was actually worried about the other souls that Kolvar had been keeping for so long would be wasted.

    King Ivaasar was amazed to see Tristan''s life-risking action darting through the poison smoke and approaching the terrifying Jormungand.

    "This blood elf is¡­"

    "Watch out!" Queen Leena shrieked from afar.

    King Ivaasar, who was distracted by Tristan''s n, couldn''t dodge when his leg became the target of Jormungand''s poison aim.

    "Ugh.."

    Queen Leena flew quickly towards her husband and caught him before falling from the air.

    "A cave! retreat there!" Tristan shouted towards Queen Leena, who was not far behind him.

    And with their remaining energy and stifled breaths, they shot towards a gap hidden beneath the two pirs that copsed against each other.

    WOOSH!

    BANG!

    The four of them were thrown to the ground within the gap. Immediately, they regained their breath.

    Meanwhile, Kolvar and Ivaasar. What about the fate of those affected by the toxic?

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Join the discussion on discord through my website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 386 Caves

    BANG!

    Tristan and Kolvar, who he carried, tumbled into a cave hidden under the ruins of pirs. It was an imperfectnding that made both of them thrown and hit the hard wall of the cave.

    However, not a split secondter, it was Queen Leena''s and King Ivaasar''s turn to sink into the cave following Tristan. They didn''t get thrown off because Queen Leena was quite stable in flying using her shadow mode carrying her husband, who had just been hit by a [world serpent toxic] attack, just like Kolvar.

    Tristan helped Queen Leena carry King Ivaasar''s body to the corner of the cave, close to Kolvar, who was leaning against the cave wall.

    Then he looked at the ce carefully.

    The cave wasrge enough, the size of an ordinary cave. At first nce, it looked like a snake nest that had been neglected for a long time.

    Each side was made of soil that looked perfectly solid.

    It was just that some debris began to fall from the top of the cave ceiling as the giant monsters started banging their bodies in front of the only entrance and exit of the cave. The scent of the hiding elves still wafted through their keen senses.

    They were really trapped, while Kolvar''s condition was getting worse. He began to lose consciousness slowly.

    The world serpent toxin was very quickly absorbed into the body of the elf that was hit by the attack. Through the narrow pores along the skin, the poison entered the body and disrupted Elve''s circtory system, making it feel like it was burning from the inside.

    "Help me take this off," King Ivaasar struggled to remove his armour one by one. Just like Kolvar did, taking off all their clothes as if it could help them reduce the burning sensation in their souls.

    Tristan crouched down in front of his two injuredrades and tried to observe what had really happened to the two elves.

    Their skin slowly looked reddish, like a blister. And he had absolutely no idea what was really going on inside that body.

    "What can I do to stop it?"

    Queen Leena had used various types of healing spells that she knew to try to ease the pain that was being experienced by her husband, but to no avail, his condition was not improving at all and was getting worse and worse.

    "I''ve mentioned it before, Leena. Nothing can cure this poison. This poison attacks our souls, not the immortal bodies of the elves," exined the king. The Elve held the hand of his wife. And Leena had started to cry and could not ept the reality.

    King Ivaasar told how the former king of arcadian got the same attack. The world serpent toxin covered his body in one second, and then the next few seconds it waspletely absorbed through his skin.

    Despite being able to bring his body back to the treehouse, thete king onlysted 6 hours before his body was slowly eroded. He shrunk until the skin was perfectly attached to the bone, and then the bone melted as if a thick acid poured on it.

    King Ivaasar had tried various healing methods to save the king. But in the end, all was in vain.

    Hearing her husband''s story, Queen Leena became increasingly desperate.

    "Leave me here. Blood elf, you must take Leena away from this ce safely." King Ivaasar made a request that sounded like thest request before death came to him.

    "No. Do not talk like that. I don''t want to. I won''t leave here without you. Serene needs you. I need you."<sub> </sub>

    Queen Leena was getting hysterical in her tears.

    Tristan didn''t know what to do now. He knew the queen, he was sure that Queen Leena would not agree to the n.

    Besides, how could Tristan get out of the cave? And get past the three monsters that were waiting for him out there?

    Tristan stood up and walked away. He had one thing he had wanted to try for a long time. However, to do so, the elves had better not know.

    He again took out the blood bottle he had used to store one soul of the dark elve elder. He knew that King Vizier would be furious if he did something to one of his people.

    However, circumstances had forced him. He had no other choice.

    Very carefully, Tristan opened the cap of the bottle and let out the light that was inside.

    The light from the spirit soul that had been released from the bottle then flew through the air, moving from ce to ce. However, before the soul flew out of range, Tristan immediately synthesized a new cage to trap the soul.

    Next, Tristan''s hand moved to catch the soul. Grasping it, brought his skin into contact with the soul until a new notification popped up in his head.

    [Soul Extraction]

    [One rank 2 elven soul found]

    [Proceed in extracting the soul?]

    One rank 2 elven soul? Thest time Tristan absorbed a rank 1 spirit soul. With a higher rank, he wondered what his body could receive after extracting the soul now?

    "Yes."

    Tristan could hear a painful scream from the soul of the dark elve elder.

    A scream that felt very close to his ears, as if the elve was screaming right into his ears. The screams hinted at pain and despair. Tristan had known that something like this would happen.

    The feeling of near-death or even the experience of facing death felt by the soul he was absorbing could also be felt by Tristan.

    In the next second, he heard the sound of water bubbles and a roar that he recognized as thest sound of the demonic wyrm that tore the dark elve elder''s body apart until his spirit soul left his body.

    Tristan suddenly felt nauseous and wanted to throw up his stomach contents. However, at the same time, Tristan opened his eyes and realized that he was already in a different ce. And a faint voice sounded as if calling his name from a distance.

    [Spirit souls 4/10]

 Chapter 387 Spirit Soul

    Tristan was back at that ce. He stood in the middle of a bloodke. His eyes again found a building structure resembling a house that was familiar to him.

    As he ran towards the house, his hands could feel the dark elve elder''s spirit soul still twitching, trying to break free from him. However, he would not let that happen.

    When entering the unlocked house, Tristan approached the stairs going down, which was a gate that was tightly sealed with a sturdy chain.

    As he walked closer, an extremely powerful force could be felt. That power resided within the sealed chamber.

    Tristan attached the orb-shaped spirit soul to arge, sturdy-looking chain. And the next second, the soul seemed to be sucked in by the chain, and the light disappeared.

    CRACK!

    The chain was slightly cracked. But not to the point of breaking it. Tristan tried to break into it, putting all his strength into breaking the chain of barriers to open the room that was sealed by it.

    But in vain, no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened. It was as if the chain didn''t feel Tristan''s physical strength. It didn''t even recognize it. Spirit soul was the only way to destroy it.

    Until a notification reappeared in Tristan''s head.

    [Spirit souls 4/10]

    4/10? At that moment he realized that the spirit soul he had brought was not enough. He needed more to get that power.

    "I need more."

    After realizing that something was missing, Tristan again felt a strange sensation in his stomach, as if he had just been dropped from a height at lightning speed. And he had left the ce he thought was the heart of the blood elf monarch.

    When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the cave.

    Tristan walked back to the three elves with a pounding heart. This time he might have something that can be used as a solution to the problems the elves were facing.

    Just as he was approaching, suddenly Kolvar opened his eyes again with a nk stare. He red, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, and then his body shook violently. The twitched. It wasn''t long before strange cracks appeared all over his body.

    Tristan caught the elder just as his body copsed on the ground and dropped the spirit soul bottle. He could feel how the muscles in Kolvar''s body were starting to stiffen, and it was difficult to move, making him unable to be repositioned to sit back.

    In the next second, Kolvar stopped moving, and his body waspletely stiff like a corpse. But even so, Tristan could still feel the signs of life in the elve''s already defenceless body.

    "What just happened?" asked Queen Leena even more desperate after seeing the previously very healthy Kolvar suddenly turn so weak like that. It was as if he had a disease that was destroying his soul from within.

    "The first side effect, all muscles will be stiff, experiencing paralysis. I told you, there''s nothing we can do now, Leena. You better save yourself with that blood elf," clearly King Ivaasar recalled the times when he tried to save his brother.

    "No. There must be another way." Queen Leena still refused.

    Her eyes moved to look at Tristan, who had just picked up the bottle containing the glowing spirit soul that had been flung on the ground. Holding it.

    "There is one way I must try."

    "But I need this."<sub> </sub>

    Tristan raised the bottle, containing the spirit souls before Queen Leena and King Ivaasar. Both of them looked surprised by Tristan''s statement. Especially King Ivaasar, who looked displeased.

    "What are you going to do, blood elf?"

    "I need these souls to increase my strength. I have to absorb the soul force in it to get the blood elf monarch''s hidden power which is still sealed for now."

    "Absorbing spirit souls? Have you gone mad? No¡ªI won''t let you do it, give it to me." King Ivaasar suddenly felt his heart seem to freeze for a few seconds so that all the organs in his body seemed to stop functioning at the same time.

    "Ivaasar," Queen Leena caught King Ivaasar, who staggered down while trying to snatch the bottles from Tristan''s hands.

    The king then coughed violently for several minutes until his saliva flowed uncontrobly.

    "There is no other choice. I have to do it. It takes great sacrifice for great power too." Tristan squeezed the bottles containing the spirit souls, impatient to absorb them.

    Queen Leena looked at Tristan, then fell silent. She looked deep in thought.

    "What power do you mean, Tristan?"

    "I still don''t know, the power is still sealed." He told her the truth. At this time, he hoped that the two elves in front of him could be invited to work together.

    "Can your power save Ivaasar?"

    Tristan had already guessed he would get such a question. But then again, he didn''t know.

    "I am not sure. You''ll never know if you don''t try." Lying now will only make it more difficult in the future.

    "But I believe, we can have hope in that power," he added with a serious look. His heart was beating so fast earlier. He couldn''t wait to see what was hidden in the sealed room.

    Even though Queen Leena or King Ivaasar would be against it, he had already made up his mind. He had to act, or they would never get anything.

    However, Queen Leena did not immediately respond.

    The queen seemed to think for a moment while biting her lip. She then looked back at King Ivaasar''s beautiful eyes and without saying anything, the king seemed to understand what his wife was going to do.

    "I will take responsibility. Tristan is a blood elf monarch in prophecy. I believe that this must mean something."

    Instantly Tristan could feel calm. One supporter was enough. He became more confident in his actions.

    "No¡ªLeena,"

    "These soul elves need hundreds of years before they can return to their former bodies. I''d rather save those who are still alive at this time." Queen Leena showed her very wise leadership side in front of her husband. She made the husband could not find a sentence to refute it.

    Tristan waited for a signal from Queen Leena to allow him to absorb the souls. And Queen Leena looked back at him with a serious look,

    "Do it."

 Chapter 388 Memory Fragment

    Tristan had the full support of Queen Leena to absorb the four souls of the magus level elves who had died on this expedition.

    Even though Ivassar still didn''t agree, he couldn''t prevent it, especially Kolvar who was currently lying unconscious.

    Tristan opened one by one of the soul storage bottles, and the soul inside flew out. They almost immediately tried to get away like a giant firefly.

    These spirit souls seemed to know Tristan''s intentions, and they started to fly away, but only a little bit of Tristan''s spirit force could stop them from leaving.

    He immediately grabbed the soul with his hands, gripping it until it could only move where it was in his grasp.

    [Soul Extraction]

    [One rank 2 elven soul found]

    [Proceed in extracting the soul?]

    "Yes."

    The bright light that shed from the soul disappeared before Queen Leena and King Ivaasar who were watching them tensely.

    Every time he absorbed a soul, Tristan could hear a painful scream. The voice came from the owner of the soul, theirst memories recorded clearly before death came. The worst memories they''d ever had.

    Tristan was getting used to the painful screams, but four souls at once made his feelings carry over to their death. The soul possessing elve had even fought alongside him against the demonic wyrm before.

    Until he finally returned to The Heart of Monarch.

    He walked past the terrifying bloodke, already used to the sight because this was not the first time he had seen it.

    The goal was a house in the middle of the bloodke. And in front of the house, he saw the soul resembling an orb once again. It glowed brightly, flying in front of the door of the house. It was as if it seemed to wait for Tristan.

    He walked to open the door of the building resembling the house. He was followed by thest soul like a ghost in the form of light.

    This time in Tristan''s room, he found a familiar figure.

    It was a woman of mixed breed, half-human and half-dragon, with a horn on her forehead and a wing on her back. The woman''s skin was red. And her body looked even bigger than thest time he saw her.

    Nara, the bloodgem dragon, was standing in front of the chain-sealed door, waiting for him with an excited smile.

    "Why are you here, Nara? I didn''t summon you?"

    "My Monarch, I know what you''re currently doing, of course, I can''t miss out!"

    Tristan walked over to Nara and looked at her one more time.

    It was true that the dragon''s body looked different again after thest time he saw her. Tristan immediately used his scanning system to check what had happened to Nara.

    [Nara]

    [Bloodgem Dragon]

    [Magical Beast - Level 90]

    "From 70 to 90? She levelled up again without me noticing. Looks like she''s also levelled up as my strength increased, I can feel her strength increasing even more than before."

    "Nara, do you know what lies beneath this stair?"

    "My Lord Monarch, it''s your memory fragments, right? There is also mine in it, so I am as much as excited as you are my Lord,"

    After hearing the purpose of Nara''s arrival at the ce, Tristan made noment.

    He walked past Nara, who immediately opened a path for him to approach the door that was sealed by the chain.

    Tristan nced at Nara, who seemed interested in the four soul lights that were following him.

    Tristan pushed thest soul light toward the chain on the door in front of him. And the light began to be sucked in by the chain.

    He then ran towards the sealed staircase and let the absorption processplete.

    [Spirit souls 6/10]

    Still not enough.

    He then rushed to repeat his actions, extracting the second soul. Another high elve elder. From its screams he could hear, he recognized it as Conall''s voice. He was the High elf elder who was killed while facing Jormungand.

    [Spirit souls 8/10]

    Now he got two souls left to absorb. Tristan checked the soul owner''s name on the bottle. One was a young elven who was killed by the cursed wolf, and the other was a high elve elder who was killed fighting a demonic wyrm.

    Tristan decided to take the strongest. Soul of the high elder.

    "You are lucky, Levi," Tristan said while giving the soul he didn''t choose to Queen Leena.

    Again the high elve elder''s scream sounded in his ears. A painful death.

    [Spirit souls 10/10]

    CRACK!

    Once the amount of spirit soul needed to break the seal was sufficient, the chain seemed to move on its own, slowly releasing the seal before breaking and shattering away.<sub> </sub>

    The shattering of the chains was followed by a tremor that shook the entire room.

    Next, the sealed door finally opened, and the hidden room inside could be seen.

    Tristan walked down the stairs and into the room. His heart was beating faster than ever.

    It was arge circr room with walls resembling an aquarium filled with fresh red blood.

    In the middle of the room, simr to the previous room, there was a ss-like shard hovering on a pedestal casting a reddish glow.

    The second memory fragments.

    Tristan knew now he just needed to touch and absorb these memory fragments into his body.

    It will be painful, but Tristan knew this must be done.

    Tristan touched the floating object with his finger and again felt a terrible headache. But he couldn''t let go.

    After a while, a very bright light made his eyes feel like they were burning, so he was blinded by the light.

    Slowly, his sense of sight began to regain its focus. However, as he blinked many times to speed up the process, the scene in front of him hadpletely changed.

    The sound of people screaming. The sound of screams for help, the sound of a sword shing through flesh and cutting it.

    Tristan realized that he had again witnessed another memory of the original blood elf monarch,

    Virtaz!

    Tristan was standing in the middle of a battlefield. The ground he was standing on was now covered in blood and pieces of human bodies. As far as the eye could see, everything was filled with blood. This was a massacre.

    All he knew was, that he had reentered the memory fragment of the blood elf monarch, Virtaz, after touching the glowing object a moment ago.

    Tristan could see the fragment of memory as if he himself was involved in it.

    However, the longer he looked around, the structure of the ground he stepped on as well as the rock forms in that ce were very different from what he remembered. It was not thend of Arcadia.

    Until suddenly, someone shouted loudly behind him.

    "Kill them all!"

    Virtaz, the strongest blood elf, still looked very young. Even so, his face was now recognizable by Tristan. He was the blood figure who had met him when he was on the verge of death.

    His body was already covered in sweat mixed with blood, which was clearly not his own blood, as his body was not injured in the slightest.

    A momentter, Tristan saw what Virtaz was doing as himself. But he could only follow what was happening.

    The blood elf, Virtaz, just shouted amand to his fellow blood elves on a battlefield. His memories began to return, and he knew immediately that this was the time known as The Bloody Cataclysm.

    A hundred-year war event that killed tens of thousands of magus level individuals from both sides, Elves and Humans.

    At this time, Tristan was on a mission with 4 other blood elves,rades in arms for thest hundreds of years.

    "Kill them all!!"''

    Thousands of human armies with saint realm powers were simply not prepared to face the five of them.

    As a vicious killing machine that would surely wipe out the human race, the blood elves were blindly murdering them all.

    CLANK! Sttt!

    Dozens of Magus have fallen victim to this war. Human magus were no match for the blood elves.

    "More blood."

    "ughter. ughter. ughter.."

    "Kill them all."

    The fallen warrior, magus level human, copsed left and right on the ground of the battlefield. Making the battlefield covered back in blood.

    The battlefield turned into a terrifying sea of ??blood.

    The blood elves were wild and unrestrained. They were created to kill, ughter, and get as much blood as possible from the dead.

    They were a nightmare for the human magus.

    "Kill all the humans. Don''t leave anything left."

    Suddenly, dozens of portals formed around them, and dozens of figures came out of them. All are human magus, hundred of them, there is even 5 grand magus, among them.

    Their leader was a very famous young grand magus named Altus Dresden.

    "Let us erase all these Abominations from existence!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 389 Bloody Battle

    The appearance of dozens of portals brought out dozens of magus and grand magus did not make the blood elves flinch at all.

    Instead, the five blood elves, who were already bathed in human blood, greeted them with a smile.

    "More areing. Good.. more blood to extract,"

    "Good timing, we were just run out of humans to kill."

    Virtaz just stood on his ce, a rock, high enough that he could enjoy the massacres of hispanions.

    The arrival of magus and grand magus would be a source of high-quality blood that would be very useful for blood elves.

    They, the magus, did not know that their arrival was eagerly awaited.

    "Kill them all," Virtaz uttered one sentence ofmand as the leader and the other four blood elves were immediately ready to fight.

    [Blood Synthesis]

    The one blood elf, who ran the fastest, had created a pair of enormous metal ws.

    The metal was perfectly solid, and it was ck and shiny as if it were made of high-quality material.

    The fastest blood elf leapt into the air and delivered a deadly w attack. In one hit, three magus were torn apart by him into separate pieces while channeling their magic.

    [Blood Extraction]

    The blood elf immediately reversed his direction and absorbed all the blood he managed to get from his first victim.

    The opening attack made the magus who had just arrived shocked and frightened.

    "What just happened?"

    Even their eyes weren''t fast enough to catch the details of the iing attack.

    BANG!

    BOOOM!

    Another blood elf walked leisurely as his target gets closer, he had created a giant asteroid rock that blew up like a bomb.

    The asteroid was thrown at the magus who just came out, leaving three portals on the left side. And his attack detonated them, crushing them before a single one of them dealt a blow to the terrifying blood elf.

    "Huahaha, Orist''s asteroid is one of my favourites."

    Virtaz assessed whileughing in a booming voice.

    There were only 5 blood elves as opponents.

    "ughter¡­ughter¡­ughter."

    Altus certainly didn''t stand still and immediately ordered everyone to fight.

    All the magus issued their respective skills, and various kinds of rank 6 and 7 spells were released, but the blood elves parried, dodged and countered all attacks.

    Only four blood elves descended to the battlefield, while the enemies came inrge numbers.

    Even so, the power of the blood elves was terrifying, and the opponent had never imagined that there would be such a powerful elf.

    "What kind of monster are they?"

    BOOM!

    Blood elf Orist loved explosions. Thend that became his battlefield on that had to get several giant craters due to the explosion he created.

    Meanwhile, the blood elf Hagred was a blood elf with the most extraordinary speed that ordinary human eyes could not catch his movements.

    It took high-level enhanced senses to see the blood elf''s attack, and for ordinary humans, high-level enhanced senses only belonged to those who were at the level of a grand magus.

    Hagred blindly wreaked havoc.

    His body was the most distinguishable because he prefered to be in the form of a skinless blood figure that was hideous, like a monster.

    He was a terrifying creature who had nopassion.

    "ughter! ughter! ughter!"

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    In one hit, the blood elf managed to tragically pull the seven magus in front of him and cut their body in half with his bare hands. Which once again transformed into the shape of a giant sword de made of the finest high-quality metal.

    "Commander Altus, what should we do?"

    The magus seemed to be starting to feel panicked after a dozenrades who had just arrived were easily ughtered without a fight.

    Flocking in the same ce made it easier for the blood elves because they could attack several magus at once in one hit.

    Altus took a wisemand by dividing his army to face the four rampaging blood elves.

    "Attack them from all directions!"

    However, Altus'' hopes were in vain when several magus had to face off against one terrifying blood elf,

    Vulred.

    WOOOSSH!

    Fighting from all directions could indeed reduce the risk of being wiped out.

    But, not for Vulred.

    This one blood elf immediately twisted his body on the spot with astonishing speed, like a terrifying windstorm with his massive body size.

    Tristan was taken aback when the blood elf suddenly released dozens of des from various ces on his body. He created it from blood using the blood elf''s unique power before spinning.

    SPLAT!

    SPLAT!

    SPLAT!

    Those who tried to run before the blood elf spun around with his terrifying des were also sucked in by the blood elf''s twister and crushed in the fierce spin.

    [Blood Extraction]<sub> </sub>

    Vulred absorbed the blood of the magus without a trace, and there was nothing left of the magus'' body after entering into his terrible whirlwind storm.

    "More. Show them!"

    Altus instantly changed his attack pattern and engaged with the grand magus. Each grand magus was sent to restrain a blood elf and was assisted by a dozen other magus. While the remaining 50 were prepared to take turns attacking.

    Virtaz again shouted his orders for the blood elves who were blindly attacking the magus and grand magus that came.

    "Grand magus, huh? Piece of cake."

    A grand magus has 10 times the strength of a magus, and they could rival the physical strength of a blood elf.

    Even so, unfortunately, these blood elves had terrifying skills, as long as there was blood around them, especially the high-grade magus'' blood, they could not die and would alwayse back to life.

    Tristan didn''t expect how the original blood elf''s power was that terrifying. They were truly invincible.

    "Hahahahaha."

    Virtazughed triumphantly.

    "Is that all, Human?"

    "Bring in the strongest!"

    "I''m getting bored."

    BOOOM! KABOOM!

    The fourth blood elf was a blood elf who specialized in creating a sword and shield and fought like an honorable knight.

    Unlike the others who looked terrifying, the blood elf Zelphar looked elegant with the golden armor he was wearing to protect his body.

    Even so, his de shes were capable of shing those within a radius of up to 50 meters in front of him.

    The sh of his sword sliced ??through the air, tearing the space and the people in its trajectory apart.

    SPLATTT!

    [Blood Extraction]

    The magus didn''t know that the more humans that came, the stronger the blood elves made.

    Altus saw how one by one, his chosen magus were defeated. So he could no longer remain silent. Altus was floating in the sky above the battlefield and started absorbing cosmic energy and casting a tier 9 spell that could vibrate the entire surface of the.

    "Ooo Divine power of the Universe, lend me your power."

    [Ster Divine Blessing]

    Suddenly Altus shone like a star, and with that light, the strength of the fighters doubled, instantly overwhelming the 4 blood elves.

    Virtaz looked up at the sky and looked very impressed.

    "Hah!! This is more like it!"

    Virtaz put his foot down hard and immediately soared into the air, ready to kill Altus.

    "Protect themanders!!"

    Suddenly, 6 figures were flying fast in the air, all of them were peak stage magus.

    "Huh! Lowly magus wants to get in my way!!"

    Suddenly, these 6 magus changed their shape to be half-human and half-beast form.

    With a nce, Tristan could see the shapes of gold fur wolf, silver-skinned snake, pitch-ck bat, golden dragon, red tiger, and purple peacock

    "Huh!! Half-blood magus!!''

    The magus in Dragon form, the leader of the group, shouted, "Zenonia, Lucius, Silvana, you three protect the teacher. I, Alduin will stop him!!"

    Three top-tier bloodline magus attacked, and three mid-level bloodline magus defended.

    "Hahahahaha, very good! Come fight me!" shouted Virtaz

    nkk nkk!!

    Unfortunately, in just a few minutes, the fire tiger half-blood magus and the lightning bird were splitter apart, torn apart by Virtaz sword.

    After that, Alduin the gold dragon also fell to the surface of the with an uncertain fate.

    Seeing the next three young magus in danger, Altus gave up his special skills and was forced to go head-to-head with Virtaz.

    This just made all who fight on the surface of the repressed again by the four blood elves.

    They werepletely ughtered.

    After several attacks, Virtaz managed to catch Altus and lifted him into the air.

    "You shall die!"

    But suddenly, arge portal opened in the sky, and a giant spaceship appeared. From that spaceship appeared again a few dozen strong magus and among them was someone much stronger than a grand magus.

    It was the peak of humanity''s hope, a supreme magus.

    With one strike he managed to knock Virtaz back to the''s surface.

    BANG!

    Virtaz was injured, and blood was flowing from his mouth. But he justughed.

    "Hahaha¡­ Goal fulfilled,"

    Virtaz took out a dragon-shaped blood statue from inside his body.

    CRACK!

    He destroyed the blood statue. It was a signal to summon troops from the Queen, Azzhara.

    It''s All ording to her orders.

 Chapter 390 Blood Elf VS Supreme Magus

    It had been hours since the battle between the blood elves and the supreme magus took ce.

    The power of the supreme magus was truly terrifying, dozens of times the magus had managed to destroy the blood elves and made their blood scatter on the.

    However, the blood elves were still able to reshape their shattered bodies and came back to life to fight against the supreme magus.

    The half a dozen grand magus who hade in the unequal war were already seriously injured and only ced theirst hope in the supreme magus.

    The explosive power of the fight even pushed it to the point of blowing up an asteroid in outer space and sounding its chaos to others.

    It was terrible.

    The had be the scene of a bloody battle, and its surface had turned like a giant asteroid. It had such severe destruction due to the explosion of tier 8 and 9 spells.

    BANG! BANG!

    Even the blood elf''s body that couldn''t die was already unable to return to the way it started. In addition, their stock of blood essence continued to decrease due to the fighting. They didn''t pause for even a second.

    One of the five blood elves, Orist, the asteroid explosion-loving blood elf, had his body scattered apart and turned into a blood clot.

    He couldn''t get back into humanoid shape again due to the terrifying power of the supreme magus.

    The supreme magus managed to detect the presence of the blood elf''s heart and then destroy it with a terrifying cosmic destructive power.

    And it worked.

    Meanwhile, the four blood elves under Virtaz''s leadership grew furious with what had happened to one of theirrades.

    They were furious. The angrier the more uncontroble their terrifying power became.

    The blood essence they got from the massacre of humans continued to be used very profusely to finish off the supreme magus, who was very difficult to defeat.

    At that moment, Virtaz heard screams from Hagred, who was still waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

    "Where are the other elves?"

    "Where is the queen?"

    Even though Virtaz had been asking the same question in his mind since a few hours ago, the death of one of his friends left him irritated that the supreme magus was still alive.

    BOOM!

    Another asteroid was destroyed, and some space rock was pushed to another, turning into a falling meteor.

    The massive explosion managed to blow up the two blood elves that had the most deaths, Hagred and Vulred once again.

    Virtaz saw his two friends who had turned into blood clots that were far apart from him.

    Their blood began to move again, coalescing. But the movement was not as fast as before. It had be very slow, and at that moment, the supreme magus detonated the few clots of blood once again that had not yet gathered.

    He burned it to nothing.

    "No!"

    Virtaz and Zelphar, who had the highest defence with their strength capable of creating armour, could not ept that incident.

    With their remaining strength, the two of them mobilized all the blood essence they had to finish off the supreme magus.

    At thest moment, Virtaz destroyed a very valuable artifact to sessfully summon two giant dragons, one red as blood, the bloodgem dragon and one was the golden yellow dragon, the golden scale dragon

    They flocked to target the supreme magus with full force as if there was no tomorrow without death.

    BANGG! KABOOM!

    The supreme magus had used his magic enormously without pause, his body had started to lose its bnce and swayed when Virtaz smashed his giant blood Warhammer.

    The supreme magus was flung into the air, hovering 100 meters above the ground before crashing back to the ground. And the sound of bones cracking could be heard painfully from it.

    CRACK!

    Virtaz was already panting. While nearby, Zelphar was trying to help Hagred, who had managed to get back his body in a crippled condition without one arm.

    The formation process was iplete due to the supreme magus'' final attack, and he continued to howl in unbearable pain.

    With stumbling steps, as his leg was badly injured after being targeted by the supreme magus'' cosmic power a few minutes ago, Virtaz walked over to the enemy''s body, lying past the pieces of the two dragons'' bodies he had summoned earlier.

    His heart ached greatly when he saw that there were no more signs of life on his two dragons.

    The supreme magus was too strong to be their opponents, and Virtaz was unable to save them when suddenly a gigantic space rock was pulled down by the supreme magus to the to destroy both dragons at once.

    The Supreme Magus got back on his feet before Virtaz killed him.

    "What you still not satisfied?"

    "Blood elves, if we continue this fight we will all die. "<sub> </sub>

    The supreme magus spoke to Virtaz again with a breathless voice, and his body was already bathed in blood.

    It was indistinguishable between his own blood and the blood of the blood elf that was smearing over him.

    "I don''t care. As long as you die by my hands first."

    "Don''t expect me to let you live after what you did to my friends. You have killed Orist."

    Virtaz dragged the giant blood Warhammer with his right hand. His voice growled furiously.

    "If only the elves had arrived sooner, the blood elves wouldn''t have met this fate."

    Hearing thest sentence mumbled by the blood elf made the Supreme magusugh out loud.

    "Hahahahaha You blood elves are really stupid! Your elves and queens will nevere!"

    "Our intelligence was right You blood elves are too dangerous to be allowed to live, that even your queens left you here to die. You guys are a failed experiment!"

    Hearing the supreme magus'' serious words, Virtaz immediately stopped his footsteps.

    His head was bowed, and his hands clenched tightly on the handle of the Warhammer he was dragging.

    Virtaz remembered how the elves and the elven queen had started treating the blood elves differently in recent millennia.

    Time and again, they gave the blood elves missions that were very dangerous and almost impossible to seed. It was as if the queen and the elves wanted them to fail the mission and die.

    Virtaz clenched his jaw as he recalled how the blood elves'' connection to the queen had diminished. It was since there were only five blood elves left.

    It was as if the queen herself was starting to fear them, the blood elves. And even though he was still trying to deny that fact, the supreme magus''s words really hit him hard.

    At that moment, Hagred, who had suffered the most from his severe injuries shouted in a choked voice.

    "Like I said, right?! They have fooled us! They will nevere here, Virtaz! Wake up!"

    Virtaz raised his head again and met the supreme magus'' gaze with hatred.

    "Alright. Whatever I will do, I''ll do it after I kill you."

    Dash!

    Virtaz dashed into the body of the supreme magus, which was already seriously injured, with a direct hit.

    In a battle that involved physical strength, Virtaz''s blood elf body was obviously, far more superior to the Supreme Magus.

    Even so, the magus always had magic to use in a pinch.

    BANG!

    An explosion crushed Virtaz''s shoulder and turned him into a blood clot. But, he didn''t budge and kept pushing the supreme magus'' body with his collision.

    At thest moment he used [Blood Legacy] and it be thest deciding factor.

    SPLAT!

    A powerful human finally died under the hand of blood elves.

    "This is what happened for killing my friend."

    [Soul Extraction]

    A light that was as bright as the stars in the sky shot out from the crushed supreme magus'' body.

    With the soul of the strongest magus, Virtaz was able to revive two of his dragon souls that had been killed in battle and then return them to his heart because both dragons had lost their original damaged bodies.

    Not only that, Virtaz shared some of the soul power of the supreme magus with the seriously injured Hagrid. It was so that he would stop feeling the excruciating pain even though his body would still be crippled without an arm.

    Orist, he was the only blood elf that couldn''t be saved.

    The other blood elves were silent when they saw the hurt expression on Virtaz''s face due to being disappointed by the elves and the queen whom he had trusted so much.

    After he healed his friends, Virtaz walked over to the remaining group of the human magus. He approached Altus who stood in front of several other young magus ready to die protecting the young ones.

    However, to his surprised Virtaz doesn''t wish to fight and said

    "From now on, the blood elves will not interfere in this stupid war."

    He then turned and walked back to the three other blood elves who were waiting for their leader.

    "Let''s go."

    Tristan could see how the memory fragment he was looking at had cracked again. It ended with Virtaz walking away with the three other blood elves after receiving a painful betrayal from their creator.

    A tragedy. Even an elf as strong as the blood elf Virtaz was no longer wanted by the elves.

 Chapter 391 Upgrade

    Tristan was still standing on the ground of the unknown while watching how the surviving blood elves walked away, leaving the badly injured human magus.

    ording to what Virtaz had said to the captain of the human magus, he had chosen freedom for him and the other three blood elves.

    At that moment, the scene he was watching suddenly broke, and cracked. A blinding light made Tristan instantly feel like he was blind.

    By the time his eyes got used to the light, Tristan realized that he had returned to a familiar room. It was that dark room where Nara, the bloodgem dragon, was still standing in front of him, waiting.

    "My Lord Monarch, did you seed?"

    Tristan nodded and then looked back at the fragment memory crystal which was slowly breaking apart and absorbed into him. Along with that, a notification appeared in his mind.

    [Your soul was greatly enhanced]

    [You have reached Katra stage 5]

    [Blood Mastery prerequisite condition met]

    Elves generally needed hundreds to thousands of years before they could break through Katra 5, but Tristan could do this by absorbing the Spirit souls.

    Katra 5 was a prerequisite for an elf to be a magus and should help him have an [Immortal body] but not for a blood elf.

    At least Blood elf had [Undying Body], which had the same type of strength as [Immortal body], even though this didn''t have much effect. But at least with Katra 5, he can now start to use tier 6 and 7 spells which hopefully could match the power of Blood Elf.

    What caught his attention, of course, was [Blood Mastery]. Something that made him very excited because, along with this, the memory of this skill came back to his mind.

    But before he could examine it, the floor where the crystal memory fragment was located opened up and a stone object slowly rose. It was a figurine resembling a woman with a pair of curved horns on either side of its head.

    With his new memory, he immediately knew what to do with the statue to unlock it. With a slight touch to the statue''s body, a notification popped up in his mind again

    [Release the Mythical Beast - Golden Scale Dragon]

    [25,000 blood Essence required]

    Luckily Tristan had this amount, and he used it right away.

    "Yes,"

    In an instant, he confirmed the option, and the stone statue turned into bright light.

    After being fully formed, the light slowly disappeared.

    A new half-human half-dragon figure had appeared next to Nara.

    She had long flowing golden hair and a pair of horns. Her whole body was covered with sharp and hard golden scales. Her round eyes stared at Tristan for a second before finally bowing in respect.

    "My Monarch, the time has finallye. Thank you for summoning me back."

    At that moment, Tristan realized that he could feel the power of the golden dragon. It was immense, and her presence managed to affect Nara, the bloodgem dragon, who also got an increase in her strength.

    [Golden Scaled Dragon]

    [Magical Creature]

    [Level 90]

    During the deadly battle, blood elf vs supreme magus, Tristan had witnessed the form of the golden dragon and the power she could wield.<sub> </sub>

    From his memory, he got the name of the golden dragon.

    "Nora, wee back,"

    A momentter, Tristan felt a vibration in the room, which was followed by the opening of the roof of the room. The floor he stepped on slowly rose together back into the Heart of Monarch room, which was surrounded by theke of blood.

    The merging of this room meant that the fragments had sessfully been absorbed inside his memory.

    From all the fragments of Virtaz''s memory that he had just witnessed firsthand, he could see the strength of the blood elves was extraordinary. Even the strength of his current blood elf monarch body was still not enough to match their prowess in causing damage, ughter, and destruction.

    Behind all the destruction, that memory also taught him about friendship.

    And even more important was the fact that the blood elves ultimately decided not to be bound by anyone. Especially, the elves who had created them.

    It was absolute freedom that belonged to the blood elves.

    And all this memory was now a part of him...

    Tristan then pondered for a moment.

    Freedom from anything?

    There was no barrier between humans and elves.

    This was something simr to what Arcadians do. Tristan then asked himself if this was why Virtaz came to this?

    Has he found his new home on this as in memory? But what about his other friends? What was their fate? Why did Virtaz say that he was thest blood elf?

    At the same time, the room vibrated again and once again Tristan saw a hole open from the floor and a new flight of stairs opened for him.

    As he approached it, again he saw a chain, this time looking many times stronger that he couldn''t even touch.

    A message appeared in his mind.

    [Spirit Soul 0/100]

    With a nce, Tristan immediately knew that the answers to all his questions were in the third memory fragment that was behind this chain.

    But this time, he needed 100 spirit souls, meaning 50 magus. Seeing this number, heughed a little. He was sure that on this there weren''t even 20 or 30 magus alive. So did this mean he couldn''t break this seal forever?

    A glimpse of the threat of the Space Knight came back to his mind, and he smiled again... When those humans from space came, he might then have enough to fill the number "

    Yes,e as many as possible. I''m ready to wait for you."

    Tristan turned around to look at the two female dragon figures, Nora and Nara, smiled and said,

    "You two need an upgrade,"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Join the discussion on discord through my website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 392 New Skills

    After one hour of Tristan sitting in the lotus position, finally, he opened his eyes back to the cave, and Queen Leena immediately called him.

    "Tristan did you... seed? Did you find a way to save us?"

    Tristan saw the queen who was so worried because of the condition of her husband, Ivaasar, who was already very horrible. The skin of the Vanyar King''s body had begun to show the same symptoms as what happened to Kolvar''s body. It ranged from muscle stiffness due to spasms, to slowly starting to lose consciousness. Kolvar the High elf''s body looked even worse, his skin seemed to be thinning or shrinking until it looked about to break apart

    Tristan calmly stood up and said, "Not yet... But I will, soon enough."

    With this, Tristan used the [Blood Synthesis] skill, and suddenly arge sword was formed in his hand.

    "Tristan, are you going to fight now? How?" said the queen in a panic.

    "Don''t worry, Leena, just wait here. I will return"

    Tristan then immediately charged out of the cave, and at the same time, dozens of Wyrms attacked him from all directions.

    nk!! nk!!

    Tristan shed left and right, dodging the attacks of a dozen wyrms that looked fierce and hungry.

    At that moment, Tristan immediately flew into the sky and suddenly issued a spell that he had not been able to use so far because the power of the blood elf hidden in his body was still not fully exposed.

    But now, with the power upgrade he just got, he immediately raised his hand into the air and,

    WOOSH!

    A gigantic vortex of mes formed 10 meters high and swept away the wyrms trying to chase, jump, and reach Tristan in the air.

    [me Tornado - Tier 6]

    In Tristan''s hands, with the power source of blood essence, this tier 6 fire spell became extremely powerful and instantly made the dozens of wyrms under his feet scream in pain. Burned, but could not run anywhere.

    Tristan knew this spell obviously wouldn''t be enough to finish off the mythical monsters under his feet and to add more trouble, The Guardian-Znt had flown over from a distance. The monster charge toward him ferociously

    Even so, without the slightest hesitation, Tristan immediately charged down into the fire tornado and allowed himself to burn, but from behind the licks of me, Tristan used his sword to y the flocks of Wyrms who were tormented and couldn''t get out of the zing mes one by one.

    Spatt!! Spalltt!!

    Even though Tristan was the owner of the fire spell, his body was still torn apart by the fire that was so hot and continued to twist the air violently.

    But at the same time, his [Undying Body] worked and instantly healed him, so that the vital organs in his body were kept safe and untouched by even the slightest fire.

    Even the healing power in Tristan''s body was getting better after the drastic increase in strength he had just experienced.

    Sptt!! Satt!!

    Tristan hid behind his own me spell while killing Wyrms one by one and, of course, while sucking their blood.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [35,820 blood essence has been obtained]

    When the mes finally died out, Tristan had disappeared, leaving the bodies of 4 wyrms behind.

    He was still nning something big, and to execute it, Tristan had to run back into the cave to hide, and heal his woundspletely.

    "What are you doing, Tristan?!" asked the queen, worried.

    "Don''t worry, be patient!"

    15 minutester, Tristan returned to use the same sudden attacking tactics and then again and again, over and over again.

    Finally, in almost 1 hour, he had managed to kill more than a quarter of the existing wyrms, and when he returned to the cave,

    [Blood essence : 171,358]

    Tristan then opened his status and checked his innate skill.

    [Upgrading Blood Synthesis to stage 5 requires 400,000 Blood Essence.]<sub> </sub>

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence.]

    [Upgrading Blood Monarch Body to stage 7 requires 200,000 Blood Essence]

    [Upgrading Blood Summon to stage 2 requires 50,000 Blood Essence]

    This time there was one additional upgrade option in the skill upgrade sequence [Blood Summon], but this was not what he had nned, so...

    "Blood Seal Upgrade to Stage 4!"

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 4 requires 50,000 Blood Essence]

    "Do it."

    [Upgrading blood Seal stage 4 in progress]

    [50,000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [...]

    [Blood seal has been upgraded to stage 4]

    [Current blood essence 121,358]

    Tristan upgraded his Innate skill, which could affect monsters, but once was not enough, so he went back to upgrading.

    To sessfully do what he nned, Tristan had to increase this skill once more.

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 5 requires 100,000 Blood Essence]

    "Do it."

    [Upgrading Blood Seal stage 5 in progress]

    [100,000 blood essence has been consumed]

    [...]

    [Blood seal has been upgraded to stage 5]

    [Current blood essence 21,358]

    Tristan immediately upgraded 2 times, and after the upgrade was sessful, he immediately rushed out once again, leaving the cave.

    But this time, not only a dozen Wyrms or the giant snake Znt came but also the yellow snake monster Naja who had a hard armour scale.

    The two guardians seemed to really want to tear Tristan''s body and fight over him.

    But they didn''t know that Tristan was different, he was a terrible blood elf.

    The [me Tornado] skill didn''t seem to be of any use against the hard-skinned Guardian-Naja. It couldn''t get burned by fire from the attacks of King Vizier, the dark elve king before.

    Luckily Tristan''s n was half-finished, when all these monsters surrounded him, Tristan immediately used his newest knowledge.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Seal]

    [Choose a target to Seal]

    Tristan immediately directed this ability to all the more than 40 Wyrms around him.

    With the knowledge of Blood Mastery, Tristan got the [blood seal] to affect differently, all 40 high level creatures all affected by the skills

    Bammm!!

    [Target sessfully sealed]

 Chapter 393 Blood Mastery

    [Target sessfully sealed]

    [40 demonic wyrm is under control]

    [20,000 blood essence has been consumed]

    Tristan smiled with satisfaction seeing his sess in using his new power, which he learned from the memory fragment of Virtaz, the blood elf origin.

    [Blood Mastery]

    This knowledge was truly terrifying because of its ability to modify all of Tristan''s innate abilities with his blood elf monarch''s body and master it.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Blood Seal]

    [Blood Synthesis]

    [Blood Summon]

    [Blood Legacy]

    However, gaining knowledge of thebination skill [Blood Mastery] wasn''t the only thing he learned from seeing the fragment''s memory.

    The second fact was rted to the demonic wyrm.

    He could feel something odd when Tristan first performed [Blood Extraction] on his first demonic wyrm after passing through thatyer previously.

    It was as if the demonic wyrm''s blood contained a very familiar substance. Only, at that time, he didn''t know what the substance was.

    But now, he knew.

    Demonic wyrms were mythical creatures that were still in the bloodline of dragons. So in their body still flowing dragon blood substance even if only a little.

    In fact, the first blood elf creation experiment conducted by the elves under the leadership of Queen Azzhara involved various types of mythical creatures'' blood to make it happen.

    One of those mythical creatures was a dragon. And because of that, Virtaz was able to summon the two dragons that helped him fight against the supreme magus at that time.

    Made of dragon blood, his blood elf monarch body tended to have a high affinity with the dragons themselves.

    And since those demonic wyrms had dragon blood, the chances for Tristan to be able to control them without fail by using the blood seal were increasing.

    However, to control the demonic wyrm, which was a high-level mythical creature, Tristan must raise his [Blood seal] level to stage 5.

    Using [Blood Mastery] on [Blood Seal stage 5] would allow Tristan to control dozens of demonic wyrms at once and carry out his well-organized ns.

    The moment before Tristan used the [Blood Mastery - Blood Seal] skill on the remaining 40 demonic wyrms in the swamp water below him, the two guardian monsters Znt and Naja had shot out of the air from the ruins of the pirs and were rapidly approaching Tristan.

    But

    KIEEEK!

    The demonic wyrm started to scream when Tristan had taken control of them and gave a very clearmand for them to understand.

    "Attack those giant monsters."<sub> </sub>

    The swamp water under the cave immediately turned into chaos. Waves of water were created and sshed in all directions. Meanwhile, the demonic wyrms swimming in it began to scramble to bite and attack the Guardian Naja, who was very easy to reach from near the swamp.

    KIEEK!

    Guardian-Naja had skin so tough that the bites of the demonic wyrms couldn''t hurt it. However, its goal to reach Tristan, who was flying near the cave, became difficult because it was hampered by the sea of ??wyrms that attacked it.

    On the other hand, when Guardian-Znt swooped down low to get to Tristan, dozens of demonic wyrms capable of leaping with a fairly high jump had already sshed swamp water into the flying monster''s two eyes making it difficult for the monster to detect with certainty the whereabouts of its target.

    In contrast to Guardian-Naja, who had very thick skin, demonic wyrms could create scratches and bites on Guardian-Znt''s skin so that the monster was furious.

    "Now the harvest begins."

    Tristan''s main purpose for using those demonic wyrms was because of their blood, which would be very useful for his next mission.

    However, killing those demonic wyrms by himself might take longer as the mythical creatures were not that easy to defeat.

    But those two Guardian-Monsters were much bigger and stronger to be able to blow off several demonic wyrms at once until the monsters were killed and Tristan could get the monster blood he needed.

    KIEEEK!

    The demonic wyrms began to let out screams of pain as the Guardian-Monsters began to counterattack with their mighty power.

    And in just a few minutes of fighting shockingly the 20,000 blood essence he used to control the creature seems almost to be used up already. Fortunatly, Tristan managed to get the carcasses of 10 demonic wyrms that were ready to be extracted and gave him about 80,000 blood essence as a return.

    Although in the beginning, he was not impressed with the veryrge amount of blood essence expended per minute, in the end, Tristan got more profit than the capital he spent.

    He used the [Blood Seal] once again and this time with less Wyrm, he needed less essence.

    [30 demonic wyrm is under control]

    [12,000 blood essence has been consumed]

    The battle between the guardian monsters and dozens of demonic wyrms was still ongoing under the swampy waters. Even Znt had dived into the water many times to rip apart several wyrms at once before shooting back into the air like a giant predatory bird enjoying its prey.

    The water had turned a very dark colour as it mixed with the dirt and debris from the giant pir.

    KIEEEK!

    The sound of the demonic wyrm''s screams of pain that were increasingly being cornered actually managed to make a scene in the previously very quiet ce.

    At that time, Tristan felt very lucky that the god-serpent Jormungand had no interest in joining the fray he had arranged. The god-serpent had again coiled its gigantic body on its throne and continued to stare at the people fleeing back into the swamp forest area.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [129.050 blood essence has been collected]

    However, to proceed with his next n, he still needed a lot of blood essence to increase his sess rate.

    KIEEK!

    The Demonic wyrm waspletely out of control. Their brutality was truly terrible, they didn''t care even if more and more of their friends were killed by the guardian because Tristan still hadplete control over them.

    "Give me more, I need more."

 Chapter 394 Blood Summon

    Tristan couldn''t wait to get all the demonic wyrm''s blood. After sessfully using the two guardian monsters to ughter them, it was time to reaped what he sowed.

    [8,800 blood essence has been consumed]

    [remaining time: 60 seconds]

    It had been three minutes since the demonic wyrms hade under Tristan''s control.

    And already more than half of the demonic wyrm''s initial poption that came were killed in the massacre.

    Tristan just watched and enjoyed the intake of blood essence from the monsters.

    He still had to conserve his energy for greater strength.

    [119,800 blood essence has been collected]

    [3 demonic wyrm is under control]

    [1,200 blood essence has been consumed]

    It was only a matter of minutes, and even the swamp water was now filled with the torn carcasses of the demonic wyrm monster.

    KIEEK!

    Thest standing demonic wyrm was already badly injured with both bloody eyes, it could only peck at Guardian Naja''s thick skin weakly.

    And, at that moment, Tristan jumped to finish it.

    SPLAT!

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Current blood essence: 412,540]

    Tristan already knew what his next move would be. And he already nned what the collected blood essence was for.

    At that moment, he used blood essence again to increase his innate abilities several times at once.

    [Upgrading Blood Seal to stage 6 requires 200,000 Blood Essence]

    "Do it."

    [Upgrading blood Seal stage 6 in progress]

    [...]

    [Blood seal has been upgraded to stage 6]

    [Current blood essence 212,540]

    At that moment, both of the guardian monsters Znt and Naja had managed to y the demonic wyrm to nothing, while both of them received quite a lot of scratches and bites and looked increasingly hideous.

    Guardian Znt''s two wings were torn apart, so the monster had tond on the ruins of a pir near Naja. While Naja''s lower part of the head had been badly beaten by the demonic wyrms after knowing that only in that part the guardian didn''t have thick skin.

    At the same time, Tristan had made a massive upgrade to his powers, and he was already nning something bigger.

    WOOSH!

    Tristan dashed towards the two giant monsters who were injured and then initiated his innate ability.

    [Blood Mastery-Blood Seal]

    BOOM!

    With the new upgraded [Blood Seal] He now feels confident to try affecting the two giant serpents

    Explosions of air shot out from Tristan''s palms, squeezing the two monsters with his intense air pressure and then restraining them with invisible chains.

    But before the follow-up notification appeared from the system, Tristan had already used the advanced skill.

    [Blood Mastery - Soul Extraction]

    This was another technique he received from the memory fragments. While a creature was under [Blood Seal] with [Blood Mastery] he could affect its soul with [Soul Extraction]

    Two other dots of light of different colors emerge from the two guardian monsters'' bodies.

    CLINK!

    Seeing the skill was sessful he quickly continue with his next steps

    [Upgrading Blood Summon to stage 2 requires 50,000 Blood Essence]

    "Yes."<sub> </sub>

    [Upgrading blood summon stage 2 in progress]

    [...]

    [Blood summon has been upgraded to stage 2]

    [Current blood essence 162,540]

    "Again one more!"

    [Upgrading Blood Summon to stage 3 requires 100,000 Blood Essence]

    "Yes."

    [Upgrading blood summon stage 3 in progress]

    [...]

    [Blood summon has been upgraded to stage 3]

    [Current blood essence 62,540]

    With the increase in the [Blood Summon], the souls of the two dragons in the heart of the monarch also increased in strength, and right away he order the two dragon soul toe out

    ''Nara! Nora! Now!!"

    Two dots of light emanating from Tristan''s chest floated freely into the air and approached the two souls from the giant serpents

    The four lights seemed to sh with each other in the air. However, Tristan immediately created a blood cage to capture the two lights from the guardian monster and then let the two dragon soulse into contact with the skin of the guardian monsters that were frozen by the power of Tristan''s blood seal.

    Tristan could feel his body suddenly feel extremely hot as a single light managed to submerge into the guardian-Znt''s body first. It seeded before slowly dissolving and the monster''s body gradually changing its shape.

    As the soul inside the monster''s body was changed, its mythical body started to create another form of its body.

    It started from the change of the blood cirction system, then the flesh and bone structure of the snake-like monster seemed to move lengthwise and shortened ording to the soul that had already upied the body,plete with a horn growing on top of its head and a pair of wings that were pping again perfectly.

    The Bloodgem dragon Nara had managed to get a real form body.

    Meanwhile, the other dragon soul was Nora. Since the golden dragon''s extremely thick skin wasn''t easy for Nora''s dragon soul to possess, the process was a bit slower.

    But still, she did it.

    The golden dragon Nora had managed to get a real form body.

    The two guardian monsters had already transformed into two giant dragons. One was red in colour, pping her two gigantic wings in the air while emitting fire through her breaths.

    While the other one turned into a giant golden yellow dragon, just jumped into the air to fly near Tristan. Her body was covered by gold-coloured armour that looked very strong and was not easy to be prated by weapons.

    Not long after,

    Both of the dragons gave their respect to the monarch.

    "My Monarch, thank you for giving me the perfect body."

    "I will never stop serving you, My Monarch."

    [Nora]

    [Golden Scaled Dragon]

    [Mythical Creature]

    [Level 10]

    [Nara]

    [Blood Gem Dragon]

    [Mythical Creature]

    [Level 10]

    The two dragons were finally reborn, with their new real body and the strength [Blood Summon stage 3], The two dragons were also upgraded from magical, to legendary and directly to mythical beast, almost to their previous ancient form

    With it, there were no more monsters left to fight around Tristan.

    At the same time, two figures flew towards Tristan, the dark elves king Vizier and the Arcadian ex-king Can.

    "What is going on here!?" Both of them looked speechless seeing the corpse overflowing with blood and the two dragons standing next to Tristan.

    ''You two can''t be even morete, can''t you?" Tristan said to himself.

 Chapter 395 Restore

    After one of Tristan''s grand ns worked, he knew he still had things to do.

    King Vizier and Can, who had just joined him, could only wonder at the presence of two dragons in front of Tristan, who looked submissive to him.

    Time was very limited.

    ? "Follow me."

    Tristan invited the two elves who had just arrived to follow him, flying towards a cave hidden under the ruins of a giant stone pir.

    Meanwhile, Nara and Nora immediately transformed into their human figure so they could stay near Tristan and follow him into the cave.

    King Vizier and Can were once again amazed at how the two giant dragons could turn into two women in an instant. But the two of them didn''t get any answer from Tristan.

    That was until the aura of a wounded elf in the cave began to be felt by the two elves.

    Having sensed that aura, Can quickened his footsteps past Tristan.

    "Uncle Ivaasar," Can crouched near Queen Leena, who was already in tears holding her husband''s body, who was slowly losing consciousness due to the god-serpent poison from Jormungand.

    "Tristan, you''re back, hurry up and do something. Ivaasar has¡­"

    Tristan could understand the fear felt by the queen, but after seeing Ivaasar''s condition, Tristan felt that the king''s body was still strong enough tost a little longer.

    And he turned to examine Kolvar, who was already looking terrible.

    King Vizier was even confused by the drastic change in the high elve elder''s body.

    The flesh in Kolvar''s body had scraped away, leaving the skin that adhered perfectly to his bones. However, the bone structure on the elf''s body had undergone changes as if it had been dposed from within.

    Even though Tristan could hear the extremely weak heartbeat within that body, but still, he wasn''t sure that the body was still breathing.

    It seemed that, in the next second, the spirit souls from Kolvar''s body woulde out, leaving his already heavily damaged body.

    "What would you do?"

    HIS!

    The two women with horns hissed when suddenly King Vizier grabbed Tristan''s hand as he was about to put his hand on Kolvar''s skin to begin his n.

    "Nara, Nora, calm down."

    Tristan gave a warning to his two dragons, who were very protective of him.

    Due to the hiss of the two dragons, King Vizier reflexively withdrew his hand from Tristan and allowed Tristan to continue as nned.

    Tristan knew that his actions would confuse the elves in the cave. However, he had no more time to exin the details.

    He then initiated his innate ability on Kolvar''s body.

    [Blood Mastery - Soul extraction]

    If only two giant guardian monsters could work well, then even with an elf, the result should be the same.

    CLINK!

    A bright light in the shape of a flying orb floated from the chest of Kolvar''s shattered body and then flew nimbly into the air, trying to escape.

    Tristan immediately caught Kolvar''s spirit soul with a blood cage he had prepared and held it there temporarily.

    "What are you doing, Tristan?"

    "Did you just kill him?"

    Can had rushed out to stop what Tristan was nning. Indeed, at first nce, Tristan looked as if he had forced Kolvar''s spirit soul out prematurely. And he had guessed that the elves might misunderstand.

    But luckily, the two female dragons had stopped Can, who was trying to stop Tristan in anger.

    In contrast to Can, who was getting emotional, King Vizier and Queen Leena were very curious as to what the blood elf monarch would do next.

    Tristan immediately continued.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Synthesis]

    [20,000 Blood Essence will be consumed]

    "Do it."

    Arge blood clot suddenly burst out from Tristan''s body. He could feel the heat and pain that made him ufortable during the process.

    After the blood clot that came out was sufficient in number to create another blood object, the blood clot slowly moved and formed a shape resembling a human.

    The movement was very soft, making those who were looking at it feel as if they were witnessing how humans were formed, or how a human-shaped artwork was created.

    And when the shape was almost perfect with the addition of a pair of slightly pointed ears characteristic of the elves, Tristan immediately pulled out Kolvar''s spirit soul, which was constantly struggling, before finally attaching it to the body of blood.

    CLINK!

    Instantly the light from Kolvar''s soul expanded and extended around the human-shaped blood figure. The light was so blinding that even those, who were watching did not know for sure what was happening to the body.

    However, the process was very fast.

    The light slowly dimmed again, and the blood figure had changed to match the shape of Kolvar''s perfect body features, notcking in the slightest. It was as if it was his real body.

    "What just happened?" asked Kolvar in confusion.

    "Wee back,"

    Tristan weed the elve elder''s return with a satisfied smile. Meanwhile, King Vizier, Can, and Queen Leena still couldn''t believe what they had just witnessed.

    "That was amazing!" King Vizier couldn''t hide his admiration.<sub> </sub>

    Can and Leena could not help but agree.

    Their mouths and eyes locked, staring at Kolvar, who looked fine.

    At the same time, Tristan examined the high elve elder''s new body and measured his current strength.

    [Male, Elf]

    [Crescent moon level]

    Crescent moon? He was now not Halfmoon level anymore. It seemed that for the current level of blood synthesis, it could only give an immortal body to an elf with a lowered level.

    "Are you really¡­ alive?" The expression on Queen Leena''s face seemed to change. This time she had some hope after seeing Kolvar''s return from the impossible.

    Kolvar looked in disbelief at a miracle he had just obtained.

    Without thinking, he immediately bowed to pay respects to his saviour.

    He knew the details of what happened and who the saviour was because when he turned into a spirit soul, he could use his senses.

    "Thank you, blood elf monarch. I owe you my life."

    "Your wee," Tristan replied with a smile, thinking having one of the top high elves elders who owed him was a good thing.

    Meanwhile, the smart Can was back with his unanswered curiosity.

    "What did you just do to him?" Can was still full of questions.

    "He just gave the elves a second chance in the blink of an eye. It took hundreds of years for elves that had died to form their new immortal body. But the power of the blood elf is really amazing." clearly, King Vizier was beginning to understand the situation at hand.

    "Is that true, Tristan? You just created the soulless immortal body of an elf and transferred Kolvar''s Soul to that body?" Can desperately hoped that Tristan would confirm it.

    "Yes, that''s what I did." Actually because of the poison fixing Kolvar requires him to also restore the soul first, but the soul extraction really is a tricky topic to discuss right now

    "That was¡­that was great." Can gulped in amazement.

    Tristan turned around to do something to King Ivaasar''s body. But this time, he slightly modified his method.

    King Ivaasar''s original body still seemed to be salvageable for now. So he didn''t need to create an immortal body from his power to remove the spirit soul from the king.

    However, before he could continue his act, Queen Leena asked Tristan some time to say something to her husband in a whisper.

    "Soon we will be together forever, we will return to our ancestors together, with Serene too."

    "May I start?"

    "Yes, please, Tristan. Save him."

    Tristan could feel a very strong air pressure around him.

    He could feel how the elves in the cave relied on him, even non-verbally. He knew that he couldn''t make a mistake.

    And even though this would be his first experiment, he had to be sure that his sess was more than 100%.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Extraction]

    Tristan grabbed King Ivaasar''s hands which were drooping limply.

    After initiating his innate ability, Tristan could feel how his left hand began to suck the poison-infected blood from the king''s body. Yes, he absorbed it into his body.

    Meanwhile, through his right hand, Tristan gave the blood essence in his body to the king. It was to rece the blood that had been sucked out.

    Thump!

    The blood elf monarch''s heart reacted strangely as the poison that Tristan had deliberately absorbed began to fill the chambers of his heart to the brim.

    His heartbeat slowed down, and Tristan could feel his chest hurt a lot from it.

    [Deadly venom has been detected]

    [12,000 blood essence needed to remove and restore the targeted condition]

    [Proceeded?]

    "Yes."

    Suddenly Tristan''s heartbeat back to work fast as if he was doing strenuous exercise.

    The heart of the Blood elf monarch was extremely strong and capable of adapting to substances such as poison that could kill both humans and ordinary elves.

    Tristan continued his action until he could feel that the blood entering through his left hand had no poison left and slowly, King Ivaasar started to open his eyes.

    "Blood elves?"

    Tristan stopped his [Blood Mastery-Blood Extraction] instantly.

    "King Ivasar."

    Queen Leena immediately embraced her husband in her arms and cried loudly again.

    Tristan distanced himself from that emotional mood after re-examining King Ivaasar''s strength.

    [Male, elf]

    [Full moon level]

    Seeing the sess of the Blood Mastery skill made Tristan smile proudly.

 Chapter 396 Healing

    After Tristan''s sess in curing Kolvar and King Ivaasar of the terrible poison, Can invited them to go to the hideout used by King Castian and the surviving elves.

    Together they flew away from the ruins of the gigantic pir, without a sound. They flew past the edge that was out of reach of the god-serpent Jormungand.

    Can led the way.

    With his enhanced sense, Tristan could see from a distance the position of Jormungand, who had returned to the way he had first seen him, wrapping his giant body on a throne.

    The monster looked unharmed. And even though the two guardian monsters that had always guarded him had not returned to him, the monster still seemed to remain calm.

    The hiding ce chosen by the other elves was a giant tree hidden because of its position. It was covered by other small trees, which were very numerous and irregr in position.

    Tristan could see King Castian and Hanz, who had gotten injured from the previous battle, leaning against one of the branches of the big tree.

    "We''re back." King Viziernded before the expedition leader, heavily guarded by Osgiliath.

    "Kolvar? How could that be?" King Castian said "Bless to the Ancestor for keeping you alive" Kolvar stood before him with half his body bowed to pay homage to the king.

    "What did happened?"

    Osgiliath didn''t seem to expect to be able to meet the elder once again. However, after he looked at him more closely, he realized that there was a change in strength in Kolvar''s body.

    "What happened?" King Castian still had a lot of questions, even so, his eyes gleamed brightly seeing that the elder had returned alive.

    Tristan was proud to see the king''s expression, as long as no one brought up the spirit soul he had sucked in to revive Kolvar and create an immortal body for him, he would be safe.

    However, his very sharp ears heard Osgiliath whisper to the king, "Kolvar, his strength is changing, I can feel it, my king"

    As if Osgiliath''s whisper was a signal, King Castian immediately forced his body to stand up and touched Kolvar with both hands.

    "My King, you are still injured." said Kolvar walking up to the king first and letting the king touch his body, checking that what Osgiliath said was true.

    And Tristan was sure, he could see a trace of disappointment on the king''s face when he realized that Kolvar, the elder''s strength was not what it used to be.

    "What really happened?" King Castian looked at those who had just arrived with Kolvar one by one inquiringly. And his gaze stopped at Tristan, the blood elf who looked the most suspicious.

    Even so, he didn''t have enough evidence to speak.

    "Let the blood elf heal your wounds first, King Castian." Can made a suggestion. But before Tristan could do anything, Osgiliath had already stepped forward with a very wary look.

    "I am only here to help"

    "I didn''t know you could heal people. Why don''t you try it on the warrior before moving on to the king." Osgiliath was very protective of the king, and Kolvar seemed motivated to do the same.

    However, considering that Tristan was the one who had just saved him from a very long death, this time Kolvar''s loyalty seemed to be split in two.<sub> </sub>

    Hanz, who had been silent for a while, was still leaning on one of the tree branches while asionally letting out a grunt of pain.

    Tristan could detect the presence of a very thin poison content from the bodies of King Castian and Hanz. It was the same poison as the poison he sucked from King Ivaasar''s body.

    Due to the presence of the poison, the natural healing of the two elves'' immortal bodies was disrupted. And even though they had been assisted with previous healing spells, the elf was still suffering from the pain of the wound that would not close.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Extraction]

    Tristan didn''t have to wait for anyone''s order to start his action in front of the magus level elves.

    He did the same as what was done to King Ivaasar''s body. But for now, he used blood essence to work directly on the open wounds on Hanz''s skin to absorb the poison. It was so his body could regenerate the skin and cells that had been damaged inside quickly. Thus, wounds on Hanz''s body instantly disappeared.

    His skin was covered again without a trace of wound. And he was awaken, confused by the pain that suddenly disappeared.

    "How did you do it, blood elf? Extraordinary. I don''t feel anything." Hanz tried to move all his muscles to check more closely about the condition of his body after being healed by Tristan.

    "You''re wee."

    Tristan shed a proud smile at the other elves, who were also amazed by his actions.

    What remained of the magus level elves included the expedition leader, King Castian, along with his two high elve elders, Osgiliath and Kolvar. King Vizier as the only dark elve, Queen Leena and King Ivaasar of the wood elves, andstly, the demi-human elves Can and his trusted warrior, Hanz.

    "Your turn, King Castian."

    After seeing Tristan''s proof for himself, Osgiliath moved aside to open Tristan''s way to the king.

    "Don''t worry, King Castian. This procedure has no pain."

    Despite looking doubtful at Tristan''s words, King Castian didn''t move from where he was standing while waiting for Tristan to do something to his body.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Extraction]

    King Castian could feel the pain slowly rising as Tristan started sucking his poison-infected blood and recing it with his high-quality blood essence, thereby elerating the regeneration of cells in the king''s body and the wounds on his body moving to close in seconds.

    "You are right, I feel no pain." King Castian looked amazed and disbelieving.

    Meanwhile, King Vizier seemed to be proud of Tristan''s healing abilities.

    Even so, since earlier, there was only one person who kept moving in the gathering.

    Kolvar, he repeatedly checked his armor as if he was looking for something. But, well, he never managed to find it.

    "Did anyone see my spirit bottles?"

 Chapter 397 Madness

    Tristan gulped. It seemed that his ns to finish the expedition smoothly were starting to falter.

    Queen Leena and King Ivaasar looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding.

    "What do you mean by your spirit bottles?" King Castian was starting to get suspicious again.

    "Bottles where I kept all the elves souls."

    "Did you lose them? Kolvar, don''t you know how important their spirit soul is?" King Castian really didn''t expect that his strongest elder would be so careless.

    However, someone prevented the misunderstanding from urring.

    Queen Leena felt very responsible for what actually happened. In addition, she had promised Tristan to position herself as the person in charge if things like this would happen in the near future.

    At that moment, the queen tried to properly exin where the 3 spirit souls containing the high elve elder souls they were arguing went. Only Tristan, Ivaasar, and herself knew about this incident, so the others were very surprised when they heard what really happened.

    Some of them seemed to be trying to understand the situation that the queen of Vanyar was talking about, but not for King Castian, whose expression had turned into a very angry look.

    "I will never be able to ept this."

    "You!!.. You killed them."

    "Are you aware of the crime you havemitted, blood elf?" King Castian staggered and held back his heart which suddenly hurt so much. He did not expect that he would never be able to see the three high elders who had been loyal to him for so long.

    Although the sacrifices of the three high elve elders could save Kolvar and Ivaasar, he felt that the sacrifice was not worth it. He considered that the elves would surelye back to life as long as their spirit souls were still there, even if they had to wait more than 100 years.

    "King Castian, forgive me, but if this is not done. We all will never leave this ce. We all can never beat Jormungand. I am the one who gave Tristan the permission, I''m responsible for this." Queen Leena was still trying to find a light in the debate.

    But King Castian already looked ufortable at the queen. He never imagined that there would be an elf who would have the heart to kill her own people forever under any circumstances.

    "You three are crazy! This is madness!!. And Kolvar, I didn''t expect you to get your life back so quickly at the expense of your brothers."

    King Castian walked away from Kolvar to stand beside Osgiliath, who was also inplete shock by the information he had just received.

    King Ivaasar, who was so against this solution before, could only remain silent after receiving healing from the blood elf''s hand, which made the impossible possible.

    "King Castian, I respect you always, but Leena is right. We will never defeat Jormungand alive and leave this horrible ce if Tristan hadn''t done that."

    "With Tristan, the blood elf monarch in the legends, I''m sure this time the expedition will really pay off. We''re almost there." King Vizier added defense to Tristan.

    Meanwhile, the one they were arguing about. the blood elf was just waiting for a chance for him to speak.

    "I have no choice. With the sacrifices of the three of them, I was able to revive Master Kolvar and save King Ivaasar. Without that sacrifice, neither of them would be here now, and we would never have been able to defeat Jormungand."

    King Castian still looked defiant. Whatever the reason was, the elves one by one began to support Tristan, yet the king was not touched in the slightest.

    "I am sorry, did you say three of them?" Kolvar, who had been silent since themotion that started with his question, corrected Tristan''s words.

    "Yes Master Kolvar."<sub> </sub>

    "How about the other one?" he asked confusedly.

    At that moment, Tristan, who had hidden the young elf''s spirit soul, which he still hadn''t sucked, took out the storage bottle from under his shirt.

    Originally, he had nned to use those spirit souls when needed in a critical condition, but his ns changed after letting the elves take a look.

    "Levi?" Queen Leena recognized the crescent moon level magus from the wood elf inside the spirit bottle.

    "And why don''t you suck it too, blood elf?"

    Tristan could hear the scorn of the king. Such a response made him provoked to amaze the king of his new ability to bring back an elf to life.

    "King Castian, before you judge me for nothing, you probably should see this first."

    POP!

    Tristan opened the bottle cap containing Levi''s spirit soul and allowed the spirit soul to freely fly out. But as usual, before flying too far, Tristan caught him.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Synthesis]

    [21,000 blood essence will be consumed to create an immortal body]

    "Do it."

    At that moment, right in front of King Castian, Osgiliath and the others, blood clots rushed out of Tristan''s body.

    Those blood mud started to move and formed a highly detailed body with a pair of pointed ears. But without skins. Only blood figures.

    That was until Tristan touched that blood figure with his hand and push the spirit soul into it.

    And the blood figure started to change shape to match the original body of the soul owner that had upied his heart.

    King Castian, Osgiliath, King Ivaasar, and Hanz, could not believe what they had just seen before their eyes. They had never seen the process of forming an immortal body in person.

    "This is impossible!" Osgiliath really couldn''t hide his admiration.

    Despite that, the king quickly returned to an angry expression.

    "This means nothing. What you did was cruel, Blood elf.! you must be held responsible!"

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    For discussion Join Avan''s Discord server: https://discord.gg/7ngn7yN9xN

    Join the discussion on discord through my website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 398 Second Round

    King Castian still couldn''t ept Tristan''s actions in the slightest, even though Tristan had already shown how powerful his Blood Mastery was.

    Meanwhile, Queen Leena exined the current condition of Mirkwood''s wood elf, Levi, who had just risen from the dead.

    Levi was very surprised that the expedition could still go this far, and the information about the king of Mirkwood, King Hdar, who was fine and just needed time to fully recover by returning to the pce, also relieved him.

    Tristan calcted the strength remaining in the expedition to defeat Jormungand, who was the only monster left at this time, so that he and the others could get out of thatyer.

    King Vizier and Can had managed to convince King Castian to continue the expedition, and meanwhile, the matter of Tristan absorbing high elve spirit souls could be forgotten until they managed to get out of that ce.

    Tristan didn''t really mind it that much, he just wanted to get out of there now.

    He walked over to Nara and Nora, who were already waiting on a tree branch not too far from the gathering ce. He didn''t want to be seen as more conspicuous by bringing two unknown women with tremendous magical powers to the gathering of the elves.

    "One full moon, three half moons, four crescent moons, and two mythical creatures." Tristan started to count their strength.

    King Castian refused to join in defeating Jormungand as an act of resistance to a blood elf. And because the king didn''t want to, Osgiliath followed the king''s will without thinking.

    "You already said it, Vizier. Blood elves are very strong. Therefore, I don''t need to intervene. I will give the blood elf a chance to defeat Jormungand." It was obvious that the king, King Castian was speaking sarcastically to Tristan.

    He was sure that without his strength, Tristan and the others who would continue to attack Jormungand would not get any results.

    And the two half moon powers of King Castian and Osgiliath reduced their battle prowess.

    Meanwhile, Kolvar looked conflicted and in a dilemma. Even though his strength had dropped to crescent moon level, he still owed Tristan a life debt that had brought him back alive.

    "I will fight." said Kolvar, finally knew which choice he thought was wise for now.

    And even though King Castian was already looking at the elve with hateful eyes like a betrayal had just beenmitted, the elve, Kolvar still walked forward. He went towards those who were sure to fight by Tristan''s side.

    King Ivaasar, King Vizier, Can, Hanz, Queen Leena, Levi, and Kolvar.

    Tristan jumped on the same giant branch near King Ivaasar followed by Nara and Nora, who could fly with a pair of red and gold colored wings behind their back.

    Despite the confusion about the joining of two women with mysterious magical powers that he could sense through his enhanced senses, King Castian didn''t make anyments.

    "Let''s fight and end this." King Ivaasar took over as teammand.

    However, after realizing that Tristan''s power was so formidable, he had already determined who would attack Jormungand''s head.

    "Me, Tristan, King Vizier, and my nephew Can will attack from the front."

    "But first, let me bring back my world tree."

    "Leena and the others will protect the world tree."

    A very simple strategy.

    In the absence of those two annoying guardian monsters, the fight to the finals would be easier than ever.

    WOOSH!

    They flew towards the pirs again. Ready to face Jormungand, who was waiting on its throne.

    As the distance from the throne got closer, Tristan ordered Nara and Nora to return to their original form.

    BANG!

    The bodies of the two women who were flying by Tristan''s side shot up into the sky, very high before finally letting out an explosive sound.

    ROARR!

    The two giant dragons have returned. The two of them floated and made the air nearby turn unstable due to the pping of their wings.

    As the two of them returned to catch up with their master, Tristan, King Vizier and the others were slightly swayed by the pping of the dragon''s wings.

    Meanwhile, Castian and Osgiliath who flew behind were once again stunned by the appearance of two giant monsters. They saw them flew after Tristan obediently.

    "I brought additional power," Tristan mumbled, then leapt into the air leaving his flying footing and,

    Whooop!

    The bloodgem dragon had caught Tristan''s body and made her master stand on her big head.

    "My Monarch, I and Nora will fight for you."

    "Yes, fight for me."

    The two dragons shot even faster, racing King Ivaasar, who was leading the army.

    And before them, Jormungand was again raise up from its throne. Its body, which was still in a fully coiled position, had expanded. And the cracks all over his body had opened.

    It was the same attack, the monster would immediately release poisonous gas from all over its body.

    And at the same time, King Ivaasar had used his power to recreate the giant tree that absorbed the poison gas near the monster''s throne.

    With that, Tristan immediately attacked from the front.

    [Dragon breath]

    BOOOM!

    Nara let out a fire breath from her mouth right at Jormungand''s head, while Tristan jumped down and created a giant sword with

    [Blood Mastery-Blood Synthesis].

    The weapons created are equivalent to a tier 7 weapon.

    SPLAT!<sub> </sub>

    Tristan exerted all his strength to sh the neck of Jormungand who was not burned in the slightest. The weapon managed to create a scratch wound the first time it shed.

    And

    SPLAT!

    The scratches got wider after Tristan shed his sword at the same point.

    He did this repeatedly until finally a gaping wound was created on Jormungand''s neck. Thus, the monster began to feel pain.

    ROAAR!

    SNAPS!

    Jormungand fired back his god-serpent toxins, his target was Nara, who didn''t stop burning him.

    However, to avoid the poison, Nara stopped her attack and swerved away.

    Meanwhile, Nara''s fire managed to melt the scales on Jormungand''s head. So that now, the melted scales obscured the monster''s view a little so that his aim was not right on target every time he aimed the poison liquid.

    BOOOM!

    King Vizier had arrived with his giant fireball, sending the monster''s body backwards and Jormungand looked even more furious.

    SPLAT!

    Can began shing at Jormungand''s lower skin and exerting all his strength. He shed at the same point as Tristan did until a gaping wound had formed, and he moved to another point.

    ROAAR!

    Jormungand repeatedly made loud noises because of the pain he was feeling.

    Meanwhile, his body began to move rapidly.

    Its tail hit the giant tree that King Ivaasar had just made, and just then, Hanz pushed the tail with his sword, while Kolvar, Leena, and Levi created restraint magic that kept the monster''s tail stuck and couldn''t hit the giant tree he was aiming for.

    Even so, the Jormungand''s tail was very strong. And the strength of the four crescent moons was not enough to withstand it.

    And

    BANG!

    One second before the tail hit the tree trunk, Nora the golden dragon had swooped down. She hit the tip of the tail with such force that Jormungand''s tail sank into the ruins of the pir below with the dragon trying to knock it deeper.

    "Good job, Nora."

    Tristan jumped back on the bloodgem dragon when King Ivaasar had rejoined the fight.

    He nned to descend on the giant head of Jormungand and destroy both of his eyes.

    HOP!

    Nara helped Tristan to reach Jormungand''s head which kept bobbing in the air.

    And Tristan''snding on his head made Jormungand even more disturbed by the heavy pressure of the blood elf monarch body.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Synthesis]

    Tristan had created two giant blood spears that he had adjusted in size.

    He waited until the monster''s head stabilized before dashing forward and jumping,

    He did a backflip once with two blood spears in his hands.

    Just as his body was straight in front of the pair of jet-yellow eyes, Tristan used all his strength to push the two spears into smashing the eyeballs.

    SPLAT!

    Seed.

    HISSSS!

    Jormungand hissed in pain, and he swayed with the blood in front of him, making Tristan fell backwards.

    But at that moment, the golden dragon that had just managed to catch Jormungan''s tail under the ruins of the pir, shot up back to catch Tristan with her mouth.

    WOOSH!

    After Tristan managed to destroy the two terrible yellow eyeballs of the terrifying monster in an epic way, the other elves immediatelyunched a merciless attack on the monster, who had lost his sight.

    SPLAT!

    BOOOM!

    KABOOM!

    shes, explosions, no one stopped attacking until Jormungand started to get cornered.

    Even though its body continued to emit smoke poison, and it continued to spit out liquid poison, with the sight already taken, the monster really didn''t manage to hit anyone.

    "EVERYONE! ATTACK!" King Ivaasar had changed his strategy.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 399 Cornered

    The battle between the strongest magus level elves against the terrifying god-serpent monster Jormungand had alreadysted for more than two hours.

    The elves endlessly bombarded Jormungand with all kinds of attack magic without mercy. It made Jormungand cornered and unable to counterattack.

    Time and time again, the monster roared in a booming voice, trying to summon the two guardian monsters, who had been guarding him and the demonic wyrms in the swamp forest. But in vain, there was nothing left in that ce but him.

    Tristan, the blood elf monarch, had ughtered all of Jormungand''s guard, so this time, the god-monster was fighting alone.

    "Do not stop!" shouted King Ivaasar, still shooting a very sharp spear-shaped tree trunk from empty air towards Jormungand.

    A hopeful smile spread across his face. After waiting for 50 years in a very dark and humid ce without seeing the sun again and feeling how warm it was, the time had finallye for hope toe for him to get out of that ce.

    King Ivaasar stared at Tristan, who was busy shing at the neck of Jormungand and creating several gaping holes to drain the blood in its enormous body.

    Tristan looked at the king he had saved a few hours ago, the king smiled at him.

    SPLAT!

    BLOOP! BLOOP!

    Tristan dodged the torrent of blood that was pouring from the neck that he managed to rip. The blood was pouring like a fountain in front of him.

    Meanwhile, he immediately sped off, looking for another point to rip apart and do more damage to Jormungand''s body.

    Meanwhile, from a distance, seeing Jormungand increasingly cornered and approaching defeat,

    King Castian growled in displeasure. He had clenched his hands.

    He couldn''t believe what his eyes saw at all, how could the fight against Jormungand turn out to be one-sided with the elves being superior?

    He still didn''t want to believe that this had all happened because the blood elf''s strength had actually increased after absorbing the spirit souls of the three high elve elders, his rtives.

    The blood elf had be a very powerful and frightening force. Even so, he still couldn''t ept Tristan''s actions in the slightest.

    The magus level elves, who were already in the vanguard, continued to pound the god-serpent Jormungand with various types of high-tier magic, scrambling to take down the ancient monster.

    They created explosions and weapons from blood, metal, fire, wind, roots and thorns of giant nts.

    Jormungand could not move. Even though its body was continuously emitting poisonous gas, King Ivaasar''s giant tree still continued to work effectively to purify the air in that ce.

    King Ivaasar''s giant tree was strictly guarded by the guarding team in charge, too.

    Queen Leena and Kolvar was in harmony, creating a barrier every time Jormungand threw liquid from his mouth at the tree, trying to attack from a distance.

    They were both very observant in predicting the attacks that came from Jormungand. On the other hand, Kolvar used buff magic on those fighting in the front row.

    The high elve elder''s magic buff might not be as strong as before due to his decreased strength to the crescent moon level in his new body, but even so, the speed boost buff was very useful for those in the front row.

    Can could speed up the shing power of his sword with the help of the buff given by Kolvar.

    Meanwhile, the warrior Hanz guarded the tail of Jormungand, which repeatedly hit the ground, trying to break free from the trap Nora had set under the rubble of the pir to restrain it.

    Stt!!!

    Tristan shed at the monster''s neck, which had lost its original form. Even so, the giant''s body was still able to stand even though its shape was already almost unrecognizable.

    Jormungand looked very miserable with its long neck having a lot of gaping holes.

    Boom!

    King Vizier managed to melt Jormungand''s snout and, at the same time, ignited its protruding tongue after he managed to strike a fierce fire-coated metal fist.

    The dark elve king stood guard closest to the terrifying monster''s head. He was very wary because he didn''t want to be hit by a god-serpent toxic hurricane attack and made Tristan have to take care of it too.

    Jormungand was seriously getting cornered.

    The strength of the strongest elves managed to make Jormungand unable to move.

    Moreover, two giant dragons scrambled to attack and tear it apart from the air.

    Every time the god-serpent was about to aim and cast its very strong poison, the two dragons flew up to disturb the monster from different directions so that it was difficult for Jormungand to find its target.

    BOOOM!

    Nara breathed her mes towards the monster''s head, and the tip of the mes engulfed the swamp forest nearby.

    Explosion after explosion made the originally dark ce turn a little lighter in colour.

    "Almost there."

    Tristan and the others were already sweating because the air temperature in that ce had increased drastically due to King Vizier''s fire magic and also the mes of the bloodgem dragon, Nara.

    Even so, nothing could stop their power.

    The retaliatory attack proceeded as nned.

    And Tristan, he really enjoyed his attack on Jormungand.

    The spear-shaped weapon of blood that he had created multiple times using his [Blood Synthesis] had sessfully pierced through Jormungand''s tough body without being bounced off.

    It was significantly much more effective than before.

    Boom!!

    King Vizier hit Jormungand''s head once again with a gigantic metal fist that was covered in smouldering mes.<sub> </sub>

    Jormungand was helpless, and its very long body wobbled backwards.

    Even so, the snake still didn''t give up. At that moment, Tristan realized that Jormungand had opened its mouth wide before pulling its neck back up straight.

    Tristan knew what the monster was nning, while the dark elve king''s body was still in the same position as thest time he attacked.

    Before it was toote, Tristan summoned Nara through his mind, and the dragon bloodgem sped off to pick up the Monarch.

    "Nara, you know what to do!"

    "Yes, my Monarch."

    WOOSH!

    Tristan stood firmly on the dragon''s head, and the dragon carried him, flying quickly towards the head of the Jormungand, which had started to move back upright.

    But before the god-serpent threw the toxic god-serpent poison at King Vizier for revenge, Nara had already thrown the Monarch''s body at the monster''s head.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Synthesis]

    Tristan creates a weapon resembling a stone thrower made of blood.

    And just as Jormungand spat out the toxic liquid from his mouth, Tristan''s weapon caught the poison and

    SPLAT!

    The thrower made of blood returned the god serpent''s attack on itself, making the poison nownded perfectly on the monster''s face and reacted with the open wound.

    HISSS!

    Jormungand looked very miserable.

    "You can''t stand your own poison, huh?"

    Tristan saw it as an opportunity,

    Tristan''s mind automatically connected to Nora, who was flying nearby. And he ordered the dragon to pick him up.

    Woosh!

    Tristan jumped on the golden dragon''s head, which quickly shot towards Jormungand''s head as it was contorting itself, trying to rid its face of its own poison, causing several giant pirs in the ce to shatter and fall into stone debris.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Synthesis]

    This time he created arge sword that looked very heavy. And with the help of the flying force momentum of the golden dragon, Tristan swooped down on the head of the Jormungand.

    Sttt!!

    His first sh made his sword stuck after cutting half of Jormungand''s head. But using his blood monarch body strength, Tristan pushed his sword even harder until all the muscles in his body tightened in a terrifying form.

    "Groooaaaa!"

    SPLAT!

    The giant''s head finally managed to be severed and separated from its body.

    [Blood Mastery - Soul Extraction]

    Clink!

    An orb shone brightly out of the headless giant''s body, hovering, trying to escape.

    But Tristan''s blood cage soon reached it and held the spirit soul of Jormungand.

    [Blood Extraction]

    [52 drops of god-quality blood have been extracted]

    [520,000 blood essence has been obtained]

    Tristan smiled with satisfaction seeing the results he could get from the fight against Jormungand.

    Currently, he had stored two spirit souls from mythical creatures and one spirit soul from ancient mythical creatures, which he would keep until he needed additional strength.

    "It''s over."

    Tristan turned to check on them, the magus level elves, who looked utterly unbelieving at the victory they had finally gotten.

    However, before they could celebrate the victory, suddenly the giant pirs that became the battlefield shook violently. It was as if there was a shift in the ground beneath.

    And within seconds, the pirs began to crack and crumble into rubble that was razed to the ground.

    Meanwhile, at the same time, Tristan could hear a terrible sound from above the very dark cave ceiling.

    CRACK!

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Join the discussion on discord through my website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 400 Gate

    After an emotionally and energy-consuming battle against the god-serpent Jormungand, the elves finally got the long-awaited victory.

    It was all thanks to the participation of a blood elf in this expedition.

    Without Tristan, the magus level elves might have given up and found no way to defeat this terrible ancient monster. They would need to resign themselves to being trapped in thatyer for decades, waiting for their descendants to embark on the next expedition to the mist.

    After pulling out the spirit soul from the mythical creature, Tristan and the others could bepletely sure that the monster had beenpletely defeated.

    And after the ancient monster was defeated the world within theyer experienced a great earthquake. The shaking of the ground beneath made the giant pirs that became the monster''s throne slowly begin to break and then copse to the ground.

    Luckily all the remaining elves could float in the air, so they didn''t have to struggle to avoid the falling debris of the pirs that were starting to crumble.

    However, it didn''t end there.

    After the pirs shattered and razed to the ground, Tristan could hear a very loud cracking sound from above the very dark sky resembling the giant cave roof.

    When he raised his head to look at the sky, he could see a crack was starting to appear as a result of the ceiling having been destroyed like it was splitting into several pieces.

    A very bright light began to try to prate through the cracks, and it didn''t take long for the cracks to spread longer and wider¨C

    CRACK!

    "What happened?" Queen Leena had flown over to King Ivaasar because she didn''t want to be separated from her husband once again.

    "Something we''ve been looking for, Leena."

    Meanwhile, seeing what had just happened above at the cave''s ceiling, King Castian had already shot high into the increasingly cracked roof.

    CRACK!

    Cracks in the ceiling of the cave widened, and rocks and dirt began to fall from the ceiling in various sizes.

    Tristan dodged all the falling objects deftly. And the bright light above was finally able to enter to illuminate the contents of the cave.

    Even Tristan''s eyes needed time to adapt to so much light since they had been ustomed to darkness for days. So he and the others had to blink more than three times until their eyes got used to the iing light.

    Outside, above the giant cave that no longer had any protection against the sky, Tristan could see and floating in the sky.

    Thend, at first nce, looked like another ind that was indeed located in the air with threeyers of soil that had different colours.

    The very base had the same dark brown colour as the soil on the where the Asgardians live. While the secondyer looked slightly greyish, and the structure was filled with sediment or solidified rock. Meanwhile, thest highestyer looked very fertile, overgrown with various types of trees, and the ground was covered with very green grass.

    "What is that ce?" Tristan had no idea that such a ce existed. He had only seen floating ins drifting through the sky in fantasy films so far.

    "The gate to the ancestors," King Castian looked very excited. His eyes gleamed at the sight of the ins.

    "We''re going there now. The elves must return to their home."

    Without waiting for the others because they were still disappointed with those who decided to defend the blood elf, King Castian had already shot out of the cave and with the help of the air he had manipted using magic, he and Osgiliath were trying to reach the flying ground.

    The remaining ones looked at each other for a second before nodding and following King Castian.

    Tristan didn''t need to create a foothold to fly because the bloodgem dragon would take him to the floating ins for him

    After being free out of the cave below that giantnd, Tristan could feel the very refreshing cool air ying with the pores of his skin.

    He looked around, and his eyes found the ruins of a familiar castle. Tristan could see the damaged structure more clearly because the mist that previously enveloped the ce was now gone.

    It was as if by defeating Jormungand, the magic that created the mist within the ancient Asgardian area had finally disappeared.

    Tristan flew higher and higher so that he began to be able to see the contents of the dead forest around the castle. He could see the night wolves and dark wolves who were still trying to hide in the forest as if they were afraid that the elves who had defeated their leader woulde back to finish them off.<sub> </sub>

    Tristan again filled his lungs with very refreshing air. He had almost forgotten what it was like to breathe in such fresh air because he had been underground for too long, and the air beneath the ground was very humid.

    He looked back at the ins floating above him. As he got closer to the in, he could see that it looked like it was moving or rotating at such a low speed. He needed to stare at it without blinking for several minutes to catch its movement.

    It seemed that the rotation was meant to keep the floating ins from falling from the sky and crashing into the Asgardiannds below.

    He still didn''t know, what the function of the ins was and why the elves were so happy after seeing it.

    However, as he got closer to the ins, Tristan could feel an enormous forceing from the direction of the ins.

    "Nara, can you feel it?"

    "Yes, My Monarch. I can feel a lot of spirits up there."

    Tristan increased his vignce. Even though the elves were sure that they were very close to the ce they called home, Tristan could sense a powerful barrier magic power. It was as if the barrier was trying to block anyone who came near.

    However, once they reached the surface of thend andnded on the very green grass covering the ground, nothing awaited them but a giant pile of stones that made Tristan remember a prehistoric monument in Ennd, the Stonehenge.

    Tristan firmly believed that the array of stones standing in front of him was muchrger. He could also see that even though the colours on the stones were different because they were darker than the real Stonehenge.

    "I can''t believe this day has finallye." King Castian was already walking swiftly on the ground.

    As if he already knew the ce very well, he walked without using any assistive devices and with no hesitation.

    Osgiliath walked beside him, while the other magus level elves decided to follow the high elve king.

    Tristan ordered his two dragons to turn back into human-like forms. It was so that they wouldn''t be too conspicuous if it turned out that on the floating ins there was an enemy hiding.

    However, once again, Tristan''s suspicions meant nothing.

    He simply walked after King Castian and the others, past the gigantic rock formations that stood so tall on top of thend. However, the high elve king ignored the objects. It was as if his eyes had been locked by something that was his goal from the start.

    And after walking for a while, the king stopped at a pair ofrge giant stones that were standing parallel to each other.

    The stones in front of him were the only stones covered with vines on the surface as if they could be the support of life.

    There was arge gap for people to pass in and out between the pair of stones. However, what made King Castian''s spirited smile on his face vanish in an instant was,

    There was a giant stone statue resembling a human,plete with armour and a sword drawn towards the stepping stone below, which blocked the giant gap between the two stones.

    "Asgardians." King Castian growled again in disappointment.

    Meanwhile, Tristan walked closer to the statue. Indeed, the shape of the gigantic statue waspletely human-like, a man with a thick beard and an extremely burly body hidden behind his strong-looking armour.

    From the type of armour the statue was wearing, Tristan realized that he had seen that type of armour when he was fighting against the humans from Asgardian.

    Without waiting any longer, King Castian summoned several ck clouds above the sky to destroy the statue using one of his strongest magic.

    [Thunderstorm]

    BLARR!

    A lightning bolt struck directly at the stone statue, but it didn''t work or make the slightest damage.

    Instead, Tristan could feel a movement from the statue, while the magical power of the barrier in that ce seemed to solidify even more.

    At that moment, he realized that the statue''s eyes had a different colour and shed with life, a voice came into all of their minds.

    "I am Heimdall the Bifrost gatekeeper"

 Chapter 401 Bifrost Gate

    A tremendous bolt of lightning came from the sky very close to the floating ins.

    King Castian used tier 7 lightning magic to break the barrier at the gate into the real world of the elves. A ce where they could return to their ancestor.

    However, the mighty lightning was unable to destroy the stone statue in front of them. Precisely with the attack initiated by the high elve king, the two stone eyes of the statue seemed to give off a sh of light.

    And thunderous voice could be heard loudly, repeating the same words.

    "I am the Bifrost Gatekeeper. My name is Heimdall."

    Tristan was surprised to see this new discovery, a stone statue that could speak and could not be destroyed with the power of the high elve king. It was as if the attack magic the king had just performed got absorbed by the statue.

    "There was no mistake. The Bifrost Gate. This is the gate mentioned in the elders'' information. The gate that connects this world with the elven world." King Castian was very sure, and without waiting any longer, he had already prepared his next attack to break the barrier.

    However, the wise Can tried to stop the king''s actions.

    "King Castian, we must not be careless. What if your attack will destroy the gate? There must be another way to open this gate without making an attack." Can tried to remind King Castian.

    King Castian tilted his head slightly, "We''vee this far. The door to our home is in sight."

    "We will definitely find a way to open that gate. We better check this ce out better. Maybe there''s a clue."

    Hearing Can, who continued to urge him, King Castian had no other choice but to carry out his idea.

    In fact, using attack magic to forcefully open the gate also made him afraid he would identally destroy it and the elves would be trapped forever on a foreign.

    Tristan had already decided to check out the giant stones that had caught his attention earlier than the elves. And he also found the writings carved on the surface of the giant stones.

    "Ehm...Maybe you guys will be interested to see this." Tristan tried to get the attention of the arguing elves and seeded.

    Can, who was the fastest, walked up to him and saw what Tristan was pointing at.

    It was an inscription on the stone, Can read the handwriting, which was Asgardian, aloud.

    It told the story of 5000 years ago, the elves came to the Asgardian through this gate and carried out a massive invasion.

    A great war was unavoidable.

    The war that took ce between the elves as invaders and the original humans of the, the humans who call themselves Asgardians.

    The arrival of the elves to their home caused great chaos to ur.

    The power of the elves was so great that many humans of Asgardian died in the war.

    For the Asgardians, the war that took ce at that time was a Ragnarok apocalypse that brought their poption close to extinction.

    The elves also started sending more people and establishing colonies on this.

    But the Asgardians would not let the elves continue to arrive.

    The Alfather Odin decided on a big n. First was to kill the elves guarding the gates, send the Vanir tribe to another world to save themselves and then close the Bifrost gate so that no more elvese to this world.

    To seed, Odin was ready to break the sacred seal and give birth to two mythical beasts to help in the grand n.

    Fenrir and Jormungand.

    With the help of the immense power of the two mythical beasts, the Asgardians managed to reim the gate, which was heavily guarded by the elves.

    Not just that, the Asgardians under the leadership of the Alfather Odin then managed to raise a mist barrier to hide the location of the Bifrost gate. At the same time, they prevented the elves from being able to return to ess a call for help.

    Everything was going ording to n until suddenly, just before the gate closed again, an uninvited guest came through the gate.

    An elf with terrifying power. A Blood Elf.

    And that was when there was a massacre. The Asgardians and the two mythical beasts fought against the blood elf. And this was the start of the rampage of Fenrir the mythical wolf who could not be controlled anymore.

    The beast started to attack most of the warriors and spread curses to some Vanir. But the nightmare didn''t end there.

    A terrible thing happened when Jormungand began to turn the air in the ce to be filled with poison, and anyone who inhaled too much of it would soon die.

    Jormungand tried to attack the blood elf with another deadly venom throw.<sub> </sub>

    Seeing the massacre carried out by the mythical beasts as a result of his n, the Alfather Odin decided to let the Asgardians who had gone with him go and nned to continue his mission alone.

    "I have sent the survivors, the descendants of Vanir, to a called Earth 1002. a few of them were cursed by the wolf. But at least it''s thest thing I can do to save them."

    Not knowing whether by luck or because they were being injured, the blood elf left them. While the two mythical beasts were wandering around, hiding inside the mistyer and living in it.

    "Even though The blood elf destroyed everything, Our Mission to lock the gate is stillpleted. With two mythical beasts wandering around in the mist, none of the elves would be able to survive and reach this ce."

    "The Bifrost gate was locked. Forever."

    Can looked at the elves who were listening to his story very seriously.

    "The blood elf was there too." He looked at Tristan expectantly, hoping that Tristan would give a moreplete story about it because he was also a blood elf.

    But Tristan didn''t remember anything from that incident.

    "I don''t remember anything about that one."

    Tristan could hear several of the elves sigh in disappointment at his answer.

    But King Ivaasar suddenlymented, "So we do know that the blood elf was trying to keep the gate open at that time."

    "They helped us." Queen Leena added while looking at King Castian, who still wouldn''t ept Tristan''s existence since his unforgivable act happened.

    Even so, Tristan felt more and more connected to the historical stories that were written thousands of years ago on this. And apart from being involved in the process of closing the gates of blood elves, he also heard the word Earth.

    The Alfather Odin was the one who had written that message on the surface of the giant rock thaty on the floating ins.

    Odin truly hoped that if his n seeded, one day, his descendants of the Asgardians could defeat the elves who had been trapped on the and exterminate them.

    But at that moment, Odin himself was dying due to the curse he got from the attack of Fenrir and the god-serpent''s toxin.

    Can read all the messages written on the surface of the giant stones in that ce. Every few sentences, he had to switch to another stone until he was now on the other side of the Bifrost gate.

    And after finishing the reading, Can was able to focus on a nearby ce.

    At that moment, he realized that he had just discovered something the elves had not realized before.

    "Odin''s funeral."

    Tristan darted toward Can to see for himself what he meant. And from the crevice of two gigantic boulders that stood tall,

    Other rocks looked like they were arranged by magical powers to form a majestic stone throne.

    On the stone throne, Tristan could see the discoloured remains of human bones. No one knew how many thousands of years it had been there.

    Tristan walked up to the throne with Can. And once again, there was another inscription under the stone that served as thest throne of Odin.

    "Die to the elves, all will get lost in the mist and face a terrible death at the hands of two invincible immortal beasts."

    As he finished reading everything, Can ran back to the stone statue of Heimdall, the keeper of the Bifrost gate.

    In front of the statue was a stone control panel which had ceased to function because the Alfather Odin had done something with it.

    At that moment, Can directly asked the Heimdall statue.

    "Heimdall, can you tell us how to open the gate you are guarding?"

    Can asked in a wise voice as if he was paying homage to the giant stone statue.

    And the eyes of the stone statue shed again, then the thundering voice could be heard again by the elves.

    "Only the legacy of Aesir will be allowed to open the gate."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 402 Legacy

    King Castian clearly couldn''t hide his disappointment in the slightest after hearing the message written by the Alfather of Asgardian, Odin and the information conveyed by the gatekeeper, Heimdall.

    "We''re this close."

    "Asgardians again! huh!."

    King Vizierughed sarcastically in response to the gatekeeper''s words.

    "We''vee this far and have to go back to find these Aesir Legacy?! Well, At least the mist is gone. The ess to the continent on the west to where the Asgardians are now open" King Vizier walked to the end of the floating in to see from a distance the current position of the Asgardians, which could be seen from above the in.

    Tristan was interested in doing the same, examining how the''s continents looked after the mistyer disappeared.

    After observing the road to Asgardian open very clearly, King Vizier voluntarily said that he would go to Asgardian to get the Aesir legacy. He would bring it back to this ce to open the Bifrost gate.

    King Castian was happy to hear the suggestion from the dark elve king.

    And a new team was formed to go to where the Asgardians lived and search for the Aesir legacy.

    "Legacy is those Aesir who have gained the power of Asgardian ancestor," exined Can providing additional information for the elves.

    True to what he had mentioned, the Aesir Legacy possessed bodies that had already be the abode of the spirits of the Asgardian ancestors and their strength was far above that of ordinary Aesir. There was currently a dozen of them in the Asgardiannds based on the information that Can had.

    Despite being told that the legacy had tremendous power, King Castian was not at all afraid and still chose people who would continue the unfinished expedition.

    "I, Osgiliath, King Vizier, Can, and Hanz will go to the Asgardian continent and ask their Aesir toe with us to this ce," exined King Castian.

    "Request? Hahahaha are you sure?" King Vizier burst intoughter, and King Castian didn''t pay any attention to it because it was likely that they would take these Aesir by force.

    In his heart, Tristan was actually happy because his name was not included in the list of people who would go to the Asgardian continent. After all, he would rather return now to check on his troops.

    He remembered one of the Aesir who fought him in the past and fighting with a dozen of them might not be easy, but the 5 people who would meet them were also the strongest, it should be an interesting battle, and Tristan was a little tempted to join.

    "These Aesir probably have the abilities of a Magus, so they should have spirit souls," he thought.

    While in his daydream, a female voice called out to him.

    "Tristan, we are going back to the high elve pce. The others are already waiting there." Queen Leena sounded rxed because King Ivaasar was not named by King Castian either.

    The elves who were involved with sacrificing spirit souls for Tristan''s power and great healing were already considered non-existent by the High elves king.

    Even Kolvar, the high elve elder, felt left out.

    However, Kolvar knew that what he had done was wrong, and he was willing to suffer the consequences, even though he never asked Tristan to save him.

    "Yes. We will return."

    Can and King Vizier walked over to Tristan before deciding to continue their journey toward the Asgardian continent.

    "You have done your part very well, blood elf, Tristan. We would not have reached this ce without your strength." Can clearly gave his biggestpliment.

    "Thank you." he then turned and walked after King Castian, who had walked first towards the end of the maind.

    King Vizier patted Tristan on the shoulder once as a thank you before going after the others.

    Tristan watched as the elves leapt free from the floating ins and disappeared from view due to the thick white clouds blocking his view.

    After everyone left, Tristan looked at who was left.

    Queen Leena did not want to be separated from her husband, King Ivaasar. Meanwhile, Kolvar and Levi stood side by side, waiting for him as if Tristan had indirectly been considered the leader of their journey to return to thend of the high elves. A ce where everyone waits for them toe home.

    WOOSH!

    Tristan ordered Nara and Nora to transform back into their giant dragons'' form and let Tristan and the others ride on top of them.

    The two dragons flew at full speed against the strong gust of wind in the air.

    From behind the clumps of clouds, Tristan could enjoy a far more amazing view than the view from an ordinary aerone on earth.

    By flying above the dragon, he could interact directly with the wind and even other flying beasts.

    The journey back from the floating ins to the high elve elder''s pce took quite a long time. It was long enough for the elves to regain the strength and energy that had been drained from the previous battle.

    They were very impatient to bring good news to convey to all the elves, about the hope of returning to their world. Though they still needed to wait for the gate that had been found to finally open.<sub> </sub>

    Just counting the time, everything would happen soon.

    Tristan could see how they were all smiling as if great happiness had just arrived.

    WOOSH!

    The two dragons pped their gigantic wings to elerate their flight speed.

    From a distance, the shadows of the high elves'' pce began to be seen, which looked the same as before they left.

    However, getting closer to thend, the smile on Tristan''s face faded as he saw, his aerone, the firefly, parked near the residence of the high elves.

    What brought the ne here?

    Meanwhile, the arrival of two giant dragons made the high elves gather in one area, shocked and panicked when they saw it.

    But when they saw Kolvar on top of one of the dragons waving his hand, the atmosphere immediately became calm.

    The two dragonsnded on the open ground, and the elves slid down from above.

    A high elf ran through the ground and approached Kolvar breathlessly.

    "Elder Kolvar, I saw the mist disappear. Did teh expedition seed? Does that mean we''ve managed to get the gate to go home?" The male elf looked very eager to attack the elder with several questions at once without waiting for his breathing to return to normal.

    Kolvar smiled a triumphant smile.

    "We managed to find the gate. The mist has been cleared, and the road to return is drawing near."

    The elf''s eyes immediately rounded and sparkled with hope.

    "Where is the king? Why don''t you go with him?"

    Kolvar already knew it was going to happen. And he was also relieved that King Castian didn''t take him to the Asgardian continent, he knew that the high elves might ask where the king was. If they let only Tristan and the wood elves go home things could beplicated.

    "King Castian still has to do something to open that gate and connect this world with our real world."

    Hearing Kolvar''s answer, the high elves let out a sigh of relief. Information about the safety of the king meant a great deal to those who loved their king very much.

    When there were no more questions about high elves, Tristan finally spoke up, "What exactly happened? Why is that ne here?"

    The high elves crowding the ce just whispered to each other and looked at Tristan with strange looks. Neither of them wanted to answer Tristan''s questions, neither of them cared about him as they didn''t know him.

    Suddenly, out of the crowd, Tristan could smell the body of a very familiar person walking closer and closer. With his enhanced senses, Tristan could sense the person''s whereabouts and where she wasing from.

    Princess Illiana tried to quicken her footsteps, running towards Tristan.

    The dark elve princess jumped into Tristan''s arms without hesitation with a worried face,

    "What happened?" Tristan asked Illiana this time.

    Queen Leena and Levi, who wanted to know the answer, rushed over to the princess.

    "Tristan, I''m so d you''re finally back safely." Illiana looked at Tristan with an indescribable look.

    "Where are King Hdar and the others, Illiana?" Queen Leena was impatient.

    "Inside the pce, they are all fine. The wounds have been healed, the high elves are really¨C"

    Illiana was surprised when she saw King Ivaasar for the first time, but she was even more surprised when she saw Levi in ??front of her alive and only having minor scratches. She couldn''t continue her sentence.

    "How could this...?" she still couldn''t believe it.

    However, Tristan had again asked her a question,

    "Illiana, tell me, what did I miss while I was away?"

    The dark elve princess looked at Tristan''s eyes with pity, her face turned worried again,

    "Tristan, we have lost the Arcadian. The space knights came and took over the pce."

    "They, what?"

 Chapter 403 Invasion

    [1 day ago]

    Following the order of the Arcadian King, Tristan, Tobias took over the leadership of the Arcadian nation temporarily.

    He did well in carrying out the task that had been given to him by the king.

    Tobias, a half-moon magus, was always on guard at the main headquarters of the Arcadia state security forces. The base never slept, always ready for an attacking once again from the space knights, or from the Asgardians who were still trying to get theirnd back.

    While on duty as usual, suddenly a call came through amunication device which was from Professor Emmet

    "Master Tobias, they areing! They areing! Spaceknight, we detected them on the radar!"

    Hearing the information given by the Professor, Tobias immediately got up from his chair and turned back.

    Behind him stood several saint-level soldiers who were on duty that day.

    "Contact Wizard Faros to prepare a fast response unit! Send the emergency signals."

    "Yes, sir!"

    Tobias did not stop there, he immediately ordered to contact all of Arcadian''s allies.

    Wood elves.

    High elves.

    Dark elves.

    "Call them, we need a backup., the time hase"

    With the departure of the strongest magus level elves among the country''s alliance, Tobias must prepare more power to defend his country from falling into the hands of the opponent.

    The atmosphere inside the headquarters immediately turned very rowdy, everyone was working on the tasks that had been ordered.

    Tobias immediately headed to the watchtower to see if the enemy was in sight. He ran fast as if every second that was ticking right now was a very crucial time.

    "Master Tobias, sir. This is Sterling the Knight Commander''s calling."

    Themunication device that Tobias was carrying suddenly made a loud noise.

    "One space cruise has been seen from the watchtower. What''s your order, sir?"

    Tobias was taken aback by the information he had just received, and at the same time, he arrived at the door of the room and violently opened it.

    At that moment, he saw a starship almost the same as the one that came before, descending from the sky through the clouds. It was already very close to the outermost region of Arcadian.

    "Professor Emmett, asking for progress for the magical convergent cannon status!"

    "Ready, sir."

    "Do it as nned, Aim at the target in front of us. Knock them down!"

    Sterling moved aside so Tobias could see more clearly what was about to happen on the cruise.

    This was a canon taken from the previous space knight cruiser and specially prepared for today.

    WIINGG!

    BOOOOM! KABOOOM!

    A single shot straight into the hull of the super-advanced weapon instantly shattered one of the wings of the cruiser. Now it lost its bnce and swayed to the ground several miles outside the pce of Asgard.

    "Only one cruise."

    From afar Tobias can see, The space knights who survived the horrific explosion immediately jumped out through the open emergency door on the other side of the ship. There were thousands of them, and hundreds were equipped with the power armour that was not easy to destroy.

    "Send the knight brigades and Kingsde troops to the grounds."

    At the same time, the fast response unit led by Wizard Faros flew from the base with a griffin, an eagle-headed magical creature.

    "Attack!" Wizard Faros shouted, giving his firstmand.

    The fast response unit troops immediately intensified the attack. They were very unified and strategic. By riding a griffin, they could provide attacks from above, so that many space knights who were still falling from their damaged ships also fell victim to them.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    The attack magic emitted a light that made the atmosphere on the battlefield change instantly.

    The Arcadian army dominated.

    Tobias was ready to go down against the magus that should be on that ship.

    But just as he had just stood up to join in on the attack, he felt another pressure descend from the sky.

    "No! There''s more!!"

    Not only one or two shadows were seen descending from the sky.

    Two cruisers had joined the battle. One of the cruises was veryrge, almost twice asrge as the other cruises. It was a mothership.

    "Professor Emmet, we need another cannon shot!"

    "Your order, sir?"

    Tobias panicked, he had to decide. Which ship to shoot and drop with that cannon. His decisionrgely determined the continuation of the battle.

    Then as he chose based on probability, attacking a small one would probably do a lot of damage. But, attacking a big one with cannon shots could only make scratches.

    "The small one. Knock them down!"

    WINGG!<sub> </sub>

    SHOOT!

    BOOOM! KABOOM!

    Just before the cannon shot reached its target ship, the massive ship fired a shot that was far greater than the power of light. It flew really fast and hit the shot from the Arcadian cannon.

    The massive explosion failed to destroy anything, only creating airwaves that disrupted themunication system for a matter of seconds.

    "What happened?" Tobias nearly fell out of his chair as the st of air hit the watchtower wall so hard.

    "Continue attack, we have to evacuate!" Sterling helped Tobias to read the situation.

    When he came to his senses, the gigantic weapon that came out of the carrier''s hull was already aimed at him.

    The target was the cannon machine which was located directly above the watchtower.

    "We have to move!"

    "Now!"

    Tobias and the people who were previously in the room rushed out to save themselves.

    And just as they had run out,

    There was a huge explosion.

    BOOOM! KABOOM!

    Tobias had prepared himself for the explosion so he wasn''t hurt even if he was blown away by the massive explosion.

    "We lost the cannon shot, sir!"

    With the arrival of two other ships, relying on fast response units alone would not be enough. He must also go down in battle, or the Arcadian would fall.

    Meanwhile, out there, the fast response troops were starting to lose some of their griffins to the attacking from the giant ship.

    Several magus who was riding it was also shot and destroyed on the spot by the super-advanced weapon.

    "We will fight till ourst blood!" Wizard Faros didn''t give up even though his body had already received injuries from the sharp weapons fired at him by the space knights.

    Their numbers dwindled, and that was when reinforcements came

    From the air, it seemed that it was instantly filled with dots of light as the 100 high elve saints led by Theon flew up, ready to use their most powerful strength.

    [Lightning Bolt]

    BLARR!

    BLARR!

    The space knights'' army was immediately again disrupted by a barrage of electric attacks that came from the sky like a lightning storm.

    The electricity managed to prate the thick armour of the space knights'' warriors made of metal and managed to pierce through, stinging their bodies, which were filled with liquid.

    "Sorry, we''rete!" Theon shot swiftly through the air, then messed with the endless space knight warriors again.

    They continued to arrive, from the two ships that were still hovering in the air. Nothing could bring the two ships down.

    Until-

    Four gigantic wyverns could be seen in the distance, flying swiftly pping their wide wings.

    The one at the front was arge dark elve with a body covered in strong metal. Even Tristan was overwhelmed when he faced him in a one-on-one battle, Dios.

    "Attack the little ne!"

    Dios only came with triplets of dark elve, which he thought was enough to help the Arcadian.

    Together, the four dashed against the small cruiser and attacked it from the front, targeting pilots on duty.

    KIEEEK!

    The wyvern ridden by Diosnded right on the head of the ship and tried to scratch the body of the ship with its ws and bites. But it was very hard. That was until Dios himself intervened, walking through the air towards a mirror where the pilot was staring at him in fear.

    CRASHH!

    BRAKKK!

    PYARRRR!

    With two blows using his metal knuckle, the ss could be broken and immediately the air from outside entered the cockpit room of the ship.

    It made the system that was in the ship''s rudder messed up.

    Dios jumped back onto his Wyvern and let the ship fall to lose lift.

    Meanwhile, the dark elve triplets immediately attacked the space knights who hadnded on the ground, kidnapped them, ripped them into the air and threw them hard.

    Even so, the space knights that came were endless. It was as if their number had not decreased in the slightest.

    "I''m going aboard the mothership," Dios spoke to the others. He firmly believed that the leader of the raid was hiding inside thergest ship. And he was eager to challenge the strongest enemy instead of having to face them, the ordinary soldiers.

    The situation around the Arcadian city was quickly turned chaotic

    --------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 404 Invasion 2

    The arrival of the space knights had managed to disturb the peace in Arcadia.

    The previously very calm and peaceful city was now filled with the deafening sounds of explosions until the colour of the sky changed.

    The Arcadian special forces hade out to fight. Meanwhile, those who couldn''t fight, women, children, and the elderly, had been evacuated into special protection bunkers to stay safe.

    Tobias had already walked out with the troop leaders from the various departments on the base. They were wearing armour that looked very sturdy, not inferior to the space knight soldiers. The best cksmith elves from the wood elves alliance had helped prepare the armour.

    DRATATATA!

    A space knight stood on a tall rock and raised a Gatling gun, shooting in all directions, trying to knock the high elve saints led by Theon into the air flying using their wind spells.

    The speed of his fire and the endless bullets managed to break the formation of the attacking high elves in the air. Some of them couldn''t dodge and fell into the sea of ??space knights ready to crush their bodies.

    "Aim the shooter first!" shouted Theon immediately sped swiftly towards the bearer of the Gatling gun, and without waiting for the others to arrive, he managed to hit the soldier''s body and cut using a lightning infused sword.

    Physicalbat was unavoidable.

    Meanwhile, a space knight ne that was sessfully brought down hadnded perfectly on the ground without exploding, so that space knights who had no attributes to fly were scattered out of the ship.

    A leader from the ship finally revealed himself, walking out with calm steps as if he had calcted that his team would get a victory that day.

    He was a magus, half-moon stage level. His strength was immense, and he also used his first attack magic to pave the way for the space knight warriors to attack.

    [Firebolt]

    The mes emanating from his palms managed to force the soldiers of Sterling''s army to change their defensive formations.

    However, At the same time, another ally of Arcadian had arrived.

    WOOSH!

    The wood elves shot through the air. They came with the strongest magicians who were currently ready to help the war against the uninvited Spaceknights.

    At the front was Master Laril. She was a highly respected wood elf elder, and a weapon-making teacher figure for Tristan, was ready to draw her sword, which looked very sturdy and strong.

    Master Laril immediatelynded before the half-moon magus to challenge him to a duel in a one-on-one battle. She knew who was dangerous and must be brought down first.

    "Fight me, Warrior!" she dared not hesitate in the slightest.

    Meanwhile, Elder Anmar, a right-hand man of the queen of Vanyar, also joined the fight to fulfil the summons from the Arcadian.

    Behind him flew a king from the Ithilien Kingdom, Tolith and Elroth from the Forlorn Kingdom. Ready to fight it out for the Arcadian.

    All the elven allies had gathered to send their best men to fight to help defend Arcadia.

    BOOM!

    Magic attacks from various elements managed to shatter the ranks of the space knights.

    Seeing more and more powerful elvesing and getting involved in the fight, the leader of the second ship, which was still flying low in the air, jumped out.

    Another half-moon magus with a veryrge body filled with muscle mass until the shiny ck strong armour that he was wearing looked very congested.

    He was ready to find an enemy like him to fight.

    And he saw Tobias, who was busy shing the space knights'' soldiers mercilessly, not far in front of him.

    After finding his target, the magus sped up quickly using the air power he managed to control within a five-meter radius, reaching Tobias'' position in the blink of an eye.

    CLANK!

    A powerful sh of forces was unavoidable.

    Tobias, who could feel theing of great power, was ready to ward off the half-moon magus'' attack with his sword.

    And just as they all came back to the battle,

    The sound of a huge explosion took them by surprise.

    BOOOOOM!

    A figure was pushed out of the mothership cruise, flung down like a meteor. The figure was coated with fire and metal.

    KABOOOM!

    Dios fell from the mothership cruise, the ground where he fell was crushed to form a deep and wide crate.

    The metal armour attached to his body cracked, and he spat out thick blood from his mouth.

    A very powerful force that had been hiding in the mothership cruise finally appeared.

    The space knights shouted excitedly to wee the leader of the raid mission.

    A male magus with peak stage full moon level strength wearing only a long ck robe was standing at the open ship door, watching the battle between the space knights and the Arcadians.

    That man was the one who had just beaten Dios with one powerful attack so that he was knocked down from the cruise.

    "That is punishment for having entered my ship, Elf."

    From his voice that trembled at the mention of the word ''Elf'', it was very clear how this one space knight magus hated those people and wanted to exterminate them with his power.

    Even so, Dios did not give up. He spat out the blood that filled his mouth before raising his head to look at the space knight who was at full moon level with a smirk.

    "Now I found my target."

    KIEEEKKK!<sub> </sub>

    Dios''s Wyvern swooped down to pick up its master back and flew upwards, onto the mothership cruise to challenge the full moon magus once again. And aerialbat was unavoidable.

    BOOOM! KABOOM!

    The war still continued. The elves who were already on the battlefield were being pushed even further back by the endless number of space knight warriors.

    Their energy was drained, and their bodies were covered in sweat and blood.

    CLANK!

    SWITCH! SWITCH!

    The swordsmen fought with their swords, trying to cut the opponent and knock them down.

    Meanwhile, the troop leaders had been busy fighting themanders of the space knights equipped with high technology weapons and armour.

    BOOOM!

    KABOOOM!

    One cruisended again and let out hundreds of fresh space knight soldiers to add to the chaos.

    Meanwhile, the mothership cruise repeatedly used firepower with light energy to blow up thend of Arcadia and the soldiers who were fighting.

    The special Kingsde troops that had joined immediately went berserk and sent the space knight soldiers thrown from the battlefield. But all of that didn''tst long, as the space knight soldiers continued to grow in number.

    Even Tobias himself couldn''t predict how much the three spaceships had until now.

    He was still busy fighting a half-moon magus, as well as Sterling, who was starting to lose his strength.

    Defeating two half-moons alone was very difficult for them. Moreover, Dios was still trying to defeat the strongest magus from the space knight army.

    BOOOM!

    Dios tried to knock the full moon magus from where he was standing, but he couldn''t because every attack he made could be parried by the magus easily.

    But he was a clever fighter. Seeing that the magus could not be brought down or reached with long-range attacks, Dios then targeted the main engine of the mothership cruise.

    WOOOSH!!!

    BANG!

    Dios jumped off the top of his Wyvern andnded in a position he knew was part of the engine from the mothership cruise.

    With his immense physical strength, he started hitting the ship''s armour like a gori on a rampage.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Even so, the metal armour of the ship was very strong. By simply hitting it with a fist, the engine was only dented inwards, while the engine part was well preserved.

    However, with Dios'' actions, the pilot of the mothership cruise detected an imbnce that had the potential to bring the ship down.

    Having received a warning from the ship''s pilot, the full moon magus couldn''t let that happen.

    Using the power of gravity maniption magic that he mastered, he was able to fly through the air without any assistance.

    Dios could feel an enormous force flying towards him, but he didn''t move.

    "Come here! How about the two of us fight aboard your ship''s engine?" he challenged with a grin.

    The full moon magus growled furiously, sessfully provoked by the words of the elf he hated so much.

    "Yes! Yes, Master Dios!" the dark elve triplets hovered near the ship to watch while attacking the space knights that had jumped from the ship''s mouth.

    However, with the immense power of the full moon, the magus raised his right hand into the air.

    And suddenly, Dios was lifted flying. His body couldn''t move. He could feel something veryrge gripping him tightly.

    "I really hate a very arrogant elf like you."

    CRUSH!

    At that moment, the full moon magus clenched his right fist and instantly, Dios'' body was crushed, only blood and bones sticking out were left as if an invisible force in the form of a giant fist from the magus crushed the dark elve.

    "Arrrghhhh!" One of the dark elve triplets screamed in terror seeing Dios being defeated so easily. And the rest of Dios'' body fell to the ground. Meanwhile, a speck of light from his spirit soul had flown through the air.

    "Retreat! He''s a monster! There are monsters!" Roger, one of the dark elve triplets, tookmand to urge his brother to escape from the battlefield.

    And the attacks carried out by the full moon magus didn''t stop there. With his immense gravitational force, in an instant, he knocked the high elf saints down from the air.

    BOOOM!

    They shattered as they fell against the Arcadia ground.

    "No!" Theon, who was fighting on the ground, couldn''t ept it.

    "This is a massacre!"

    Tobias, who realized that Arcadia''s position was getting more and more cornered, was suddenly surprised by an iing call through hismunication device

    "Is that from our ally? We need more backups!"

    "I am afraid no, sir. Priority message from our shore, 100 Asgardian ships were seen approaching from the ocean. The Aesir have been confirmed toe with them."

 Chapter 405 Invasion 3

    The war that took ce between the Arcadian troops against the invaders, the space knights, was still ongoing.

    Very quickly, things suddenly turned around.

    The death of a dark elve as strong as Dios, so easily, in the hands of the leader of the space knight squad, a full moon level magus, made the dark elves triplet decide to flee from the battlefield. Even though they were the ones who rioted a lot in the war.

    Tobias had no other choice but to go to the full moon magus and challenge him to a one-on-one fight.

    The news he had just heard from the informants inside the headquarters had his thoughts mixed together, very chaotically.

    How could the Asgardians alsoe to attack by bringing 100 ships through the ocean route as if they had teamed up with the space knights to corner Arcadia?

    "We''re noting here to fight you!" the full moon magus spoke in a deep voice to Tobias, who was already standing before him, flying in the sky over the city of Arcadia.

    Tobias didn''t want to hear anything from the people who hade to attack his country. He immediately dashed forward to attack the full moon magus using his wind magic that manipted air pressure.

    WOOSH!

    BANG!

    Without putting up a fight, the full moon magus simply raised his left hand to form an invisible barrier that could withstand the direct impact of Tobias on his body.

    Since he couldn''t talk to Tobias, who didn''t want to hear him, the full moon magus decided to ept the war leader''s challenge from Arcadia.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    The full moon magus started to attack, but Tobias dodged nimbly.

    Now the two ended up fighting with all their strength.

    The space knight warriors had left the cruise and made thend of Arcadia filled with a sea of ??people.

    Meanwhile, Theon, the only high elve left on the battlefield, was already struggling and was very tired from having to fight one of the leaders of the space knight army, equal to a half-moon magus.

    His body was covered with gaping wounds, his blood mixed with sweat, making it feel like the wound had been stung.

    Theon had even lost one of his hands.

    At that moment, the enemy still looked very energetic and fit. He only received minor scratches from the shards of wind that Theon had created. The strength of the two was clearly out of bnce.

    [Lightning Bolt]

    BLARR! BLARR! BLARR!

    Three lightning bolts struck from the sky in session with the same target, Theon.

    He was not strong enough to jump away, and as a result, his body was scorched by the high-voltage electric shock from the lightning that struck him.

    He really didn''t expect to be killed by the magic power generally controlled by the high elves themselves.

    Sterling immediately reced Theon to fight the same enemy.

    While that one battle had just begun,

    Master Laryl, who had been fighting for an hour against another half-moon magus, had just been brought down.

    Her proud ymore sword stuck to the ground nearby, still with a piece of her hand attached to the hilt.

    Even an extremely formidable elder from Vanyar could be defeated. The enemy was approaching him before giving his final blow to finish off the elf.

    "Die, Elf!"

    BOOM!

    "No! Master Laryl!" Tolith had sped very fast to save the elder, but he wasn''t fast enough.

    Full of anger, the king of the Ithilien kingdom immediately hit Master Laryl''s killer with his nt magic.

    [Divine Thorns]

    SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

    The ground where the enemy was standing was suddenly overgrown by thorny stems that extended up to a one-kilometre radius. The space knight soldiers trapped inside were killed instantly.

    Even so, not for the half-moon magus the elve was targeting.

    He had jumped swiftly to avoid it and was ready to fight against King Tolith.

    "You can stop now, human."

    "I told you, we areing here not to fight you. But the elves!" the full moon magus spoke once more to Tobias.

    Only ten minutes had passed, and Tobias had reached his limit, he couldn''t take it anymore to beat the powerful magus in front of him, who didn''t even seem to be sweating a bit.

    It was clear that the full moon magus was deliberately not using his full strength so that he wouldn''t be killed. So far, Tobias was aware of how his opponent was simply dodging and defending himself, without taking the initiative to deal a fatal blow to him. It was as if what he had mentioned earlier about the attack was true.

    On the other side of Arcadian, a hundred ships from Asgardian had managed to dock in the Arcadian coastal area, and some had entered the waters of the river towards Arcadia.<sub> </sub>

    The blue tattooed fighters came down and immediately took control of the arcadian guard post. They were very brutal, even though they didn''t have sophisticated armour and weapons like the space knights.

    The Aesir had lined up and watched the chaos their soldiers managed to cause.

    Among the Aesir, was a figure that looked different from the Asgardians. From the colour of his skin and the shape of his face, it was clear that he was not a native Asgardian.

    That figure was an officer of the space knight.

    In the previous attack against Tristan as the leader of the Arcadian army, he was the magus officer who managed to escape. He flew through the open sea, bringing him to the ce of the Asgardians.

    It seemed he was the one who made the Asgardians and Spaceknights be an ally and attacked Arcadia at the same time, however the way he convinced the Asgardians was.

    "HOOAH!" The Asgardians brutally began destroying the facilities of thend they invaded, destroying anything that stood in their way.

    One of the Aesir with the strong power hidden in his body suddenly gave an order,

    "Find that girl and bring her alive!"

    "Yes, sir."

    The Aesir joined in on the attack. They were splitting up with the same goal.

    Meanwhile, the space knights immediately dashed towards the shattered, fallen apart battlefield of the maind. He really wanted to return to his home alive after sessfullypleting an impossible job.

    CLANK! SWISH!

    King Tolith''s sword had just been thrown away from his grasp when the half-moon human magus powerfully mmed it down using a sword that had been coated in magicbined with advanced technology.

    Even the Elf''s weapon made by the best cksmith like thete Master Laryl was not strong enough to defeat him in a collision.

    And right before King Tolith cast a new magic spell at the enemy, the enemy''s de suddenly pierced his heart.

    STAB!

    The king couldn''t do anything but try to pull out the de as his body grew weaker. His heart had already been crushed, and even though he had an immortal body, the injuries he received were too severe.

    There was no way he could survive.

    "This is your end, arrogant elf!"

    One by one, the strongest elf ally who came to help the war began to fall and lose their lives. All that was left was Tobias, and he was still trying to beat the full moon magus until hisst drop of blood.

    "We need to stop. I don''t want you to die!"

    The full moon magus suddenly flew high in the air and shouted in a very loud voice, making the war suddenly stop to listen to him.

    "We need to stop this war. I don''t want any more human blood to be spilt."

    "We didn''te here to kill humans."

    "If you are human, then you are on our side. We don''t kill innocent people. We kill elves. And together, we will seed."

    Meanwhile, hiding inside the base while keeping an eye on the war,

    La, Tristan''s sister, was already very restless and wanted to quickly escape from the base to help the Arcadian and elves ally which were decreasing in number.

    However, Commander Cecilia of the Starlight army continued to block the girl''s path.

    "We will lose. I have to get out!" La shouted, annoyed because she was repeatedly rejected by her guards.

    "I am afraid that I will not allow you to do that."

    "Come on, Cecilia. I can help them! I have learned magic skills this whole time. They need me!" La was still trying to force it. She grabbed Commander Cecilia''s hands tight.

    "No is no."

    "Ugh! God, please!" La was getting more and more frustrated with themander''s decision.

    For a moment, she thought to just lunge at her, but before she did that,

    Someone joined them in the headquarters.

    Captain Siegfried.

    "We need to evacuate you to another ce, Miss La. I heard the Asgardian ordering their man to find you."

    "Find me? But¨Cwhy?"

    Right before Captain Siegfried''s answer, an ear-splitting explosive sound came from the base''s only door.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    Three Aesir of Asgardian appeared in front of them.

    "We found her."

 Chapter 406 Regroup

    Tristan was standing in front of a space knight who had been on his side all along, Captain Siegfried.

    He came with a Kingsde, Captain Rayna, in a body covered with wounds and told what happened at Arcadia.

    But it wasn''t just the defeat of the elves in Arcadia that had taken Tristan by surprise,

    "I''ve tried hard to save your Sister, my lord Monarch. But the Aesir is very strong, especially with the space knights helping them," exined Captain Siegfried, regretting his inability this time.

    "What the fuck! How did this happen?"

    Tristan got emotional and said,

    "I need to get La back, I have to make them pay for what they did to Master Laryl and the others!"

    Tristan couldn''t control his burning anger until his body temperature suddenly increased drastically.

    He paced back and forth in ce, trying to control himself and clear his mind. It seemed that the figure of a powerful enemy had arrived. He could not be careless.

    Meanwhile, Illiana also just received the information that Dios, the dark elve elder she trusted the most, was killed in the attack of the space knights who came with the Asgardians too.

    Even though anger and thirst for revenge were swirling in her mind, Illiana tried to think rationally and gave Tristan her positive energy.

    "Tristan, calm down. We can''t be careless. No one ever thought that the Space knight would get reinforcements from the Arcadians. We have to strategize to counter their attacks and get Arcadia back."

    Illiana grabbed Tristan''s hands and told him something important.

    Tristan stopped and looked at his wife. He tried to clear his mind of the fiery anger.

    At least he knew that the Asgardian Aesir ordered his men to capture La alive.

    "What the fuck do they want with my sister!"

    He still couldn''t be hasty to counterattack without knowing what the Aesir want with La. Especially if the space knights were ready to back up the Asgardian troops there.

    "What about my army of Orcs?"

    "Thest thing I heard about the orcs was, they''ve returned to Carleon." answered the Kingsde with certainty.

    "Where are the elves who survived the attack?" Queen Leena looked very worried, as she was very sure that many wood elves were at the scene of the war when the attack came.

    "ording to the n, they fled into the Evergreen Forest, to Vanyar."

    Hearing that answer, Queen Leena turned to Tristan again for the advice.

    "We need more power, the orcs are far from enogh. Let''s go back to the forest and gather the army."

    Kolvar the high elve Elder added,

    "I will help, I will prepare the high elve army here. Since the king still hadn''te, the people of high elves must trust in me,"

    He knew that the elves were facing a crisis together, and that meant, providing as much power as possible could increase the chances of victory for the elves.

    Tristan nodded in understanding. The fall of hundreds of powerful elves saints and magus in Arcadia had shown that the strength of the enemy could not be underestimated.

    Moreover, with the strongest elve magus like King Castian, King Vizier, and Can gone, his strength might not be enough. They''re magus who was already united with the Aesir of Asgardian.

    Tristan was sure that the Aesir Legacy they were looking for was also involved in the attack. King Castian and the others would definitely return soon.

    But first, he had to do something to tell them.

    "You are right. But first, after sending us to Vanyar, I ordered you to go to Asgardiannd and find the Elven kings. Tell them what happened, then ask them to gather at the Carleon." Tristan spoke to the captain of the Kingsde.

    "Yes, sir."

    Illiana added "I will return home and prepare the dark elves. You should go say hello to the Arcadia survivors in the forest, Tristan. I''ll see youter," The girl already knew what her part of the n was without being given orders first.

    "I am counting on you, Illiana, Kolvar. We need to unite our power."<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "Understood."

    After a quick discussion, Tristan, Queen Leena, King Ivaasar, and Levi got into the spaceship ne driven by pilot Zoe. Tristan was feeling relieved because his favourite pilot survived the attack of the Spaceknights.

    Together they flew to Evergreen forest to meet those who had survived the attack while preparing a new, bigger force to take revenge and reim the city of Arcadia.

    "Why is the timing so bad?" Tristan thought, still thinking about La''s fate, which had fallen into Aesir''s hands.

    After arriving at the Evergreen forest area, Tristan immediately rushed out and saw how the Vanyar kingdom was filled with ousted elves.

    The Vanyar Kingdom looked a lot busier than usual, and its charm was greatly reduced. He could hear the pained howls of the Arcadians who were injured but managed to escape and survive. He could smell the very thick smell of blood from all directions.

    Queen Leena also did not expect to see the situation in her kingdom. Now, it looked very much different after being left on an expedition for only a few days.

    "I''ve never seen anything like this before," said the queen and left Tristan to check on the men.

    Captain Rayna and Captain Siegfried had left Vanyar to find the whereabouts of the strongest magus level elves using spaceships ording to Tristan''s orders.

    Meanwhile, Tristan was just walking around, looking at the pathetic people of Arcadia.

    Most of them seemed to still get healing magic from the wood elves who were gathered there to help. There were not only the wood elves from Vanyar but the three wood elven kingdoms in the forest, including the Ithilien Kingdom and the Mirkwood Kingdom.

    He decided one thing, that the surprise attacks by the space knights and Asgardians werepletely unforgivable.

    "What exactly has happened here," Levi mumbled anxiously at his surroundings. He couldn''t believe that all of this was real, the elves looked hurt and needed help.

    Until then, the two of them saw the king from the Mirkwood Kingdom walking quickly toward them. The mere presence of King Hdar in Vanyar had proven that something really serious was going on.

    King Hdar looked much better than before, he purposely came to the Vanyar kingdom to help the elven refugees from Arcadia with his much-needed healing powers.

    "What about the expedition? How did you get out of that mist? Gosh, In the Name of Ancestor! Levi? Is this really real? Is this you, Levi?" King Hdar couldn''t stop attacking those who had just returned with all kinds of questions.

    However, what he was waiting for the most, was the answer to how Levi, who had lost his life, coulde back alive and unscathed.

    "The blood elf monarch had raised me from the dead, King Hdar. He even created a new immortal body for me to perfection. I couldn''t believe it at first either. But, yes, my king, this is me. I am d to see you here again."

    Although not knowing how this happened, King Hdar immediately gave the young wood elve a warm hug in front of him as if he was weing the return of his son, who had been found dead in the castle.

    Tristan walked away, not wanting to disturb a family reunion. He continued to circle the elves who were injured. He tried to find an important figure from Arcadia that he knew, but he didn''t see the person he was looking for.

    Next, he decided to go to the top floor of the castle and observe from the balcony.

    "I can even hear their pained voices from here."

    Meanwhile, King Ivaasar was still worried about his daughter, who he could not find anywhere. However, when he was looking at those who were evacuating and needed help, he finally found the beautiful figure he had been looking for so much, busy giving care to those in need.

    Princess Serene.

    The king approached the princess with a much calmer feeling.

    "Serene, ... it''s really you... you are here!"

    Hearing her name being called by the voice of a man she knew very well, Serene immediately stood up and saw who had juste to greet her.

    "Father?!" Serene really couldn''t believe her eyes. So without thinking, she jumped up to give her father a very tight hug.

    "How could this be? You''re still alive??!" Serene couldn''t help but cry from happiness.

    "This is a miracle!" he eximed happily.

    Tristan saw the meeting and felt happy, he himself had never had parents, so this show of happiness was quite touching for him. But at this time, his feelings were still filled with anger over what had happened to Arcadia. That was why he decided not to disturb them and went to one of the Vanyar pce rooms to calm down.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 407 Bond

    Tristan was standing on the balcony in his room on the second floor of the Vanyar royal pce, staring at the hall that looked very full due to the refugees from the Arcadia Kingdom. The wounds they received were not only imprinted on their bodies and skin, but also mentally on those who were not prepared to lose their homes like that.

    Tristan''s body trembled as he tried to contain the overwhelming emotions in his mind.

    Seeing Arcadia''s people fall in the hall below made Tristan''s heart ache. He never thought that the space knights would still be able to defeat the special forces of his country, much less the cooperation of those space knights and Asgardians.

    Tristan gripped the sturdy marble railing of the balcony in front of him. Due to the amount of strength he gripped it with, his hardened hands had managed to create a slight crack in the rock.

    "This should have never happened," he muttered in a trembling voice.

    His mind drifted back to thinking about his little sister. He couldn''t imagine her fate after falling into the hands of those space knights and Asgardians.

    His heart was filled with anger. He wanted to me everyone who wasn''t strong enough to fight them and protect his sister, but he was self-aware that he was not present when it happened.

    "I won''t let them die in peace after what they did."

    Tristan tried to close his eyes as his chest started to rise and fall and his body temperature rose drastically. Still, he tried to restrain himself with everything he had.

    At the peak of his anger, someone slowly opened the door of Tristan''s room.

    Only one person would dare to enter his room without his permission. His wife, Serene.

    Tristan turned to greet his wife, who looked at him with a faint smile.

    While the woman''s eyes were looking straight at him, Tristan didn''t know how to react. His body was still shaking from the burning emotion, and his hands were still tightly clenched, even trembling a little.

    Serene walked over to Tristan and stood in front of him.

    "Tristan, I came to say my gratitude for saving my father''s life," she sincerely said. Her voice was very soft, just as soft as her gaze.

    In Tristan''s eyes, Serene always looked as beautiful as a goddess, and because he was still feeling emotional, he only gave a smile upon hearing his woman''s words.

    But before Serene even saw Tristan''s smile, the woman aproached and swiftly hug him tightly.

    At that moment, Tristan could feel a strange feeling surfacing from inside him. Slowly, the beautiful figure''s feelings reconnected with his soul from the bonding power that existed between them, and as if it was absorbing his emotions, Tristan began to feel a little calmer.

    "I thought that you were still mad, Serene," Tristan said in a soft voice.

    He did not hear a word of response from her, but he could feel the slight shaking of her head as Serene tightened her embrace.

    "Let''s not talk about that¡­ no matter what¡­ you are still my husband¡­"

    "All right."

    The woman then let go of her arms to look at Tristan with a deeper gaze, as if she wanted to read what was hidden inside her husband''s head.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    Even Tristan couldn''t hide his feelings for Serene.

    The things that caused the turbulence in his mind, Serene could see them all.

    "Tristan, we will fight them back. We will make them pay," Serene said while squeezing Tristan''s big hands.

    "And we will definitely get your sister back. She''ll definitely be fine. They won''t do anything bad to her. Trust me."

    Serene''s beautiful eyes earnestly looked at Tristan and touched his cheek with her soft hand, it was as if she was able to absorb the negative energy within him.

    Tristan closed his eyes and felt Serene''s warm andforting touch.

    He needed some peace of mind, and Serene, the beautiful goddess-like elf, was giving it to him.

    With the katra and elf bond that had formed between him and Serene, Tristan could feel the touch of Serene''s presence nearby without actually touching her body.

    The sound of her soft breath in Tristan''s ears was like a beautiful song, her fragrant and slightly sweet scent was like a perfume that soothed his soul, and even hearing Serene''s heartbeat made him feel tranquil.

    Once again, Tristan admired the power of katra. There was no stronger feeling than thebination of the two.

    He opened his eyes again and was greeted by Serene''s beautiful face lifted to look straight into his eyes. Those beautiful eyes seemed to be covered with ayer of water, and as she blinked, tears began to roll down her cheek.

    "Serene." Tristan didn''t know why the woman suddenly started to cry like that.

    He rubbed Serene''s cheeks back and wiped her tears.

    "What happened?"

    "I can now understand how you feel, truly." Serene touched Tristan''s chest with her slender index finger and continue "I was angry when you marry her¡­ it made me realized how much my heart has grown for you¡­ now what you did to my father.. To my family¡­ Tristan.. I.. am sorry.. Please if you would take me... I will be your wife¡­ your Venti.. Now and forever"

    Tristan was moved, he pressed his forehead against Serene''s, pulling her gently to him. He could feel the touch of Serene''s breath against his face, giving him warmth.

    At that moment, Tristan grab the woman into his arm and kissed her soft lips.

    Serene''s lips felt much softer and He started softly biting her lower lip and let Serene touch his upper lip more intensely.

    The air that enveloped the two had turned warm and the rhythm of their breathing quickened.

    Tristan could feel Serene''s warm breath brushing against his cheek, and the tip of her nose was slightly cold the first time it touched his skin.

    Tristan stop for a moment, look her in the eyes and give answer to her question

    "Serene¡­ you are my wife.. my venti.. Now and forever"

 Chapter 408 Love

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Serene raised her head to kiss Tristan, and this time, Tristan could feel how that kiss felt very meaningful as if there was a weight attached to it when Serene kissed him.

    Tristan started to hear the sound of her heart. It was beating in Serene''s chest, slowly increasing.

    He lowered his hand to touch Serene''s slender neck, it was soft and warm.

    He could feel the pulse very clearly under that thin skin. He could even feel the blood rushing on her vein.

    Serene suddenly stopped and rubbed her head on Tristan with her eyes closed.

    Her face colour had turned red.

    Her hands had moved around Tristan''s neck and stayed there.

    Then she lifted her head to look back into Tristan''s eyes, she smiled sincerely and said

    "Tristan¡­ I want you to make love to me once again."

    Tristan gave a smile at those words. That smile made Serene''s face blush even more, and so she pulled Tristan''s neck to kiss him one more time.

    For now, Tristan just wanted to shake off all the distractions in his mind. While doing so, he could focus on the goddess before him.

    Tristan picked up Serene and pulled her onto the bed, kissed, and gave Serene a soft bite, from her lips to the tip of her chin, to her neck and then eventually, to her chest.

    He could feel Serene''s body shaking asionally under his treatment, so he pulled a grip on her arm as he kissed the sensitive part of her body.

    After giving an intimate touch, he then removed the beautiful flower dress she was wearing, solely to free the plumpy yet soft breast of Serene.

    Although it was not her first time, her face turned flushed when Tristan started to touch that tips of hers with his fingertips. She could not help but be unable to hide the wonderful sensations jolting through her body from Tristan''s handiwork.

    Seeing his wife seemed to really enjoy every touch, Tristan didn''t stop for a second. He continued to fully undress her, and once again, he observed the beauty of Serene''s body that did not change a bit. The real-life goddess.

    "You are truly a work of art."

    Serene enjoys Tristan''splement. She could hear the pure love of his in his words.

    Her mission tofort her husband would bepletely sessful.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "Let our bond be stronger than before,"

    Tristan was lowering his body to pin the princess on the bed. Their skin was finally able to touch one another without anything separating in between. The smooth unblemished figure and the hard muscr body joined as one.

    He once again let his tongue and teeth give a wet kiss on her beautiful body, traveling from her neck, to her plumpy soft breast. And then, he gave a little bite on the upper part of her cute belly button. The touch would not stop there, he continued to travel to the right, near her navel and every touch of him left visible marks on her goddess skin.

    "Ahh¨CTristan," she started to call his name with her soft voice.

    Tristan''s fingers were already traveling down to the most sensitive part of Serene, giving a tease on her inner thigh. It was so that the mound between her legs began to glisten with a clear fluid that she couldn''t control.

    Every single touch given by Tristan to her body made her want him to continue what he was doing by using his fingers and tongue on her sensitive part, making her body shudder.

    She could not stop her moaning voice and even calling him by name more frequently. It turned Tristan on so much that the desire was going to explode from his body.

    He started to ce his knee between her legs. Then, he inserted his hard shaft into her wet honeypot, gently. The sensation sent a sudden jolt of strange but satisfactory pleasure careening through their bodies.

    "Aahhhh"

    Serene couldn''t help but feel the sensation that made her feel incredible. She bit her lips and hugged Tristan on his neck. She could only feel an amazing sensation, from her breast that was being pampered alternately by his lips and hands, to the most sensitive core of her body, that was feeling the joy from his throbbing manhood as he thrust his body into hers.

    She could no longer hold it and screamed in pleasure.

    Serene bit her lips to try holding the joy sensations from his touch, but she couldn''t hide her face that was turning red just like it had be overheated.

    Because of Katra, the pleasure Tristan got was doubled. It was incredibly so that he could enjoy every friction within his wife''s body.

    Both Tristan and Serene believed that their bodies'' union at this time would be a memorable moment in their rtionship. So, they earnestly enjoy each intense warm touch when their body was connected tight.

    After three hours of the intimate connection, Tristan gave her his hot release until her core was filled up. Tristan smiled when he saw the satisfied expression on his wife''s face, whose body was already covered with sweat. Both of them were very satisfied.

    He kissed her forehead beforeying his body next to her.

    And the beautiful goddess herself turned to move her head to Tristan''s chest as she lifted her face to look at Tristan before pulling him in a very tight hug.

    "I... I feel I can finally be myself around you... i love you"

    Tristan smiled at his wife''s confession. It was clear that the woman showed how she was still notpletely acknowledging his second marriage.

    "I''m d to hear it, Serene"

    The twoy together embracing each other, at that moment Tristan has almost forgotten all the worries outside the room. Until he felt a figure approaching, walking down the hall. And it was obvious who they were looking for.

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

 Chapter 409 Saved

    Tristan could tell that the person who was pounding on the door of the room was the queen of Vanyar, Queen Leena.

    Serene was surprised by the loud noise. But Tristan knew that Queen Leena would not interfere with his time with Serene if it wasn''t for something very important that cannot be missed.

    Tristan slowly put his pants back on and walked towards the door to wee Queen Leena.

    The queen of Vanyar was seen a little tenser than usual as she said

    "We found Elroth, The Forlorn Prince, in the forest, dying. His wound was just too much. I am afraid that he can''t hold it any longer unless maybe you can save him."

    Tristan immediately remembered the figure of the Prince from the wood elve the Forlorn Kingdom. He had given him the assignment to be his representative as the leader of the Forlorn kingdom as long as Tristan could not be there. He still desperately needed him alive.

    "Bring me to him."

    Tristan looked at Serene, who was wearing a nket to cover her body. The woman looked worried after hearing the news conveyed by her mother. When Tristan looked at her, Serene only gave a nod in support.

    Queen Leena walk away with Tristan to the lower floor, the pce hall, which was already filled with refugees with various types of injuries. Whether it was physical injuries or mental wounds from losing their home and country.

    From a distance, Tristan could see King Hdar and King Ivaasar swarming around a figure lying on the floor with the other wood elves.

    The figure lying on the floor was Elroth, the Forlorn Prince.

    "I have used my best healing spell, but his condition is too severe, it has affected his core" said King Hdar to Tristan, who had just arrived.

    King Ivaasar also gave the same reaction, as if to show that he too had tried, but to no avail because Elroth was nearing his end.

    Tristan could see in his chest that a speck of light was trying to escape. Prince Elroth''s eyes stared nkly.

    Elroth really was dying with a body that was torn apart with wounds.

    He lost one hand, one ear, and the toes on his feet were ck as if they had been scorched. The magus he had just faced must be unbelievably strong that Tristan couldn''t imagine the excruciating pain his trusted confidant was in.

    Without waiting any longer, Tristan did what he should have done from the start.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Extraction]

    Tristan extracted the blood elf''s blood that was in his own body, so that very thick blood clots scrambled out through his body. The high-quality blood of the blood elf monarch seemed to move around the shattered helpless body on the floor.

    In a short time, it was as if the blood was absorbed into the body. And the effects were instantly visible. New ears began to slowly recreate, perfectly forming from blood cells. Blood cells from Tristan seeded in creating new bone, muscle, flesh, and blood vessels in the missing hands and toes.

    Within seconds, Elroth''s body looked as if back to normal, all open wounds had closedpletely. Even his scars that weren''t from the war against the space knights had disappeared with them. And his skin now looked like that of a newborn. wless.

    Tristan could hear some of the people watching the scene breathe a sigh of relief after seeing the speck of soul light in Elroth''s chest had returned to his heart.

    And slowly, his eyes refocused, and he looked surprised because people surrounded him with worried looks.

    "What just happened? Ahhh-- my king, my monarch."

    "I still need you, Elroth. I won''t let you die just like that," said Tristan.

    "Did you just save me once again? My King, I don''t know how I can repay your kindness."

    "Just fight with me and the army."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After healing Elroth, Tristan realized that Elroth''s strength alone was still not enough to defeat the space knights who had teamed up with the Asgardians.

    That way, Tristan knew what he had to do. At least for people he could rely on, like Elroth, he had to help increase the strength of the elve magus so he could take revenge in the war that would soone.

    And also Serene. If Elroth of the Forlorn Kingdom got destroyed to this extent, then even Serene''s warrior strength would need to get an increase before he let her fight with him.

    After speaking in the previous room, Tristan was sure that Serene would do anything to stay involved in the war to help him defeat the space knights and get his sister back. And forbidding a woman who had been determined to help him was not an easy thing to do.

    Even so, increasing the strength of two elve magus at once required a lot of capital. He still needed a lot of blood essence to do it, as well as to make the initial capital for the uing war.

    "I will do something to you." Tristan again pointed his hand at Elroth, who was now able to stand on his two feet.

    With his Blood seal upgraded and the Blood mastery, he know he finally could break the wall and push a person into a magus realm.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Seal]

    [Male elf level has been sessfully Augmented]

    [Crescent moon stage Magus]

    Elroth could notice the increase in strength in his body, after years of trying, to his surprise his Lord monarch easily turn him into a magus. Elorth quickly stood and kneeled in front of I''m

    "I will dly give my life for you Lord"

    Tristan casually replied

    "Help me by finding me more blood."

    "Dead humans, elves, or beasts. If you find one, bring it to me."

    Tristan decided to wander around the hall to look for people or elves who had fallen from the war. He was sure that some of them must have died, even though they had managed to run and hide in the Evergreen Forest.

    And sure enough, the wood elves who were tasked with healing the refugees had done a great job. But they couldn''t save everyone.

    Every time someone died, the wood elves carried their bodies to a ce outside the castle, where they might be crematedter, so they didn''t be a source of disease.

    There was a pile of corpses. Some of which looked very fresh, and Tristan stood before the pile and raised his right hand to do what he should have done.

    He would not waste a single drop of blood that had been spilt.

    "My people of Arcadia, I will use your blood to gain victory. I promise."

    [Blood Extraction]

    [Mixed quality blood has been extracted]

    [low-quality blood has been extracted]

    [high-quality blood has been extracted]

    [48,510 blood essence has been obtained]

 Chapter 410 Allies

    Tristan managed to get nearly 50,000 additional blood essence from the corpses of humans and elves who were victims of the previous Spaceknight and Asgardian attacks.

    [Blood essence: 64,210]

    After seeing the total blood essence that was avable and making sure that not a single drop of blood was wasted, Tristan walked back into the hall.

    Every second that ran right now was a very crucial moment. Although it was clear that there were still many victims who needed help, he knew that he had to prepare for war immediately as the enemy definitely won''t stop with Arcadia.

    "Serene!" Tristan saw his wife back in a dress with a beautiful flower ornament.

    With everything that going on, all the iing threats he once again thinks about the people he cares about.

    "Serene, stay put." his order was heeded by Serene, who looked confused.

    Tristan raised his hand and prepared for his spells.

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Seal]

    [Augmentation]

    [Augmenting the target requires 10,000 blood essence]

    Tristan wishes to increase the strength of Serene who was still at the level of a saint elven warrior. She needed greater strength so that the possibility of survival of his wife increased ifter she would get involved in the war. And that was something Tristan could do for now.

    "Yes"

    Blood mist suddenly emerged from Tristan''s body and then crawled through the still air, moving around Serene''s body who was looking confused.

    However, once the blood mist had obscured his vision from Serene, Tristan could feel a significant development of energy from the woman''s body. His efforts had been sessful. And the blood mist disappeared again.

    [Target sessfully Augmented]

    Now it left Serene, whose skin looked even more radiant and her two round eyes reflected a brighter light than before. She looked very fresh.

    [A female elf''s power has been increased]

    [Crescent Moon stage Magus]

    "Tristan, what just happened?... this... this is..." Serene moved her two hands which felt different, and her body too. She spun in front of Tristan as if she were dancing.

    "Congrattions, you are now a Magus Level Elf," Tristan exined.

    If increasing the number of troops was impossible to do instantly, then Tristan preferred to increase the strength of those who were ready to fight against the enemy.

    Serene''s eyes widened at the answer from Tristan between disbelief and admiration for her husband''s ability. The strange sensation all over her body while going through the period of increasing the strength that Tristan did had now disappeared. She patted her own cheeks while facing the ss to see her own reflection.

    "This is amazing!" she said, enjoying her new power, which was definitely different from before.

    "Serene, I need to gather all the leaders of wood elves. Tell them to meet me in the meeting room."

    Hearing Tristan''s words and the very serious expression on his face, Serene nodded briskly before turning away to follow his wishes.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Momentster, the leaders of the four wood elves'' kingdoms hade into the meeting room where Tristan was waiting.

    They were King Ivaasar, Queen Leena, and Princess Serene of the Vanyar Kingdom.

    King Hdar and Levi from the Mirkwood Kingdom.

    Elroth of the Forlorn Kingdom represented Tristan, who was already considered a legitimate king of the wood elves'' kingdom.

    And thest one was an elder named Dun who was the brother of the king of the Ithilien kingdom who had died on the battlefield. He came alone because his people were busy helping the healing process of those who were still injured.

    "I am to discuss how we are to deal with the invaders, they have taken over Arcadia, but we know their main target are the elves"

    Tristan began to speak, and those present at the impromptu meeting listened, responding with a nod of their heads.

    "We have to be prepared. The enemy can attack at any time, and won''t stand a chance unless we unite our power."

    "I agree with you," King Ivaasar confirmed.

    They all agreed that Tristan''s statement was true and there was no time to rx.

    "How much power do we have? I need a number, how many of you can join for war?" Tristan propped himself up, on arge stone table in the middle of them.

    "1700 troops from the Vanyar kingdom are ready for battle. Some of the others have to stay here to treat the injured." Queen Leena clearly had faith in the numbers she mentioned.

    "We have more than 1300 troops from our Forlorn Kingdom who are ready to fight," Elroth exined, as he had be a fairly good representative.

    "We will win this war, Ithilien will mobilize the entire army to avenge the death of the king, my brother. 2000 elves ready for battle" Elder Dun had clenched his fists in anger.

    "I will invite the entire Mirkwood army to fight, the power we have is immense. There are 3000 plus troops ready to wipe out the Asgardians and the space knights." King Hdar was willing to send his entire army to help Tristan fight and win Arcadia back after the blood elf''s actions that meant a lot to him.

    Tristan smiled, 8,000 elves will join the battle.

    However, still, to win a great war like this, quality was more important than quantity. With a full moon magus and two half-moon magus in the opposing camp joining the Aesir and the Legacy, Tristan felt responsible if the troops that had been handed over to him wouldter fall.

    More than 8000 troops of wood elves were ready to fight. With the addition of the strength of the orcs, dark elves, and high elves, Tristan was certain that his army was far more numerous than the opponent.

    Knowing that Tristan felt that he could breathe a sigh of relief. Furthermore, he had nned something.

    Again, in a major war, the quality of troop strength was far more important than quantity. And as for him, he had nned to increase the strength of those saints. Especially those who could be relied on with their unquestionable fighting experience.

    "Serene, bring them into this room."

    Serene walked towards the wooden door to call out to the person standing behind it, outside the room.

    Three figures who were ready, standing behind the door walked in and joined the meeting room of the wood elves'' leaders.

    They were Tristan''s Elven masters.

 Chapter 411 Magus Elves

    ?

    The short blue-haired elf woman was Master Te, the serious expression on her face at this time showing her determination to participate in the imminent war. A longbow arched beautifully behind her back, the trunk was a metallic blue colour that could reflect light. She was a teacher of the art of arrows.

    Next to her was an elven man with a body filled with muscles. On both arms, there were prominent veins. He carried arge sword behind his back. Master Haldir, Tristan''s swordmaster.

    Thest one was an agile female elf with a slender body. At her waist was pinned a pair of daggers that gleamed because they were made of rare minerals. She was Tristan''s dagger dance master, Master Myrin.

    Tristan had asked Serene to call the three of them to the meeting he was having.

    Because the three of them were meritorious to him, Tristan had also prepared a gift before the leader of the Vanyar kingdom ordered them to fight on the battlefield.

    The three masters have now acknowledged the sess of their disciple, who was much stronger than themselves by giving him a sign of respect.

    "This is my gratitude for teaching me"

    [Blood Mastery - Blood Seal]

    [Augmentation]

    "This is amazing! I can feel new power in my body!" Master Te checked out her upgraded body and power. She touched the skin on her hands and stretched her body.

    "Tristan, this is such an honor. With this power, I will avenge those who died from the war."

    Tristan smiled with satisfaction after sessfully increasing the strength of the three elven masters who were standing in front of him. He gave gratitude because they had contributed.

    "We will avenge Master Laryl''s death."

    Meanwhile, the leaders of the wood elves, who had never seen how Tristan could increase the power of the elves, couldn''t believe what they had just witnessed.

    "With The Blood Monarch with us, I believe that we will win." Elroth was very confident in giving public praise of the strength of the person he admired so much, a savior for his life, as he had repeatedly almost faced a painful death.

    "Prepare all of your troops, and we will gather at Carleon. I will bring my orcs army and the others. We have to win this war." Tristan calmly looked back at the leaders of the wood elves one by one. They nodded.

    However, before the meeting was officially dissolved. Someone enters the meeting room hurriedly.

    It seemed something had happened because no one could dare to interfere with the important meeting of the royal leaders if there were no urgent matters to take care of.

    And sure enough, a wood elve came along with a man, it was Seth, thencerpanion which supposed to stay in Carleon.

    "What happened?" Tristan looked straight into the eyes of the Lancer.

    "Carleon City is under attack. Asgardians. They came together with the Aesir."

    "What?!"

    Tristan knew that something like this would happen soon, but he didn''t expect it to happen this quickly.

    "How many?" Tristan asked.

    "Several thousands of them, the orcs warchief have been fighting since morning. We need a backup"

    Hearing the information given by Seth, Tristan had to quickly take action before another city that belonged to him would be taken by the Asgardians and space knights.

    "I wille with you" interrupted King Ivaasar suddenly standing up from his seat.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I really appreciate it, King Ivaasar. However, it''s best if you stay here with the eleven Army, I feel much better if you stay with them."

    Bringing a full moon magus like King Ivaasar will help a lot to defeat the Asgardians who are attacking Carleon City. However, Tristan knew his choice was wiser, the elves after all the space knight''s main target.

    "All right, Listen up. We stick to the n. Gather all the troops from your kingdoms. While Levi, my masters, and I will go to Carleon City."

    "Let''s Win the final war together!"

    All the important officials in the wood elve kingdom had stood up and nodded firmly.

    This very important meeting was finally disbanded. All the kings who have got their respective duties to prepare troops immediately carry out their duties.

    Meanwhile, Tristan, Levi, Master Te, Master Haldir, and Master Myrin were about to leave for Carleon.

    They rushed back leaving the castle.

    But¨C

    "I will go with you!" Serene was already running after Tristan, who had walked quickly out of the pce. She looked very eager to participate in the battle this time.

    However, Tristan would not let her be in danger.

    "You help me prepare here and catch up with the others. We''ll meet again at Carleon." it was clear that Tristan had not changed his unanimous decision in the slightest.

    Serene couldn''t help but take a deep breath and looked at Tristan with a worried look.

    Seeing this, Tristan took the time to kiss his wife''s forehead gently to calm her down.

    "Don''t worry, I can''t die," Tristan said, then turned to leave.

    Outside the royal pce of Vanyar, the ship firefly was already waiting for him to leave. Captain Siegfried and The Kingsde warrior greet us as there ready for an order.

    On the other side of the ne, Nara and Nora, who had changed form like humans, immediately rose from their seats on a tree branch when they saw Tristaning.

    "We''re going to Carleon to fight."

    Hearing orders from the Monarch, Zoe the copilot of the ship immediately reactivated the engine.

    Tristan and the others walked into the ship, while Nara and Nora again transformed into two giant dragons.

    "Dragons?" Master Te''s eyes lit up as she saw the dragon transformation before her.

    WOOSH!

    A spaceship with two dragons on both sides like guardians sped through the air at full speed.

    By flight, it only took them an hour to reach the skies above Carleon City.

    From a distance, Tristan could see the big figures, the war chiefs, and orcs champions were fighting desperately to defend the area of ??Carleon City. Their bodies were covered in wounds and covered in blood.

    The closer he got, the clearer Tristan could see. He then clenched his fists that were shaking with anger, "Barbarians."

 Chapter 412 Caerleon Battle

    ?

    A few hours ago, back in Caerleon City¡­

    With the aid of the Caerleon City defense system that has been improved by the people sent by Tristan before, Uriel, the fat elf, was informed about someone trying to enter the city by force. The detection machine and radar let out a resounding rm that pierced his ears.

    Wooong!

    Wooong!

    "What happened, Sir Uriel?" a human warrior who was in the room quickly mmed the door open after hearing the rm.

    Just like that warrior, Uriel was shocked when he heard the rm noises.

    Right now, the Caerleon City guard tower was lively. The people in charge of Caerleon City''s security, including those who were currently off duty, all went to the main hall of the guard tower.

    As the one given the responsibility to maintain one of the cities in Arcadia, of course Uriel reached the main hall first and waited for the others toe. Within seconds after he arrived, the door swung open, and many people flooded in.

    "What happened?" Commander Galzef asked. He already wore his armor, as he was on duty of guarding the Security Department when the rm resounded.

    "The barbarians are attacking from the direction of the Chaotic ins, and they brought a lot of forces with them. It looked like they were trying to flood the horizon," Uriel activated the state of the artputer on the room. It looked like a circr table.

    On theputer screen, the barbarians have all gathered. As far as the eyes could see, there was an endless sea of barbarians running across the insplete with their gs. From the camera footage, there were at least seven different gs.

    "How many soldiers do we have right now?" Uriel stared at the leaders of Caerleon City guards with eyes full of hope. Sweat was already running down his back and face.

    Commander Galzef, the one in charge of training the guardians of Caerleon City spoke and told Uriel of their current strength,plete with what weapons they have managed to develop since Tristan led them and introduced a much better technology.

    [Residents: 4320]

    [Guards: 1510]

    [Adventurer: 185]

    They have learned from the past war, and as such, half of the residents of Caerleon City have all been given some training inbat in preparation for this war to happen.

    In other words, in Caerleon City, they have around 3000bat ready soldiers to fight the barbarians. Meanwhile, the weapons they possess, created with the aid of the wood elves, could only be given to half of them.

    None of them expected the barbarians to attack again this quickly. Not to mention, this time they came with a massive force.

    "But, we still have orcs," Commander Galzef added, marking the end of his exnation.

    Uriel did another quick count of the forces Caerleon City could muster, andpared it to the rough number of barbarians who came to storm the city.

    Yet again, he was sure, their forces was not enough.

    Not to mention the fact that due to ack of weapons, more than 50 percent of the forces they could muster has to fight the barbarians with ordinary mining tools.

    Thinking about it only made Uriel suffer a headache. He took out the long distancemunication tool he has to contact the king, Tristan. However, try as he might, Uriel was unable to get a hold of Tristan.

    This is certainly a difficult situation. He has to do something right now, and he has to be quick. Otherwise, both him and the Caerleon City will meet their end.

    "Galzef, ready the troops! Invite everyone to fight, we have to stall for time. Gather the soldiers you could muster at the gate."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Alright, I will talk to the orcs."

    With that, the meeting between the higher ups was adjourned. Uriel quickly stormed out of the room in search of the two people who were not present and order them to talk to the orcs. He was unsure that he could convince the orcs by himself.

    The two people who could help him are the fire witch and the barbarian fighter strong enough to convince the orcs ¨C Herrera and Astrid.

    On the way, Uriel met them. It seems they were in a hurry to go to the guard tower.

    "What happened?" Herrera seemed confused. Uriel gave her a quick breakdown of what happened, including what is happening right now.

    With that, they quickly rushed to the orcs'' residence. They did not expect to see the orcs have all gathered. Their noisy cries could be heard all over Caerleon City.

    CHIWIK!

    Before Uriel managed to pass the news about the barbarians'' attack, Karra have gathered the orcs'' warchief. The three has no idea what they were celebrating. Did they already hear about the barbarians'' attack?

    "Elf! Human!" the orcs who saw Uriel, Herrera, and Astrid shouted with an annoyed expression.

    Karra, the female orc Tristan have trusted to help manage the Blood Warrior tribe in his absence, turned around to see who hade.

    "Karra, what happened?" Uriel asked with a slightly awkward expression to the orc woman. Despite the fact that she''s a woman, she possesses a massive body along with skin harder than rocks. Of course Uriel doesn''t want to run afoul of such a strong woman.

    "Nothing, we were just celebrating."

    Uriel tilted his head in confusion, but that was not important. He needed to pass the news to Karra, as she was the only orc who could understand hisnguage. He quickly ryed that the barbarians were marching from the direction of Chaotic ins.

    Karra proceeded to trante the information given by Uriel.

    "Guk Tar! My orc warriors! We will fight soon. This fat elf has told me that the barbarians areing in a few minutes!"

    CHIWIK!

    "Fight!"

    "Fight!"

    "Fight!"

    The orcs all shouted louder than before, as if the news of the attack was something worth celebrating. After all, they were creatures who live and die for wars.

    "Guk Tar! Karra! Will Chief Goluge and fight with us today?" the high orc warchief, Gundal, asked.

    Once again, Karra asked to Uriel. Meanwhile, the orcs were already celebrating wildly, as they were stomping their feet in the tune of a war drum. The ground they stood on even started to shake.

    Herrera and Astrid both got closer to Uriel. It was to be expected, as the two has no idea whether the orcs would still fight for them even without Tristan here.

    "I don''t know, but we don''t have time to chat now, we must hurry. Can you direct them to the main gate of Caerleon City?" Uriel shouted with a loud voice, because there was no way to silence all the exciting orcs.

    "First, can you tell me how many of you are ready to fight?"

 Chapter 413 Caerleon Battle 2

    ?

    The orcs who were part of the Blood Warrior tribe were all the strongest orcs, so the warchiefs decided to be a part of the tribe along with the rest of their forces. Thanks to that, now the Blood Warrior tribe has five tribes'' worth of orcs.

    Among them, there were even the strongest high orc warchief, Scarr, One Ear, and Gundal. Not only that, there was the orc who has managed to garner a reputation as the one who managed to reach the highest level, Ghral, the Overlord of the orcs.

    But that was not all, five orc champions who were known for their fighting prowess have all gathered there as well. They have strength simr to dozens of normal orc soldiers. Four of them have even reached the same strength as a young warchief.

    Last but not least, there are ten thousand orc soldiers and thousands of uruks, also ready to fight in the uing war.

    All of a sudden, themunication tool Uriel usually carried with him rang. It was Commander Galzef.

    "Where are you, Master Uriel? You have to hurry. We are already guarding the main gate, but you wouldn''t believe what I have seen."

    Commander Galzef sounded strange. As an experienced fighter, usually Galzef would never show fear. But this time, there was a trace of fear in his voice."

    "What happened?" Uriel asked.

    "You have to see for yourself."

    Of course, hearing the iplete information from Commander Galzef only made Uriel even more afraid and anxious. He stared at Herrera and Astrid, and both of them are as panicked as he was. However, themander was right, they need to hurry.

    They told the orcs to get ready as soon as possible to fight the enemies together with the Caerleon City residents, then Uriel, along with Astrid and Herrera, rushed to the battlefield leaving the orcs to prepare their strongest armor and weapons.

    "Finally, a war for the orcs!" Scarr, the warchief famous for his strength and prowess in battle before Ghral''s evolution into Orc Overlord shouted. He seemed excited to test his strength after Tristan upgraded him.

    They quickly got ready. The orcs has massive weapons made of natural rocks and armor only to protect their vital parts. The orcs'' loud noises kept on echoing from the direction of the orcs'' vige.

    All of them just couldn''t pass up the chance to go down to the battlefield, because their small brains only think about war.

    Gundal and One Ear have finished their preparation, while Ghral was busy doing some warmup. Thetter''s massive muscles have hardened from theck of wars to fight.

    Ghral chose a weapon shaped like a massive axe, as he was hoping he could fight someone as strong as him.

    "Guk Tar! We need to gather in front of the Caerleon City gates as the fat elf said!"

    "Orc warriors! Let the party begin!"

    CHIWIKKK!

    "For the Blood Warrior tribe!"

    "For the Golug, the strongest Chief!"

    "CHIWIK!!"

    "Golug! Golug! Golug!"

    With that, they all headed with thumping steps towards the Caerleon City gates. With their every step, the ground trembled.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A total of seven thousand orcs, along with a thousand uruks, have all gathered together with the Caerleon City guards to fight against the barbarians.

    CHIWIKK!

    Commander Galfez have managed to convince most of the Caerleon City citizens to fight and defend the city. Thanks to the new government, Caerleon City has improved quickly, and the malnourished citizens looked a bit better than before. Some of them has even acquired muscles to fight in skirmishes.

    "They will fight with us!"

    "We will seize victory!" another citizen added. Some of them were grateful to see the thousands of orcs pour out from the direction of orcs'' vige.

    However, that only applied to those sitting at the back lines. Meanwhile, the leaders on the front lines seemed even more concerned as the barbarians'' forces grew closer and closer.

    At that moment, far in the horizon, tens of thousands of barbarians all marched to Caerleon City.

    They were split into ten lines, and each consisted of thousands of barbarians carrying the same type of armor and weapons.

    In the front lines, there were knights carrying a sword and a shield. Their weapons were emzoned with their tribes'' symbols, while their faces and entire body was covered with thick armor and sturdy headgear.

    Uriel did a quick estimate and saw around 10 different gs from different tribes, and every different tribe has around two or three thousand soldiers. In other words, they have twice the amount of soldierspared to thebined forces of the orcs and the guards of Caerleon City.

    Sadly, their problems did not end there. They heard the sound of aircrafts whizzing in the air and twirling in tune with the wind.

    Each of the aircrafts carried four massive cylinders, each packing enough force to annihte all life in an area. Nuclear or radioactive? No one knows, but if theyunch it, Caerleon City as they know it will never support life for a few thousand years.

    Everyone knows who was in control of those ¨C Space Knights. They came from both the air and thend.

    More than 500 space knights attacked in tandem with the barbarians. Their gleaming armor reflected the light of the sun, causing them to seem as if they were glowing. It seems they were nning to aid in ransacking the city and be a witness of the resulting carnage.

    Uriel and Herrera stared at each other, both basking in the fear of what was happening after they saw the space knights with weapons they have never seen before.

    The weapons looked like guns, but they could feel magical energy brimming within them. From what they could sense, the power of the energy was enough to blow an orcs'' head clean off.

    "How do these space knights evene to an agreement with the barbarians?" Chieng who was silent decided to speak.

    "Are they allies?"

    "I have no idea, I never heard about it before," Uriel answered and gulped his own saliva. Both his eyes were wide, and his entire body was trembling in fear from the enemies gathering at the horizon. Cold sweat have even started to stain his hands.

    At that moment, suddenly the barbarian tribes stopped.

    "Stop! Give way to the mighty Aesir!" one of the barbarian tribe leaders shouted, followed by the barbarians stopping their march.

    All of them moved aside, as if they were a river splitting for theing of a venerable god. The people standing at the ate could see someone walking forward from the back.

    When the person showed up, the atmosphere seemed to shift and change. All they could feel was an intimidating, powerful aura.

 Chapter 414 Caerleon Battle 3

    ?

    "The¨CAesir?"

    Uriel''s voice seemed to be caught in his throat. Not knowing whether to be surprised or to be discouraged suddenly seeing the presence of Aesir with the opponents. His vocal cords were also being restrained due to the energy pressure of the Aesir who was walking alone from the separating line.

    Instantly he wanted to turn into a loser and escape from the war that had not yet urred as quickly as possible.

    However, before she could regain the strength to move her legs, Herrera nudged her shoulder and then raised her index finger to point at two figures whopletely covered their bodies with long dark robes, standing still near a tree from the direction of the Chaotic ins.

    "Those three figures have different powers. I can feel it from afar."

    The information given by Herrera made Uriel even more panicked and felt threatened. He knew what the magical girl meant.

    Three.

    The three Aesir came with an army of barbarians.

    What really happened? What attracted them to take part in a city raid like this?

    Uriel, who is very good at arithmetics, again calctes the possibility for them to win against the barbarians who came unexpectedly with veryrge numbers and leaders whose strength was extraordinary.

    With twice the number of troops, plus three Aesir whose strength can even be counted as two or three barbarians tribes at once, as well as the existence of spaceknights with sophisticated weapons and aircraft. Even though the orc soldiers possessed extraordinary physical strength, still, their weapons were far behind in terms of effectiveness.

    "What should we do now, Master Uriel?" Commander Galzef asked.

    There was only one thing on Uriel''s mind right now. Escape.

    "We should escape!"

    "What?!" Karra, who understood the conversation, immediately replied that she didn''t ept it.

    "Escape? The orcs warrior was eager to fight! We dont escaped from battle!"

    Karra mmed a warhammer into the ground causing Carleon City''s troops to jump in surprise. Angering orcs was something really bad for times like this.

    Uriel massaged his head which was in a lot of pain after getting a lot of rejection from both sides of the squad who would be the defenders of Carleon City.

    But¡ª still, it wouldn''t help them increase the win percentage if this war were to continue. They need to do something.

    At that moment, anidea came to his mind.

    "Connor, who is guarding the evergreen forest gate today?" He asked the town hero, a blond haired brawny man who has joined the forces of Carleon City.

    "Seth. I''m sure he''s still there today."

    Uriel immediately contacted Seth using hismunication device to ask Seth to go immediately to Evergreen forest to summon their allies, the wood elves and ask for their help to join the war as soon as possible before Carleon City was razed to the ground.

    Meanwhile, another idea that Uriel has is buying a time.

    "Karra, we need the strongest orc, which one is it willing to fight?" he asked the female orc.

    "Ghral, he is the overlord orc. No one wins against him, even when the warchief attacks him at the same time."

    Hearing the exnation of the female orc, the temporary leader of the Blood Warrior Tribe army, Uriel nodded trying to analyze his idea once more before speaking again.

    "We need to buy time. Can you order the overlord orcs to fight against their leader? I''ll try to make an offer."

    Karra told the orcs about what she was talking about with Uriel.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Guk Tar! Karra, I really want to fight their leader as he requested!" Ghral the overlords orcs swung a giant ax in his enormous hand.

    "For the Blood Warrior Tribe, for our chief. I will do everything." Since being given the opportunity by Tristan to join the blood warrior tribe and given extraordinary new powers, Ghrall the former warchief has shown that he is the strongest loyal warrior figure.

    "CHIWIIIK!"

    "GHRALL! GHRAL! GHRAL!"

    The orcs who overheard the conversation shouted Ghrall''s name again. They really really like fighting.

    And just like that, the decision was made.

    Uriel then took out a pair of binocrs to get a better look at the opponent standing on the other end.

    He had studied the Aesir before while working for the former Arcadian King, Can. And what he learned was very useful at times like this.

    "He is Vali, this one was well known as the master ofbat. He''s very strong!" Uriel didn''t know whether the information he had would be of use to the orcs or not. But at least he warned them already.

    Knowing that Vali was the Aesir leading the leaders of the barbarians gave Uriel the chills again. He even doubted that the strongest orcs like Ghrall would be able to defeat him.

    Karra tells Ghrall of rhe informationby the orcsnguage. That the enemy is a master ofbat. Hearing that information, Ghrall was increasingly challenged and excited to fight the Aesir.

    "GHRALL! GHRALL! GHRALL!"

    ¡­

    Aesir Vali was seen raising his hand to signal the barbarians to get their full attention.

    Before the war between orcs and barbarians started, both of the parties shouted their encouraging speech because today may be thest day for them to live.

    "For Asgardians! For ournd! There is no ce to share with them!" Aesir Vali shouted in a voice that resounded and could be heard by all the barbarian soldiers.

    "Yes! Kill them all!"

    "Kill them!" All the barbarians joined in the shouting in a loud voice. They smashed their weapons into the ground and to their shields until the noise grew louder and louder all the way to the other end.

    "Kill them!"

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    Aesir Vali spun on the spot while raising both his hands in the air. Every shout of the barbarian spirit sounded like a musical instrument of victory to him. His lips curved to form a smile while he closed his eyes to absorb everyone''s energy surrounding him.

    But someone with a deep voice shouted suddenly louder than the others,

    "SILENCE!"

    He was one of the chief figures of the barbarians tribe who was the first to notice three giant figures and two human-like figures walking over from the opposing camp.

    Realizing that a great energy was walking towards him, the Aesir turned to see who dared to approach before the war started.

 Chapter 415 Caerleon Battle 4

    ?

    Karra walked with her weapon strapped to her back. On either side were the orcs overlord, Ghrall and one of the strongest warchiefs, Scarr.

    The three of them walked apart from the other orcs, trying to get to the barbarians who hadn''t finished their war chants. In front of them the half-elf Uriel and a human Commander Galfez.

    "What are they nning?" the three of barbarians chiefs walked apart from the line, trying to move closer to the Aesir who was already staring at the three orcs with interested eyes.

    When the three orcs were already standing in the middle of the battlefield, Uriel shouted in a loud voice that could be heard in the ears of the barbarians who had already hardened their jaws and couldn''t wait to attack.

    "Greetings, the leader of the barbarians from Asgardian. Before the war begins, we demand a battle between the strongest of my warriors and yours. It will be a duel of honor." Uriel bowed his head in respect. And themander beside him did the same thing.

    "Elves! Get lost you dirty elves!"

    "Kill them!"

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    The barbarians again shouted in loud voices, emitting various kinds of insults at Uriel who was standing with his legs shaking violently.

    In contrast to Karra and Ghrall who were still able to restrain themselves, Scarr''s body was already shaking violently. He clenched his fists until he hurt himself.

    Blood flowed from Scarr''s palm, but he did try his best to stop himself from dashing forward to shut the barbarian''s mouth.

    Although almost all the chiefs of the Asgardian tribes present in the war looked very much objected to Karra''s request, it was the Aesir Vali who was very interested in giving him a chance.

    "SILENCE!"

    This time, the Aesir himself ordered the barbarians to shut up. And yes, they did.

    It seemed that Uriel''s respect and attitude worked for the Aesir.

    "Yes!, i will honor the Challenge, i demand only to fight against the strongest among you" Aesir Vali spoke in an echoing voice.

    Apart from having learned who Aesir Vali was while working for King Can, Uriel also knew how the Aesir would honor the old tradition of duel, but only with an opponent who was very strong or at leastmensurate with him. And he used that toe up with a n that would give him a little more time.

    "Thank you. We are already preparing our strongest fighter."

    At that moment, Ghrall walked away from the line while holding up a weapon, a giant ax in his hand full of rock-hard muscles.

    At first, teh Aesir felt insulted to fight a lowly orc however seeing how special this particr orc looked, a wide smile spread across the face of the Aesir Vali.

    He really hoped to find an opponent who could cheer him up a little in this war, and the power he could sense from the overlord orcs'' body gave him a little hope.

    "Good! I will be the one who fights him." Aesir Vali immediately stepped on his feet, walking towards Ghrall who was almost twice his size.

    The chief barbarians seemed to want to prevent that from happening, but Aesir Vali raised both hands to tell them to stop.

    A smile remained on his face. His heart was beating faster than before. He is very excited to have a battle against the strongest orc.

    "Let''s see how long you can survive, shall we?"

    Vali who is endowed with wolf powers is able to increase his own physical strength whenever he needs it and transforms himself into a berserk state. Thus, he was also very well known as an Aesir berserker.

    Vali started to show his true strength, his jaw tightened and his eyes fixed on Ghral. His expression showed a seriousness.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    [Berserk]

    His body that was previously only the size of a normal human who looked like a human with mediocre strength, much weaker than the barbarians physically suddenly grew bigger and bigger.

    The muscles all over his body tensed and continued to grow protruding, as if struggling to get out.

    In a matter of seconds, a very amazing physical development urs. And now he looked as big as a high orc with enormous physical strength.

    "Fight me!"

    Seeing his enemy who looks very strong with his physical strength, Ghrall feels increasingly challenged.

    "Guk Tar! For the blood warrior tribe! For the chiefs!"

    BANG!

    A tremendous sh of forces urred when Ghrall threw his weapon at Vali. However, Vali nked the two edges of the ax and held it back with his immense physical strength.

    An explosion of high-pressure air waves also appeared due to the impact of that force.

    The sweep of the airwaves staggered several of the barbarians who were within a ten meter radius from the source of the impact

    "I will show you how different our power is."

    Vali pushed the giant ax back to its owner then after his hands were free, he raised his empty hands high in the air.

    "God of Sky, lend me your greatest power!"

    PTARRR!!

    Two bolts of lightning suddenlynded right on Vali''s open palms. But the lightning did not strike him, did not hurt him. Instead, he could control it.

    [Thunderstruck]

    TARRRRR!

    Vali moved the two lightning bolts in his hands towards the orc overlord, Ghrall.

    "GROAA!"

    Ghrall''s gigantic body was now enveloped by electricity which continued to sting his rock-hard skin, trying to crush him and crush him to the bone.

    However, the Aesir was surprised to realize one innate ability of the Overlord. The power to resist magic.

    Not only those powerful magic has little effect on Ghrall, but as a battle frenzy Orc, he would not stop even when his whole body was hurting.

    Grwaalll!!!

    The orc Overloard shouted and with the body still in ayer of lightning that felt like it was burning him alive, Ghrall again swung his giant ax at Vali.

    BANG!

    And thus the epic battle begins.

 Chapter 416 Caerleon Battle 5

    ?

    Half an hour had passed since the tremendous sh of power between the orc Overlord, Ghrall and the Aesir, Vali.

    The special power of the orcs overlord to be resistant to magic attacks made the Aesir forced to attack the orcs with no less great physical strength.

    Bang!

    Stomp!

    Even though the orcs'' body size was veryrgepared to normal human bodies, it didn''t reduce the orcs'' speed in the slightest.

    They fought on the ground, shot up into the air to give punches and kicks before finally falling back on the ground again shaking the ground in front of Carleon City, as if there was a powerful earthquake.

    Dirt and rocks scattered flying in all directions, raining down on the barbarian troops as well as those from Carleon City.

    "How long does this have to be?" Karra asked Uriel who was shielding his round face from the stone throws and dust storms created by the battle that was going on in front of him.

    "As long as we can, we have to wait for help to arrive." Uriel deliberately spoke without ncing at Karra because he knew that if any of the barbarian leaders saw him talking to Karra, they would think he was plotting something against the rules. The barbarians all watched them like a predator watched its prey, as if they were sure of their own victory.

    And Uriel certainly didn''t want anything detrimental to their survival to happen.

    Baduum!

    The orcs overlord was suddenly blown out of the air as the Aesir managed to use his immense physical strength, concentrating it in the palm of his right hand and mming the orcs'' bodies down like a rocket on the ground.

    The ground they fought on was previously t, but the force of the hit was enough for the ground to cave inward, forming the outline of the muscr orc.

    "Fight! I''m not done yet!"

    Even though he managed to bring down the orcs, the Aesir himself seemed to be getting tired. His chest heaved up and down and he began to breathe through his mouth. The sound of him huffing and puffing could be heard clearly.

    Ghrall immediately got back on his feet, his knees covered in blood as he forced his legs tond first no matter what. He red at his opponent, gripped his axe tight, and¡­

    Growl!

    The overlord orcs dashed forward to counter Aesir''s attack. His incredible speed smashed into the Aesir''s body causing him to be pushed backwards, back into the ranks of the barbarians. In response, the barbarians all shouted in anger.

    "This is just a waste of time!"

    "Let''s just attack them all!" one of the Asgardian chieftains who was standing in the front row ran up to the Aesir. They couldn''t help but unleash their anger at the elves who were merely trying to buy time.

    Meanwhile, Ghrall only watched from a distance and did not want to enter the opponent''s cage. Not if he had to be alone and they would gang up on him.

    "This is my fight." the Aesir snarled as he pped away the hand of the chief who intended to help him to his feet after being hit hard enough.

    "But-"

    Before the tribal chief gave a rebuttal, a man in different clothes from the barbarians had already walked up to the two of them and stood very bravely before the Aesir Vali, blocking him who was already intending to beat Ghrall again.

    "Stop!"<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Out of my way." growled the Aesir Vali who was really obsessed with one-on-one battles. Having someone try to stop him before the fight is over made him very angry. He clenched his hands into fists.

    However, the space knightmander who was standing before him was not afraid at all. His gaze was very serious.

    "They are just trying to buy time. And they managed to take advantage of you. Don''t you know that?"

    "You! Do you think that I am so easily taken advantage of by brainless beings like them?" the Aesir grew displeased with the meddling of the space knight who had gone too far. The Aesir was obviously trying to restrain himself from hurting the knight who was supposed to be hisrade.

    Even so, the space knightmander moved. He shifted his body and turned to face the orcs that were closest to them.

    "Don''t forget about that one!" he raised his index finger to point at Uriel who was in shock as he realized that the barbarian leaders were talking about him. And he couldn''t hear the conversation that was going on at all.

    "That fat elf is smart. I am sure that he is even smarter than you."

    Grab!

    The Aesir instantly strangled the neck of the space knight who had just insulted him indirectly.

    "What did you say?"

    Crr! Crr!

    The special outfit worn by the space knight suddenly activated an automatic self-defense mode that makes those who touch it feel a shocking and painful electric shock.

    It was not enough to actually hurt, but it seeded in making the Aesir Vali release the space knight in an instant.

    Half an hour had passed since the tremendous sh of power between the orc Overlord, Ghrall and the Aesir, Vali.

    "I came here to help humanity. I won''t let you slow down my mission." said the space knight

    With a movement so fast that almost no one noticed it, the space knightmander raised his left hand. The ce where aser gun was intentionally nted in his very sophisticated special costume then he aimed right at Uriel.

    "This should be enough to start the battle"

    [Target locked - Fire]

    Pew!

    "What did you just do?" The Aesir Vali immediately felt betrayed by the space knight.

    However, the space knight only smiled as he lowered his hand again, "Let the war begin."

    -----------------------------------------------------

    Written and Directed by Avans, Published by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

    Check out our new website .avans.xyz

 Chapter 417 Caerleon Battle 6

    ?

    A redser light with a diameter of no more than three inches shot at the speed of light, shooting out from the spaceknightmander''s hidden gun. The scorchingser beam pierced Uriel''s left shoulder before he even realized he was being attacked.

    "Arrrghhh!"

    Uriel fell to his knees on the ground while blood was already pouring out through his now hollow left shoulder. He was never built for battle, hence the fat elf currently was just tearing in pain.

    Seeing that one of their allies had been attacked, Scarr, who highly valued the meaning of an ally, couldn''t hold himself back any longer. He shouted in a very loud voice, calling for everyone in the vicinity.

    "Guk Tar! Orcs! Kill them!"

    Even Karra who was standing next to him felt the same way. She could no longer wait to tear apart the ranks of the barbarians who dared to disregard such a battle.

    "Groooo!"

    CHIWIIIIK!

    While the sea of ??orcs started running around, Commander Galzef immediately helped Uriel to his feet and led him back. Uriel''s current injured condition wouldn''t make himst long if he had to stay on the battlefield.

    "Insolent Spaceknight!"

    "Asgardians! We must win our homnd back from those dirty creatures! Don''t stop! This war will be ourst! For Asgardians!" The Aesir had no other choice now but to direct his troops to immediately fight against the orcs that were getting more and more wild in anger.

    "For Asgardians!!!"

    "Attacks!!!"

    "Kill them!" shouted the Aesir in a voice that trembled violently and saliva sttered out.

    Finally, the war that had previously been postponed finally happened. Absolutely unavoidable.

    Everyone ran with their guns raised and shouted their respective shouts of victory.

    In a matter of minutes, barbarian troops and orcs shed on the battlefield. The sounds of ughter and screams, along with the sight of blood spilling on the ground, was nothing less than barbaric.

    SPLAT!

    CLANK!

    The sound of shing weapons became the background of a very powerful war.

    In just one minute, dozens of victims have fallen with tragic conditions. The blood of orcs, humans, and elves spilled and mixed together on the''s soil.

    Pieces of bodies flew like stones thrown in the air, while the remains of their lifeless bodies turned into footholds for those who could still fight at full strength.

    Swish!

    SPLAT!

    CHIWIIIK!

    Scarr managed to throw a dozen barbarians that hit his body and then ran to find the Aesir to be able to feel an extraordinary battle like what Ghrall got.

    Meanwhile Ghrall the Overlord orcs fought with dozens of the strongest fighters from the barbarian army, including the chiefs of the ten Asgardian tribes who joined the war.

    Grooa!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "For my Chief Golug! I will win this war!"

    On the other hand, the orcs champions ran amok until dozens of barbarians from two tribes at once ended up in a pathetic condition.

    "Come on, Seth. Please hurry." Uriel muttered still worried about the fate of Carleon City even though his own hands were immobilized for now, as if theser that had struck him a few minutes ago had burned his motor nerves that function to move his hands.

    He only relied on the Commander Galzef who painstakingly pushed through the ranks of orcs while swinging his sword at the approaching barbarians while on their way back away from the center of the battlefield taking Uriel with him.

    Some distance from the front line,

    Herrera, the fire mage had gotten a power boost from forcing Tristan to use his power to enhance his power on Herrera''s body. Now is the best time to use that power.

    [Firewall]

    A wall of zing fire forming a square enclosed his body so that the barbarians who came towards him couldn''t touch him with their melee attacks.

    But the girl did not stop there. His hands moved like they were dancing while channeling to cast a fire magic spell of the highest tier he had mastered so far.

    [Piercing Inferno]

    Hundreds of burning spearheads suddenly appeared in the air around Herrera as the girl suddenly spread her arms out.

    Her eyes gleamed as if there was a fire burning within them, and she nced around to search for the target of his attack and lock on it. Then, she sped her hands together again in front of him, creating a single p.

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    "Argghhhh!"

    Those hundreds of burning spearheads shot through the skin of the barbarians and burned them.

    The war between orcs, half-elves, and elves against the original native humans of the continued fiercely.

    They all fought with full strength as if there was no longer a tomorrow before them.

    Meanwhile, the Carleon City residents who are forced to fight are starting to get frustrated, depressed and have an inner war going on in their souls. Not a few of them have lost their limbs and even their lives before they can give a meaningful attack to the enemy.

    They hoped that everything would end soon. No more pain, no more death.

    However, expectations are not always quickly granted.

    Ahead there, at the ce that became the center of the battlefield between the Asgardians and the Arcadians.

    Even though only one Aesir was involved, the orcs at the forefront had already been razed to the ground.

    As time passed, the Asgardians began to slowly master the course of the war. With the strength of the barbarians who were already trained to fight and their numbers far greater than Carleon City''s guard troops, victory seemed to be waiting for them.

    Even the spaceknights who hade to apany them hadn''t done anything and were just sitting around observing the war in the rear as if they were only there to help if the oue of the war didn''t go ording to their calctions, or didn''t go ording to n.

    However¡­

    None of them, the Asgardians and the spaceknights knew that up in the air from that direction of the Evergreen Forest¡­ an enormous power was flying, drawing nearer.

 Chapter 418 Incoming

    ?

    From up above, Tristan could see hundreds of thousands of creatures from different races fighting against each other right in front of the formerly beautiful Caerleon City gates.

    Thends, once brown-dry and cracked, were now like a sea of reddish brown mud. It even looked red from some angles, as blood kept spewing out from the downed enemies as the seconds goes on.

    Those with power still resisted the enemies with all their might, while those who were weaker have reached their limits.

    Even though the orcs, with their massive bodies and dark green skin, were easy to tell apartpared to the human and human-like figures, the elves, humans, and barbarians seemed to blur into one sea of confusion.

    It was difficult to tell which one are enemies, and which one are friends.

    Tristan closed his eyes and used Katra to search for those he could recognize from afar. Within a few seconds, he managed to find them.

    A creature with a massive body, standing in front of the sea of orcs while fighting, has attracted his attention.

    They are the warchief and the orc champions that have gone into a frenzy. As they swung their weapons without much thought, dozens of enemy soldiers fell beneath their feet, joining the mess of bodies and blood soon after.

    Among the crowd, Tristan has spotted Ghrall. The orc''s body was lined with painful wounds that oozed blood with each movement. Yet, the orc overlord didn''t seem hindered by them one bit. His strength remained a force to be reckoned with as if the wounds were nothing but paint.

    "An insane fight is going down there," Tristan muttered to himself. Behind him, Nara and Nora were standing guard, ready to receive their first order from the Monarch.

    "Nara, Nora, go and unleash your rage. Destroy them all!"

    "Yes, my Monarch."

    One sentence was enough. Nara and Nora bowed in reverence once, before they jumped out, leaving through the ne''s half-open door.

    Whoosh!

    The two jumped down and outstretched their hands as if they were wings. They kept speeding down head first, faster and faster as they reached down.

    After a few seconds, they felt the distance was safe enough. Nara and Nora then looked at each other,municating in signals they alone were able to understand.

    In an instant, those fighting below witnessed a quick, yet magnificent transformation. The skies turned dark, and clouds started to gather and shake from the massive concentration of magic power.

    p! p!

    Two massive dragons appeared from what was once a singr, small dot on the sky. The two dragons roared an pped their wings.

    Roarrr!

    Nara swooped down in a beautiful arch, before she opened her maw and breathed a massive column of fire. As the Monarch ordered, she was to destroy everything, and she would never disobey a direct order.

    It was clear that the fire dragon was enjoying her assignment.

    "Watch out! Dragons!" The panicking barbarians shouted, but there was no one who managed to run, as the dragons proceeded to destroy everything below. With their unparalleled strength, ughtering everything below was nothing but child''s y.

    Nora used hardened, dense air to attack. With each p of her wings, hundreds of swords made of thin air became weapons to rain down destruction.

    Roarrr!

    None of the barbarians have thought they would be facing two legendary creatures, and as such, none of them prepared specially made weapons and armor to counter their strength. Even though they attempted to shoot the dragons with their arrows, throw theirnces, or even strike from up close, none of their attacks could pierce the dragons'' hard scales.

    Meanwhile, the Caerleon City warriors have realized help hase, and they were shouting in happiness. Those who were too demoralized to fight were now overflowing with courage. Now, they have a chance to win.

    The orcs too could feel the presence of their leader, and they were even more boisterous than before.

    Golug! Chiwiiik!

    As for the space knights, they had nned to just wait and see how the situation develops, but now they immediately jumped into action, as the Asgardians'' defeat were imminent.

    To attack an object that could fly, they would need tremendous energy, and they decided to use the two spaceships they have brought. Onmand, they boarded the ship and flew up to stop the two dragons.

    The sound of the spaceship''s machines was drowned amidst the sea of storm clouds rolling above the sky, yet they pushed on, brandishing a pair of weapons that looked simr to a cannon made of hardened light. They locked onto Nora and Nara who were still busy unleashing their rage below.

    "Target locked."

    "Shoot the Jupiter Beam."

    Winggggggggggg!

    The sound of machines whirring could be heard, as the glow of the cannons became brighter and brighter, culminating in a massiveser being shot towards the two dragons. The brightness of the cannon attracted their attention, and their eyes widened upon realizing they were attacked by the spaceship hiding behind the forest this whole time.

    Zap!

    Boom! Kaboom!

    The light of theser brought massive, destructive energy with it. At thest second, Nora, who was the more tanky of the two, put herself as a shield for Nara who was unable to dodge.

    A massive explosion shook the ce as theser collided with Nora''s wings. She had folded her wings in front of her in order to protect her vital organs.

    It was a massive attack, and both dragons were pushed back several hundred meters, before they fell like a pair of meteors into the ground. All the barbarians and Caerleon City warriors who were unable to dodge died on the spot.

    "Nara, Nora, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Tristan who witnessed the event quickly asked, concerned about their well-being. Unexpectedly, the two dragons answered without dy.

    "We''re fine; those ships will never be able to stop us. It is time for our counterattack."

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 419 Caerleon Battle 7

    ?

    Tristan''s lips curled into a cruel smile. The two dragons possess unparalleled strength, and thus, they could be counted on in this fight. There was nothing for him to worry about, so, he left them to wreak havoc on the skies.

    He then jumped down from the ship along with the masters who came with him, including Captain Siegfried. All of them were ready to assist in the war.

    While all eyes were staring at the two dragons after they managed to withstand the space knights'' deadly attack, Tristan headed to the orcs who were fighting in the frontmost line.

    "Look, the Monarch hase! Show your respects!" Kara, who realized Tristan''s presence from his strength up above, shouted to the other orcs while taking down three barbarians who were trying to tear her apart.

    "Golug! Golug! Golug!"

    The orcs were bowing in respect despite being in the middle of a war, and everyone else did the same while staring at Tristan''s direction. Both orc champion and warchief, all of them paid their respects. The fire in their hearts burned brighter when they saw the brilliance of the Monarch.

    As a gift for the warm wee, Tristan has prepared something big. This would be the weapon that marked his decisive victory against the barbarians once and for all.

    While still in the air, he spread both his arms, with his pals facing the orcs lined up at the frontmost line.

    [Blood Seal ¨C Augmentation]

    His target was to increase the orcs'' strength in one fell swoop while he was still in the air. With his former strength, that was impossible, but now, he has a lot of confidence in his power.

    [Mass-Augmented targets require 115.000 Blood Essence]

    Before jumping and descending down from the airne, Tristan has made a note of which orcs he would empower with this technique. As a result, all he needed to do was focus the augmentation on the targets he desired.

    This was something new, and he had never done any augmentation from this distance before. He has no idea what would happen to his body after doing this. But, he was sure of one thing, he was far more powerful than before, and he had to prove his power to everyone present here.

    "Do it."

    Bwooosh!

    Blood essence poured out from his body in a massive spray, and those below stared at him. It was like his body has exploded, as a continuous stream of thick red mists emerged and spread from his body. It was like a cloud of blood tried to overtake the storms above.

    Tristan felt as if time has stopped under the gazes of the thousands fighting below, all focused at the magnificent sight.

    [Mass Augmentation in progress]

    His body felt weightless and without burdens, not even gravity was able to pull him under in this state. The red mists kept on spreading and bing thicker, as not even one pore of his body was free of blood mist.

    This was no more than a gamble, as he had no idea what would happen to him, and he did not even spare the effects a thought.

    Then, the mists started to disperse and form numerous spearheads, before they shot in a terrifying speed towards the targets he had marked before executing the technique.

    Zhapp!

    Zhapp!

    Zhapp!!

    Without time to dodge, the warchief and orc champions who had no idea what happened was unable to react at the sudden enhancement. Hundreds of spearheads whizzed through the air at blinding speeds and entered their body, turning into an excruciating pain that enveloped their entire being.

    They started to roar and scream without relent.

    "Arggghhh!"

    Luckily for them, the pain they felt didn''tst forever. The Blood Essence from Tristan contained within the spearheads started to flow through their bloodstream, expanding to cover every inch of their hardened bodies. The essence kept on flowing, targeting their fast-beating heart and their brain.

    Thump-

    The orcs stopped screaming when they felt their hearts were thumping in a strange manner. As moments passed, the beating became faster and faster, like they were trying to run circles throughout the.

    Thump-

    Then, their bodies felt as if it were pushed from within. Muscles and bone swelled, and immediately hardened into something harder than rocks. Their massive, dark green bodies looked even more monstrous now, with their veins lining along the girth of their muscles.

    The mass evolution was quite the sight to behold, and it immediately stilled the barbarians'' fighting spirits, especially those who were fighting at the front lines. They swallowed in fear and took a few steps back, disquieted by the orcs'' strange behavior.

    "It was a scary yet beautiful sight," Tristan muttered to himself, beforending right in front of the newly strengthened orcs.

    Those who were orc champions have evolved into warchief.

    Those who were warchief have evolved into overlord.

    The aura of power they exuded could be felt even from afar, causing the enemies to tremble. Not only that, the pressure in the battlefield became more intense. It was a drastic change, enough to strike fear into the fearless barbarians at the front lines.

    Tristan smiled in satisfaction. He did not n this in advance, but the results were perfect. Right after hended, he was greeted by Ghral, who were still in disbelief upon witnessing what happened to his fellow orcs.

    "My chief, your power is truly terrifying," Ghral said and bowed in respect, followed by the orcs who just had their evolution in front of Tristan.

    They were more than satisfied with their newfound power. With each movement, they could feel the enhanced power flowing in their veins.

    "Thank you, my Chief," even Scarr, the most fierce and monstrous warchief, acknowledged Tristan''s strength and kneeled in front of him. Everyone no longer considered Tristan as just the leader of the blood tribe. From then on, Tristan was the blood elf monarch himself.

    "Finish them all," Tristan ordered.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 420 Tide Of War

    ?

    Tristan was sure, with the strength of the evolved orcs, the tide of the war has turned in their favor, and this war could be finished as soon as possible. They no longer have any fear that they would lose.

    Growl!

    Chiwiiikk!

    Golug! Golug! Golug!

    With that, the war resumed, and the orcs ran through the barbarians'' lines, not even caring even though the barbarians have advantage in numberspared to the Caerleon City guards. Right now, with their newfound strength and the return of their absolute monarch, they were sure their victory was secured.

    St!

    nk!

    Crush!

    Tristan watched them at first, but then he decided to fight as well. After all, he has an opportunity to try out his overwhelming strength now. He fought alongside the orcs, who were practically destroying the battlefield in their berserk ughter.

    St!

    It was an intense fight, with neither side willing to let up. The warriors of Caerleon City dominated the battlefield with their sheer might, slowly but steadily pushing back the losing barbarians.

    Then, it was time for the barbarians'' leaders to jump into the fray.

    Three humans, with overflowing power lying within their bodies, blocked Tristan''s way. Of course, they were none other than the Aesir. The three never expected that they have to get directly involved in a war meant to take over a small city like Caerleon.

    "So, you are¡­ you are the one known as this''s blood elf monarch?" Vali has healed the wound he suffered after his fight with Ghral earlier, and now, in his full strength, he was barely restraining his rage towards Tristan.

    "Oh, the Aesir, I guess you need all three to fight against me at the same time?" Tristan said with derision in his tone.

    That was enough to sessfully provoke the Aesir. Vali spat onto the ground and had almost attacked him in rage. Luckily, one of the three could control their rage, and he held Vali''s shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.

    "Don''t lose reason, my brother, he was trying to provoke you. Let us fight him with a cool head."

    Tristan could hear the whispers like they were whispering directly to him, and he smiled in condescension. He knows that the three Aesir seems to underestimate his strength, and he couldn''t wait to show off the power he had acquired.

    "All at once,e to me!" Tristan shouted, as he conjured the highest tier of ymore de he could create using his [Blood Synthesis] skill. The sword hardened, and now it looked simr to a real high-tier de made of rare stones. With one look, even fools could see the power brimming within the weapon.

    Whoosh!

    "I will not let you show off, elf," Vali dashed as quickly as he could, without caring about his friend who tried to keep him calm. He was not alone, however, for the other Aesir had attacked alongside him.

    With their magic power, they cast two spells andbined it into one destructive force.

    One spell conjured relentless winds, the other conjured raging storms and thunder. When the two spells became one, an inescapable storm was created.

    Crackle! Boom!

    In response, Tristan raised his de high up in the air, right towards the skies where the storms were the most intense. As the two Aesir waved their hands, the winds and the storms all went down and struck him.

    However, before thebined spell managed to even touch Tristan''s body, it was stopped right on its tracks by Tristan''s massive de. As a result, a massive explosion shook the ce, turning the 100 meter radius around Tristan into a massive crater.

    "Arghhhhh!"

    Boom!

    Not only barbarians, even the orcs who stood near the chaos were affected by the spell.

    Meanwhile, Tristan could feel the skin of his hand heating up, like he was putting his hand directly onto an open fire. Yet, he was still standing. He didn''t even get pushed away from his ce.

    Though he seemed calm, he was shocked that he could resist the ultimate attack from the Aesir, specifically created to destroy everything in their path, just by using the de he conjured from his own body.

    Even he was shocked at the newfound power of the blood elf.

    "Tch."

    Vali and his allies had to jump away and dodge as they saw their attack was reflected. If they were as much aste by one second, perhaps they too would be swallowed by their own attack.

    Meanwhile, the Aesir who were still calm has came up with another way to increase their chances.

    "Legacy" he muttered.

    As the words left his lips, the magic power within him created massive waves, as if they had exploded. Even his robe had started to wave and stir, like his own power created a storm of energy.

    In an instant, the energy storm enveloped the barbarians who were fighting 100 meters around him. Then, a strange sight unfolded in front of their eyes.

    At least for Tristan, as it was something he had never seen before.

    "Groaaaa!"

    As they came in contact with the strange energy, themon barbarian soldiers immediately turned big with unnatural bulging muscles. Their skin, who were once dark or pale, turned into a vivid blue color, a sign their bodies were filled to the brim with cursed power.

    Right now, they looked like they were never human in the first ce. They looked like creatures from an undiscovered race.

    Their power had increased to match as well, as within seconds, they went into a berserker rage.

    "A higher power?" Tristan muttered. He didn''t know an Aesir could do a simr thing.

    Sadly, the power that they hoped would turn the tide in the barbarians'' favor only incited the orcs to fight harder. They challenged the barbarians left and right, some even trying to reach the evolved barbarians before their fellow orcs could do so.

    ----------------------------------

    Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

 Chapter 421 Caerleon Battle 8

    421 Caerleon Battle 8

    Despite everything, the war still continued on, with more and more corpses joining the sea of blood beneath their feet. Most of them had long been dry of blood, while their bodies and organs were torn off thanks to the endless stampede from those who were still trying to attain their victory.

    No one could tell, which ones were the corpse of their enemies and which ones were their friends, as all the corpses has been ground up and turned into one in a massive sea of blood. Meanwhile in the air, two massive dragons kept on fighting, raging on and destroying the two spaceships trying to kill them.

    The spaceship put up a valiant fight, as they tried to defensively maneuver around the dragons'' attacks and use their cannons to wound them. However, their efforts were in vain, and one spaceship finally lost one of its wings. It immediately went down and crashed onto the already bloody ground, grinding those beneath it into a mass of flesh.

    The two dragons were relentless, they didn''t even give the spaceship an inch to try and attack.

    Bammmm!

    Explosion shook the ce below as the first spaceship turned into bits of debris.

    Right now, there were only one spaceship trying to fight of two mightily pissed-off dragons. The energy within the spaceship has long since depleted, thanks to their continuous use of attacks in attempts to wound the two dragons, yet their attempts ended up in vain, as they were just wasting energy without managing to wound any of the two dragons in a significant manner.

    "Nora," Nara spoke to her friend from her mind, nning tounch the final st.

    "Understood."

    The two dragons dashed in full speed to the remaining spaceship that struggled to stay in the air while charging their Jupiter Beam. Inside, the crew and pilots closed their eyes, ready for the collision that would send them into the afterlife. Yet, the two dragons merely hovered over them and stared for a bit.

    Then, the two dragons took a sharp turn and grabbed the ship''s wings with their talons, before kicking the ship in full strength towards the Chaotic ins, where there were more Asgardians than protectors of Caerleon City.

    Whoosh!

    Boom! Kaboom!

    A massive explosion shook the ce, and plumes of pitch ck smoke rose to cover the area. Those who only possessed ordinary human lungs were coughing thanks to the impure air making it a struggle to even breath.

    "Good job, Nara, Nora," Tristan spoke using telepathy with the two dragon

    Tristan then dashed forward, this time, he didn''t want to watch from the sidelines and wait for the two Aesir toe where he stood and fight him with their terrifying magic. He also didn''t want to waste time by ying around too much.

    No matter how this looked like, this war was nothing but a prelude of the true final war.

    Whoosh!

    [Blood Synthesis]

    Hundreds of projectiles, each the size of a marble, formed all around Tristan. Each sphere were nothing short of a terrifying, deadly weapon.

    "Fire."

    St! St! St!

    The projectiles only rained forward, but it didn''t immediately kill. Rather, they seeped into the wounds of the barbarians standing behind the Aesir. The small sphere rested within, like they were nothing but dust.

    However, within a few seconds, Tristan has managed to activate all of them.

    Boom!

    Kaboom!

    Pieces of destroyed bodies flew up in the air and all around them, followed by the sharp, metallic scent of burned blood and ash. Impure smoke from the small blood bombs wafted up to cover the battlefield and onto the''s atmosphere.

    The three Aesir who stood in front of the barbarian lines were thrown forward, only tond in a seemingly painful position. One of them sported a massive wound on their back, where only remains of burned skin, bone, and muscle could be seen.

    "Argghhhh!"

    "Still not enough."

    Seeing the chance, Tristan decided to use it and dashed forward onto the massively wounded Aesir. Then, he swung his blood ymore down towards two of them.

    St!

    Their bodies were cleaved into two from their head down to their legs. Brain matter sttered onto the already wet ground, and their eyes were frozen in fear when they saw Tristan''s eyes. That was thest thing they saw before they were sent to the afterlife.

    "No!" Vali shouted, as he was thest remaining Aesir. His body trembled, while his face was sttered from the remains of his friends. The scent of thebined brain matter was unbearable.

    Thest remaining Aesir was shaken, but he has forgotten about his own safety, while Tristan walked closer to approach him. He stopped in front of the downed Aesir and stared at him without even turning his head.

    "You have lost," Tristan spat, while he raised his ymore high up in the air. He was ready to kill thest remaining Aesir with all his strength.

    "You damned elf," even knowing his life was on the line, Vali still refused to even consider bowing to the elf and begging for his own life. His hatred truly ran that deep.

    Tristan wasn''t the least bit insulted, as he had thought such a thing would happen. In the first ce, he had never intended to give him mercy.

    However¡­

    St!

    "Arghhhh!"

    The ymore de cut off both Vali''s legs, turning his knees into stumps that kept on oozing blood. Both of his eyes widened and looked like they almost bulged out of their sockets. Meanwhile, as his mouth were frozen in a silent scream, his spit joined the stream of blood on the ground.

    Not only that, Tristan raised his de again and ced the tip right into the downed Aesir''s shoulder. He then raised the corpse high, looked at the direction of the Chaotic ins, and shouted at the barbarian soldiers still trying to attain victory.

    "You all have been defeated! Surrender now or taste death!" Tristan shouted in amanding voice, sessfully causing the formerly noisy battlefield to still into silence. Even the orcs who were shouting all the while all could only stare at the sight.

    The barbarians stared at the sight with fear, and their lips trembled as they saw the most hideous, sad sight they have ever witnessed.

    It was to be expected, for their trump card, the strongest Aesir who came with them, has been beaten to an inch of his life. They know, the Aesir would only remain alive for a few more minutes at most.

    "Retreat"

    That one word was enough, and the barbarians immediately turned tail to save their lives. They didn''t even wait for orders, nor do they care about the war anymore.

    They have been thoroughly defeated.

    Victory has fallen into the fighters of the Caerleon City and the strong Arcadian king.

    "Long life the Monarch!" Scarr shouted in the orcs''nguage, followed by the raucous shouts from the ted orcs. They were clearly happy with their hard-won victory.

    "Chiwiiik!"

    Seeing the barbarians all run in fear was a sight for sore eyes.

    Those who were trapped in the middle of the orcs and tried to save themselves ended up being sacrifices, as the orcs would never let them escape.

    St!

    Chiwiiik!

    Tristan didn''t care about them, all he cared about was the war has ended in his victory. Everything has fallen right into his ns, and the more deaths, the more blood he could obtain for the main war that was looming in front of him.

    Remembering the uing war made Tristan unable to fully savor this victory. His arms trembled and his hands were balled into fists. The next war would be a more intense ordeal than this.

    The battle of Carleon is over, more chapters areing thank you

    Avan

 Chapter 422 Asgard

    422 Asgard

    Meanwhile, in the far east...

    The magus-level elves, who were busy looking for a way to open the Bifrost Gate, have all arrived at thends where the Asgardians live after they lost the war against the elves more than a thousand years ago.

    They flew over the gleaming, yellow ins for what felt like an eternity before they finally reached the main Asgardian continent. They were currently flying over the biggest city, the City of Asgard.

    King Castian, Can, Osgilliath, King Vizier, and Hanz quicklynded in front of the gate. Although there weren''t many of them, they came as an uninvited guest, and thus, their presence stirredmotion and attracted the attention of Asgardians who were around there.

    Can, the former Arcadian king, was the only one out of the group who often visited this ce. He walked right next to King Castian, the king of high elves and the leader of the expedition.

    After a few minutes, they stopped in front of the gate leading to the castle where the high leaders of the Asgardian reside. However, before they could enter, they had to pass a few rows of houses filled with people living close to the castle.

    Can seemed unperturbed, however, he was thinking of how different the city looked from thest time he was there. There weren''t as many citizens, most of the shops were closed, and the streets were barren. Usually, there would be a few groups of Asgardian guards patrolling the vicinity, but today, they were nowhere to be seen.

    When Can told the others, they looked around and only found young children, women, and elderly citizens. There were barely any working-age men in sight.

    "I think we missed something?" Can said, unable to stop staring back at the countless pairs of eyes looking at them. The Asgardians looked terrified, and some even asked their children to go back inside their houses before locking themselves in.

    "I don''t care, they are not our concern. We are here to bring back one Aesir Legacy. There is no need to concern ourselves with anything else," King Castian said. He was focused on his main objective.

    However, right when they were about to reach the castle building, rows upon rows of guards gathered right in front of them. They each carried a sword, all pointed at the elves. It was almost funny, as they were acting like their threats would be enough to deter the powerful elves.

    "Stop right there!"

    Thanks to their leather and metal armor, it was clear that despite being the line of defense against the ''invadin'' powerfull elven magus, they were shaking in their boots, the clinking metal a dead giveaway of their immense fear. Even from afar, they could feel how powerful their opponents were.

    Now, the braver Asgardians passing nearby stopped to watch. They all abandoned whatever activity they had to do at the moment to pay attention. They were curious about what would happen next.

    "What do you all want?! Are you here for retaliation!" the guard''s captain shouted, his lips twisted in a mad grin. From his gaze, it was clear that he had lost most of his reason. He then threw the only weapon he had towards Can.

    Can was able to catch the weapon with one hand without much effort.

    Whoosh!

    sh!

    "What is he even thinking? Is he crazy?" Hanz, who was standing behind the lines, muttered to himself. He had unsheathed his de and gripped it tight, ready to counter should the elves thatunch a surprise attack.

    "We came here not to fight, we came to find and talk with one of the Aesir. Please call any of them here," King Castian said without hesitation. The faster they could find a Legacy, the better.

    In response, the guards looked at each other and stayed silent. They don''t know what to do after hearing the answer from King Can.

    Time is ticking, and they could not afford to wait too long for a Legacy. King Castian raised his hand, summoning a massive thunderbolt from the still bright skies. The thunder was enough to destroy the frontmost line of the guards and make the rest disperse in fear.

    Boom!

    From amidst the still smoking ground, King Castian spoke

    "It''s no use asking them. It would be better if we keep going,"

    With that, King Castian and the others decided to enter.

    "So, I was right, something had happened here," Can muttered. The closer he was, the more certain he felt.

    There were no more interruptions, and they walked until they found the ce they were looking for.

    A massive, ornate gate stood in front of them. The gate looked strong and majestic, and it was almost entirely made of wood from old, perhaps long extinct trees. From the craftsmanship, it was clear the gate was made with care.

    As they got closer to the gate, they heard the sounds of numerous footsteps. More guards emerged from two doors hidden somewhere next to the gates, and had now stood in a formation, ready to attack.

    They all wore aplete set of armor, including headgear, and they all carried a one-meter long spear and a shield, except for the man in front of them. They were led by a Jarl and an old, bald man who walked with the aid of a wooden cane. On top of the cane, there was a decoration shaped like a human skull.

    The old man only wore a simple robe, with no other protective gear on his body.

    "Stop right there! This ce was not for the elves to enter!" the old man stood resolute in front of the guards and shouted at the group of magus.

    "Legacy!. Summon the one of your Legacy to us" King Castian answered, his pride dripping from each word. The spears pointed at him didn''t even make him flinch.

    The High Elves King appears ready to make havoc to get what he wants. "Maybe if we tten this city, we will find one faster"

 Chapter 423 Revelation

    <h4>Chapter 423 Revtion</h4>

    "King Castian, there is no need for this. Let me be the one to talk to them,"

    Can spoke up and volunteered himself, hoping this confrontation would not end in a senseless bloodshed. King Castian stared at Can for a while, before he finally nodded in agreement.

    "We came to ask for aid from a Legacy Aesir to do something important. I hope there will be no need for unnecessary bloodshed between us," Can said. His words have had an effect, and atst, the tension seems to disperse bit by bit.

    "Why do you want to see a Legacy?" the old man asked with an inquisitive tone.

    "We have found the Bifrost Gate. However, only a Legacy would be able to open that gate. We, the elves, intend to return to our ancestors through the gate," King Castian said, cutting in just as Can was about to exin.

    The moment the old man heard what the elves said, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets in shock.

    "Bifrost Gate? You have managed to find it¡­?" the old man whispered, bewilderment and anger evident in his tone.

    "No, that gate¡­ That gate will not be opened, and will never be. You will never be able to open it, and there will be no Legacy Aesir who will open it for you." The old man trembled and stepped back, his anger evident from his twisted expression.

    Seeing such blunder rejection, King Castian once again angered

    "We are not here to ask nicely!"

    As King Castian spoke of his rage, the magus-level elves stood in line and began to cast each of their magic. Two elves cast a lightning storm that rumbled across the skies. King Vizier has turned his body into solid steel, while Hanz has drawn out three swords at once. Only Can remained calm and refrained from pulling his weapon out.

    "Stop them!"

    The guards had thrown their spears with all their might. Their aim is really urate. However, with only King Vizier creating a gigantic metal shield, the spears fell before they managed to shed anyone''s blood.

    With thatmand,

    "Useless, you all will die!"

    The old man realized that their power gap was too big. And if they fought, even if they won in numbers, there was no hope for them to win. He looks panicked and tries to stop the fight as he shouted.

    "There is no legacy here! They had gone across the ocean a few days ago to destroy Arcadia and all of you elves!"

    The old man''s exnation made the magus-level elves stare at each other with revtion. For the first time after setting foot on Asgardiannd, they finally realized that the Asgardians had gone for battle.

    "An invasion?" Can asked

    "You don''t know that? Ha ha ha. That means you missed it. You came here while your house, wife, children, and grandchildren are on fire, hahaha?" the old man suddenlyughed in a strange voice. A satisfied smile spread across his face.

    King Vizier almost lunged at the old man had King Castian not patted him on the shoulder tofort him.

    "Ha ha ha ha. The frightened elven leadersforted me greatly. I know that legacy predictions are really urate. Picking the right day to crush you when the strongest is not around. Everything must be going really well." the old man provoked again

    "You damn old man!"

    "King Can, Seeing none of the Aesir is here... I think it''s the biggest invasion they ever send, Arcadia is in danger." Hanz said anxiously.

    Can nodded in understanding and said.

    "Don''t worry. My uncle, Ivaasar, Queen Leena, and the Blood Monarch are there. We cannot be defeated so easily. Right now we should stay focused on getting a Legacy Aesir toe with us."

    Can hoped that his words would get through to them. He entrusted everything that happened to the three of them.

    "Can is right, Tristan is there. They have to kill the immortals first in order to win." King Vizier was relieved again.

    Seeing the elves before him regain theirposure was not a good sight in the eyes of the old Asgardian man. He was worried again, biting his own lip until it bled.

    "Sir, what should we do?" one of the guards asked him in a whisper.

    The old man didn''t budge and raised his wand in the air, his eyes focused on the elve magus with a serious look,

    "You guys are looking for a Legacy? There is only one Legacy person left in this ce. I am the Legacy, and I will not let you all open the Bifrost Gate."

    At that moment, with his voice shaking even more violently, suddenly the old man stomped his staff on the ground violently once, and the next second, an explosion urred.

    Boom!

    Blood and body organs sttered out. The old man just blew himself up

    The elven magus wiped their faces from the fresh blood that sttered on them.

    The moment before the old man exploded, they could feel the pressure of an enormous power from within his body.

    King Castian growled in anger. He was annoyed with himself for not realizing what was going on in the first ce.

    Meanwhile, the Jarl and the guards were also shocked by what had just happened before. Their expressions were one of utter horror, shaking and unable to do anything except stand rooted on the spot.

    King Vizier couldn''t hold back any longer and sped up to grab the Jarl, Strangled him, and lifted him into the air.

    "Where are the other Legacy Aesirs?" he snapped in a trembling voice.

    However, instead of the answer he got, the man who kept kicking the empty air beneath him smiled faintly,

    "You die here with us, you rotten elf!" He spat out a spit after saying hisst words in King Vizier''s face. And in the next second, metals grew into ws in ce of the dark elve''s fingers before he used those ws to squeeze the Jarl''s neck into pieces.

    The body was cut off from the head and King Vizier was now covered in fresh blood.

    "We have to hurry back! between the Asgard manage to destroy the Arcadia or Tristan kills all the Legacy Aesir both are bad for us" He growled while trembling in anger, then he threw the disembodied head towards the guards who had fallen to their knees on the ground.

 Chapter 424 Aftermath

    <h4>Chapter 424 Aftermath</h4>

    One day has passed since the great war in front of the Caerleon City''s gates.

    Orcs, elves, and humans alike who managed to survive set up camp in the ruinednds in front of Caerleon City. Together, they collected all the bodies of people, friends and foes alike, that were scattered all over and burned them one by one before they rot and create more problems.

    Thousands of bodies were collected, both ones still intact and those that were missing limbs and heads. All the corpses had even formed a massive pile atop the ground.

    The sight was such a macabre one, even the hardened guards of Caerleon City were unable to stop their hearts from aching. They could only wait in fear inside their posts, the sight of corpses swept through like they were destroyed by the world itself still littering the streets even with the forming massive pile.

    Screams of despair, pain, and heartbreak echoed all around, bing one into a miasma of hurt.

    Meanwhile, the orcs and elves, who had less emotions than the humans, are busy healing the injured fighters to ensure they would be able to fight again.

    Tristan walked around the posts to observe the troops. Unbeknownst to most, his hands were clenched, while his body trembled from all the emotions swirling inside him. He didn''t expect that the space knights, with all their advanced weapons, have joined forces with the Asgardians to fight his troops, even robbing them out of their livelihoods without restraint.

    Before the cleanup, Tristan had allowed his dragons Nora and Nara to fly to Evergreen Forest to give their messages to the wood elves, so thetter would speed up their movements a bit. Right now, all Tristan could do was wait.

    From this massive war, Tristan had managed to farm a lot of blood essences, so he could increase his power further. Not only that, he still has enough essence to do some enhancements to both his elven and orc soldiers.

    The bigger the war, the bigger the casualties the more powerful he became. This was his greatest strength, and this would be his trump card.

    ¡­

    Finally, the time everyone had waited for hase, but contrary to his expectations, the soldiers who came first were from the dark elves'' kingdom, led by his own wife, Princess Illiana.

    They hade from the northern skies, a few dozen of them riding wyverns. From what Tristan could sense, the only dark elves who came are the dark elf magus and the elders¡­

    The wyverns allnded close to the pile of burned bodies. From afar, the macabre sight would look like a celebratory bonfire.

    Tristan greeted them silently. He could hear the dark elves whispering to each other, as if they were gauging the Monarch''s strength the whole time.

    Then, Princess Illiana jumped down from her wyvern and approached Tristan. The woman was wearing her battle armor but still appear stunning to his eyes.

    "It seems I waste to the party," The princess said with a disappointed tone. Then, she greeted Tristan with respect right in front of all the other dark elves who were waiting for her orders.

    "I am here My Monarch"

    The dark elves princess seems to always understand him and this effectively eases Tristan''s current emotional turmoil.

    Tristan approach his dark elf wife close and said

    "Illiana, are you ready to join me for a payback?" Tristan asked while caressing Illiana''s long hair that reached down to her back. In response, Illiana only gave him a slight smile.

    "It is not yet time," she said calmly. Tristan raised his eyebrow in silent question.

    "We still need to wait for the reports from the spies I nted. I think we cannot just waltz in without preparation" Illiana said without hesitation. Though she was right, the answer only made Tristan once again irritated.

    "I cannot wait any longer, they took my sister!" Tristan said while clenching his hands around the princess'' face. Thetter was shocked, but Tristan''s outburst was still unable to make her change her mind.

    "My monarch¡­ this is more a reason to be careful about it.."

    thinking about a slight mistake would endanger his sister, Tristan quickly let go and said "you are right"

    A moment after, Tristan heard a voice from above.

    "My Monarch."

    Tristan looked up to the sky and saw the two dragons who called him. Right beforending, they changed to their human form and gave him a polite bow as theynded.

    "Yes, Nara, Nora?"

    "They havee," Nara said as she stood up straight, and Tristan raised his eyebrow in a questioning nce. However, before he could say anything, he sensed a massive power carried by the winds all around him.

    Even from this far away, Tristan could understand what the two dragons meant. The elves have spilled out from the Evergreen Forest to join them.

    A casual nce was enough for Tristan to see that the elves who came to join numbered in the thousands, which put him a bit more at ease at least. The more forces he could amass, the more chances for victory.

    In the frontmost lines, there was king Ivaasar, Queen Leena, King Hdar, Elder Dun, Prince Elroth, and Princess Serene. They all wore an exquisite suit of armor from head to toe, while Princess Serene and Queen Leena had donned their Valkyrie mode. When Princess Serene sensed his stare, she immediately ran to hug him.

    "Tristan, I''m d to see you are doing okay," Princess Serene said with a soft voice.

    After everyone had gathered, Tristan took a sweeping nce at them all and saw the leaders of the wood elves had managed to amass the number of soldiers they had promised. This will be a war to decide whether elves would remain the strongest race on this, or the crown would fall to someone else.

    However, before he could say anything, he felt the pressure all around change drastically. Great power was approaching, right from the southern side of the capital. He saw the high elves led by Kolvar had blotted out the sky.

    That was not the source of the power he sensed, however. He looked in the southwest direction and saw someone unexpected.

    King Castian, Can, Hanz, King Vizier, and Osgiliath the strongest group has arrived

 Chapter 425 Gathering

    <h4>Chapter 425 Gathering</h4>

    For the first time in thousands of years, dark elves, wood elves, and high elves have all gathered together in the same ce. They have the same objective, to finally defeat the Asgardians and rid of the new foreign enemy from the sky.

    King Castian, Can, Hanz, King Vizier, and Osgiliath hade back from their failed mission. Tristan didn''t need to hear any reports, for King Castian''s expression was enough to give the oue away.

    "Everyone is here, let''s discuss the best way to deal with the invader" Tristan shouted.

    This time, King Castian didn''t reject. He agreed with Tristan, right now, the best course of action was to attack all the Asgardians, so he could obtain what he wanted ¨C one of the Legacy.

    They all followed Tristan, but only the leaders were invited.

    A whileter, they gathered in the Caerleon town hall where the chief orcs have waited since the war was over.

    Karra, Ghrall, Scarr, and Uriel had just received some treatments from the wood elves. With a gaze full of respect, they bowed and weed the Monarch.

    "We have gathered here to prepare for a counterattack," Tristan said. The others stared at him with a serious look.

    "I believe that all of you were preparing your troops. Your strength will be crucial in ending this war. so I hope all of you are ready to give this everything you have. We all will fight side by side to ughter them all."

    Chiwiiik!

    Chiwiiik!

    The weaker orcs who were permitted to listen to the discussion all shouted in delight while mming their feet onto the ground. They raised their weapons high, as if to show off their enthusiasm and share in Tristan''s excitement.

    Tristan then asked the elven leaders to confirm how many soldiers they have gathered to fight in a total war against the Asgardians for daring to invade a city in Arcadia.

    He was given a quick rundown by the wood elf leaders ¨C Queen Leena, King Hdar, and Prince Elroth. As they discussed before, the wood elves'' forces have increasedpared to before. After hearing about the threat, a lot more citizens decided to volunteer and fight for the elves'' position in the world.

    Kingdom of Vanyar, Kingdom of Mirkwood, Kingdom of Ithillien, and Kingdom of Forlorn have prepared ten thousand soldiers to fight. Those who participated in the defense of Arcadia were also ready to fight again, both for their race and to avenge their fallenrades.

    Meanwhile, the dark elves Illiana gathered were still furious after the death of their strongest elder. Their main objective right now is to kill the Full Moon Magus who killed the elders, along with their Space Knight underlings. Right now,pared to the Asgardians, they hated the Space Knights teh most.

    "Eleven dark elf magus, 7000 dark elf soldiers, and 30000 Uruk have been waiting in the north, all ready to fight," Illiana said when she had the chance, and quickly added.

    "Before we attack, I think it is better for us to wait for information from the spies I have gathered. Their information will be vital to secure our victory," Illiana exined, as she looked at the other leaders. Right now, this is the best strategy she could do.

    The others whispered amongst each other, talking about the dark elf princess'' suggestion. However, Tristan, who disagreed from the beginning, decided to cut in.

    "We have no time to wait, we should attack swiftly," Tristan exined, "All I need is for the soldiers to attack the Asgardians as a distraction, while I will lead a team of the strongest elves magus to head toward the pce and kill their leaders and ended the battle"

    Tristan was already consumed by rage. His head throbbed when he thought about his sister. He has no idea of her fate right now.

    He could only hope they won''t torture or kill her.

    Then, Serene grabbed his hand and tried to calm him down.

    Illiana decided to add while speaking slowly, "My Monarch, please listen to me¡­ this war is not just about saving your sister or taking back the pce," Illiana looked at him and continued.

    "I know, the space knights hate the elves and the Asgardians as well, and now, they are doing their best to make the Arcadia residents hate us. I believe that if you wish to rule as a monarch, it would be in our best interest to wage war in the name of the people."

    The female dark elf continued looking at the other leader saying "we need to give a proper battle that sent the right message"

    Tristan clenched his fist. He understood what Illiana meant, but in truth with his sister''s life on the line, he had little care for the people.

    However, one thing was right, he needed to calm down and not be reckless, if only for his sister''s sake. Hence, he forced himself to calm down and listen to Illiana strategy.

    "One.. no.. two more days and then we will attack. We could use the time to prepare weapons, armor, and the soldiers'' morale for this war," Princess Illiana added.

    Hearing the suggestion, Castian casually agreed. He had waited a thousand years to open the Bifrost Gate. Another day to guarantee their sess would be a wise decision.

    As Castian were the most respected elf here, everyone else immediately agreed.

    "I agree."

    "Let us wait"

    Everyone had disagreed with him, and Tristan''s heart beat faster both in fear and anger. His blood felt like it was boiling, and within seconds, his rage could no longer be contained.

    He mmed the table until it broke into splinters and ended the meeting.

    "This meeting is dismissed,"

    The other elf leaders left the ce as well.

    His emotions were vtile right now, and there was nothing they could do.

    Illiana decided to approach Serene and said.

    "We will be facing a massive war soon, we need to put away our differences and think about our Monarch"

    Serene was a little startled, but soon after, she nodded in agreement.

 Chapter 426 Restrain

    <h4>Chapter 426 Restrain</h4>

    For the first time in thousands of years, Dark Elves, Wood Elves, and High Elves ¨C three simr yet different races ¨C have all gathered together in the same ce. They have put aside their differences and united under one banner in order to achieve the same objective: to finally defeat the Asgardians once and for all.

    King Castian, Can, Hanz, King Vizier, and Osgiliath hade back from their failed mission. Tristan didn''t need to hear any reports; King Castian''s expression was more than enough to inform him of the oue.

    "Everyone is here; let''s discuss the best way to massacre the invaders," Tristan said loudly.

    This time, King Castian didn''t show an opposition. He agreed with Tristan that, right now, the best course of action was to attack all the Asgardians so he could obtain what he wanted¡ªone of the legacies.

    A whileter, they gathered in the Carleon town hall, where the chief Orcs have waited since the war was over. Karra, Ghrall, Scarr, and Uriel had just received some treatments from the Wood Elves. With a gaze full of respect, they bowed deeply and weed the monarch.

    "We have gathered here to prepare for a counterattack," Tristan said, scanning his gaze at everyone present as they stared back at him with serious looks. "Your strength will be crucial in ending this war. We all shall fight side by side to ughter them all."

    Hearing what basically the prelude of the uing bloodbath, the Orc leaders were making a lot of noise and shouting with joy as they stomped their feet on the ground. They raised their weapons high, as if to show off their enthusiasm and share in Tristan''s excitement.

    Tristan then asked the Elven leaders to confirm how many soldiers they had gathered to fight a total war against the Asgardians ¨C those who had the nerve to invade a city in Arcadia.

    He was given a quick rundown by the wood elf leaders¡ªQueen Leena, King Hdar, and Prince Elroth. The number of Wood Elves has grown immensely in a short time as many elves have volunteered to fight for their ce in the world.

    The kingdoms of Vanyar, Mirkwood, Ithillien, and Forlorn have ten thousand warriors in total ready to be deployed against the Asgardians. Those who participated in the defense of Arcadia were also surprisingly ready to fight again, both for their race and to avenge their fallenrades, children, or even spouses.

    On the other hand, the Dark Elves Illiana gathered were furious after the death of their strongest elder, thanks to those working together with the Asgardians. Their main objective right now is to kill the Full Moon Magus who killed the elders, along with their Space Knight underlings. Right now,pared to the Asgardians, they hate the Space Knights even more.

    "Eleven dark elf magi, 7,000 dark elf soldiers, and 40,000 Uruk have been waiting in the north, all ready to fight," Illiana said quickly when she had the chance.

    "Before we attack, I think we should wait for information from the spies I have gathered. Their information will be vital to securing our victory," Illiana exined as she looked at the other leaders, observing their reactions. As of right now, this is the best strategy she coulde up with.

    The others quickly whispered amongst themselves, talking about the dark elf princess'' suggestion. However, Tristan, who disagreed from the beginning, decided to cut in.

    "We have no time to wait; we should attack swiftly." Facing the pairs of eyes staring at him, Tristan quickly exined his thought. "All I need is for the soldiers to attack the Asgardians as a distraction, while I and all the magi would head toward the pce and kill their leaders, then send the Asgardians and Space Knights to their doom!"

    Rage was already consuming Tristan. His head throbbed when he thought about his sister. He has no idea of her fate right now. He could only hope they didn''t torture or kill her. Otherwise, he would make sure they paid the price.

    Serene grabbed his hand and stroked it to try to calm him down. Illiana decided to add while speaking slowly, "My Monarch, please listen to me... This war is not just about saving your sister or taking back the pce."

    Undeterred by his sharp gaze, Illiana looked at Tristan and continued her reasoning.

    " I believe that if you wish to rule as a monarch, it would be in your best interest to wage war in the name of the people, and for that, we need to have a proper battle that sends the right message."

    Hearing those words, Tristan clenched his fist tightly. He of course understood what Illiana meant, but in truth, with his sister''s life on the line, he had little care for his own people.

    However, one thing she said was right: he needed to calm down and not be reckless, if only for his sister''s sake.

    "We wait until the sun sets, then we will attack." She said, causing another round of whispers to break out. "Not only will we catch our enemies off guard, but we can also use the time to prepare weapons, and armor, and raise the soldiers'' morale for this war."

    Hearing the suggestion, Castian? agreed. He had waited a thousand years to open the Bifrost Gate. If it could guarantee their sess, another day of waiting was nothing but a wise decision.

    As Castian was the most respected elf here, everyone else immediately agreed.

    "I agree, Let us wait for more information from the spies."

    Everyone had disagreed with him, and Tristan could feel his heart beat faster both in fear and anger. His blood felt like it was boiling, and within seconds, his rage could no longer be contained.

    He mmed the table until it broke into splinters and promptly ended the meeting while walking away.

    "This meeting is dismissed."

    Soon enough the other elf leaders left the ce as well.

    Tristan''s emotions were vtile, and seeing it, Illiana decided to approach Serene and said:

    "We will be facing a war soon; we need to put away our differences for now."

    Serene was a little startled, but soon after, she nodded in agreement.

    "We need to find a way to make sure our monarch stays calm during the battle."

    Once again, Serene nodded, "Agreed."

 Chapter 427 Monarch

    <h4>Chapter 427 Monarch</h4>

    WARNING:

    This chapter contains an explicit sex scene. Please read at your own discretion.

    .

    .

    Once the war finally began, the negative impact that urred afterward would be immediately felt as it spread through various aspects of life. Starting from the casualties of both parties, the destruction of order following the disorder due to war, the prolonged trauma to children who were exposed to such tragedies, and the urrence of diseases that would arise from the event.

    In any part of the world where a kingdom has be a battlefield, innocent civilians would surely suffer the consequences the most, albeit the fact they were not responsible for the war itself.

    When destruction zed before their eyes, destroying their everyday life, the helpless people could only be trapped in horror, questioning the important role of their leaders, their king, in dealing with this problem.

    Tristan has be their king as well as their monarch, and thus, the burden of ensuring the safety of the people and the kingdom automatically fell on his shoulders. Whatever the oue of the war would be, his name could not be separated from it.

    However, on the other hand, he still has a family to protect. As an older brother, there was no way he could ignore the fact that his sister was in danger. No matter the situation, in his eyes the safety and life of his younger sibling was his top priority.

    It was supposedly an easy choice for Tristan, but right now, the kingdom he has built and the people around him all hope for him to make the ''right'' decision. One that involved the good of the people.

    As he walked through the streets of Carleon, he saw a young girl weeping for a boy a few years her senior. "Brother... Why hasn''t Father returned? Where is he?"

    Upon hearing the innocent question, Tristan felt something that he rarely feels anymore. He was once again faced with an atmosphere of mncholy, a scene that reminded of his human childhood and it somehow troubled him.

    The blood elf could no longer hold back his inner turmoil;. He decided to walk away and return to his pce, making his way towards his room with a limp as his mind weighed on what he had just seen.

    Right as he arrived in front of the door, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He was stunned to see the presence of three women, all beautiful and possessing their own unique charms, standing in front of the doorway to his room. They greeted him with gentle and warm smiles.

    ***

    First were the goddess of unrivaled beauty and his first wife, Serene. She led him to the seat, sat on the blood elf''sp, and spoke with a soft, melodious voice, "We understand that you are worried about your sister, but my king, you cannot act on impulse. Both your sister and your people are equally important, and they both need your wisdom."

    Tristan gazed into the eyes of the Vanyar princess before he let out a long sigh. "I guess being a monarch is not as easy as I thought."

    What came next was that Herrera, the purple-haired witch. She wrapped her hands around his broad shoulders and affectionately hugged his muscr body from behind as she softly whispered in his ears.

    "My Lord, there is nothing you need to worry about." Her delicate voice tickled his ears. "We, all your people, believe that you will make the best choice for us," she whispered, while rubbing his cheek lovingly.

    Tristan was silent for a moment, doubt still carved on his face. "I honestly don''t know what kind of monarch I will be."

    In front of him stood the silver-haired dark elf, and with her usual sharp gaze, she approached him; her mesmerizing lips were so close that he could feel the heat her face radiated when she said,

    "You''vee so far to unite all of us. Now that we all have gathered under your leadership, now that you are our king, you can choose to be any kind of monarch that you want, and we will follow you." Illiana replied, then gave him a soft kiss on his lips.

    Tristan could feel the negative emotions he was feeling quickly evaporating with the multiple embraces he received from the three beauties, basking in every sweet taste resulting from their shared passionate arousal.

    All the teasing nimble and soft fingers, coupled with the alluring smell they each exuded, quickly stoked the mes of his passion. He could feel his body rapidly growing hot, as he enjoyed the spectacle it was receiving.

    It was Illiana who first took off her dress and let Tristan caress her two curvy peaks. His hands were immersed in the incredible sensation they gave off.

    "Stop thinking about tomorrow, and let''s treasure our moments together."

    Those words were swiftly followed by an aggressive move by the purple-haired woman toward his manhood, which had already clearly poked at his pants.

    Tristan''s mind was clouded with desire as he eagerly reciprocated Illiana''s advances, losing himself in the moment. The intensity of their passion only grew as they explored each other''s bodies, consumed by their mutual lust.

    Tristan looked upon all three goddesses before him and said, "Serve your monarch."

    First, he carried and threw Illiana onto the bed; however, he did not join her just yet. Instead, he turned and faced the golden-haired beauty, stripped off her silver gown, and began to caress her body.

    At the same time, Hererra was already down on her knees and ying with the King''s shaft, preparing it for theing battle against the three beauties.

    Serene was no longer shy like she used to be; she stepped in and started to kiss his neck as she felt the hand exploring her luscious body, letting her lips and teeth y on his skin and leave possessive marks. The intoxicating kiss continued to spread until she reached his tempting broad chest; she didn''t forget to y with her tongue, letting Tristan release his moans.

    Impatient, Illiana forcefully called upon him, "Don''t you dare let me wait."

    Tristan''s eyes were further shrouded in a mist of lust seeing the dark elf beauty move into position, ready for the Monarch to move into her, giving her a jolt of pleasure and sinking into pure joy.

    All three lie down into Tristan''s mercy as he ravages them one after another.

    The three beauties sessfully took Tristan''s worries away, and after hours of pure pleasure, the next morning Tristan was ready to lead his army into war.

 Chapter 428 Liberation

    <h4>Chapter 428 Liberation</h4>

    A huge map that contained every known detail of the continent of Arcadia had beenid out on the table for everyone present to see. Several chess pieces could be seen ced over the pictures of several cities as markers.

    Tristan''s expression couldn''t help but harden when Illiana finally ced thest chess piece on the picture of Arcadia''s capital, Prontea.

    "ording to the information that the spies have sent, currently the enemy has seeded in taking control of seven cities. They have finished off the guards and taken some of the vigers hostage."

    Looking at the map, Castian chimed in from his seat, "If we want to take our troops to Prontea, we have to go through Zephyria and Nexusia." He was silent for a moment before adding, "With the number of soldiers we have right now, we will definitely be able to liberate those cities."

    He could say so because it was true that the troops from his side to be deployed had gathered in arger number.

    [Arkadian Knight: 5,000]

    [Arkadian Soldiers/Volunteers: 15,000]

    [Adventurers: 400]

    [Elven warriors: 10,000 ]

    [Blood Warrior Tribe: 20,000 Orcs]

    Including the 7,000 dark elves and the 40,000 Uruksing from the north, they currently have a force with more than 100,000 individuals; if they chose to wait a few more days, the number would probably have increased.

    However, the reason they didn''t choose to wait was not just because they didn''t have the time. To be honest, Tristan felt they did not really need tens of thousands more human soldiers when all the elves and orcs, the more superior beings, were ready.

    "Even so, the weapons that the Space Knights possess cannot be underestimated. I guess that they must haverge-caliber weapons ready to ravage the cities on a moment''s notice. We cannot be hasty in making decisions; otherwise, the whole city will end up buried under the ground," said Leena, voicing her opinion.

    For a brief moment, silence descended on them as everyone considered Leena''s words, which had a high probability of being true. Because of that, Tristan needed toe up with a n that didn''t result in the total destruction of his cities and the people in them.

    ***

    Zephyria City, 1 dayter.

    The space troopers could still be seen walking across the streets of the city, as well as the Asgardian warriors who filled every corner of the city. Not one resident from the area could be seen on the streets. They seemed to have vanished since the invaders came and took away their rights.

    A space trooper was on top of the watchtower with a pair of binocrs in his hand. He was surveying the area outside the city, watching for the enemy''s presence. An assignment that might look mundane at the grand scale of things, but in fact extremely crucial.

    At first, his facial expression still looked controlled before he finally choked up because he saw something that managed to awaken the chaos inside him.

    He picked up themunication device right away and sent a message informing the others of what he had seen. "rm! The enemy has made their move!"

    It didn''t take long before Captain Theron and the magus in charge arrived with three squads of fully armed space knights. The high-ranking magus captain immediately looked at the situation outside the gate through the scanners.

    A smile instantly appeared on the captain''s face as soon as he saw something interesting.

    They were the Blood Warrior Tribe warriors, divided into three legions, each divided into four groups of 3,000 orcs. Each legion will be led by an Overlord Orc, namely One Ear, Scarr, and Gundal, who just evolved thanks to Tristan''s [Blood Seal¡ªAugmentation].

    Amidst the zing mes of enthusiasm, the Orc warriors who were in the center suddenly stepped aside and made way for the four figures that were about to pass by. Seeing this, various reactions appeared on the human side.

    "There are elves among them!"

    The four figures were the High Orc Karra, the High Elf King Castian, the King of the Vanyar Ivaasar, and the king of the Dark Elves, Vizier.

    "Captain! The three elves were at the magus level! One of them is even at full moon level!" fretted one of the soldiers when he saw the scanner system.

    The captain just smiled slyly. "Interesting... they banded together to drive us away?"

    "What are we going to do, captain?"

    Turning his head, Theron sternly said, "You''ve all trained for this didn''t you? Bring out the cannons immediately! Make them regreting here!"

    "Yes captain!"

    Not long after, a total of 10ser cannons and three dozen gun-mortar howitzers made their appearance. Those weapons of destruction were all lined up along the main gate, ready to crush the enemy.

    Right behind the firing line, around 1,000 Space Knights were seen in orderly lines, fully equipped from top to bottom. Their bodies werepletely protected by very sturdy power armor, whereas various kinds of sma,ser, particle, and kic weapons were ready in their hands.

    The people from Asgard did not want to be left behind either; the tribe of barbarians, with a total of around 10,000 people, had been brandishing their shields and weapons all along, shouting war cries and curses at the Blood Warrior Tribe warriors.

    "Fire!"

    The powerful explosion from the cannons were unleashed following the order, and although the powerful magus elves managed to block some of them with spells, it still managed to create destruction for some of the Orcs who were at the forefront, most of whom were weak species such as grunts, or the Uruks who were deliberately ced in the first line.

    The shattered bodies were quickly trampled by theirrades in the second line of defense, who kept running forward to attack the enemy. They charged across thendscape with thunderous roars, as if they shook the earth and heavens.

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    "Chiwiik!

    Theser cannon again dismembered the warriors who were next in line, but those were still filled with orcs of the weakest species. In the meantime, the soldiers with the strongest rankings, such as Elves and Orcs, were overloaded at the very back and didn''t move an inch from their position.

    Seeing this, Theron spoke sarcastic words. "What a stupid leader." With a scorn, he added, "Sacrificing his brainless minions like this."

    "Then should our soldiers advance, captain?" asked one of the knights.

    "Why waste blood and sweat when you have the cannon to rely on?" said the captain emphatically. "Keep firing the guns; finish them all!"

    "Ready!"

    Theser cannons continued unleashing their might, ughtering the other side one-sidedly. However, they also have their limit; after a few shots, they be overheated and have to stop for a few seconds to cool down.

    It was at this time that all the troopers and Asgardians suddenly got goosebumps. They had their mouths wide open when they saw a giant crimson creature flying in the sky while spitting fire from its mouth.

    "Dragon!" they shouted horrifically.

    The captain gaped wide open as soon as his eyes caught the monstrous figure of the dragon. But the man quickly realized the dangerous situation that had suddenly appeared.

    "Switch targets, shoot the dragon!"

    The firing team understood; some of them immediately aimed at the dragon''s body.

    BOOM!

    Continuous shots managed to hit the creature''s giant body. However, the resulting violent explosion of the howitzer could only make its body tremble a little, and as a result, the dragon was still flying freely in the sky and asionally spitting columns of zing fire unobstructed, killing the soldiers who manned their powerfulser cannons.

    One of the dark-skinned Jarls from one of the barbarian tribes started yelling at Space Knight when he realized the situation on his side was no longer conducive.

    "We cannot depend on the weapon anymore. Gather all your soldiers and charge outside!" Before the captain magus could say anything, the Jarl turned to his men and shouted loudly, "All warriors! Attack!!"

    Thooettt...

    The Asgardian warriors and the Space Knights both let out a war cry at the same time, and they both rushed onto the battlefield.

 Chapter 429 Liberation 2

    <h4>Chapter 429 Liberation 2</h4>

    Sparks appeared in the air as sharp weapons began to sh, and blood from both sides began to spill along with the many bodies that copsed in conditions that were often dire and gruesome.

    GROWL! CHIWIIK!

    The orcs started going crazy as the battle hit the peak, shing the enemy''s body with their axes in unmatched ferocity. While the overloaded orcs that were there no longer needed weapons to y the barbarians, they easily separated the heads of the humans from their bodies with only their bare hands, causing shower of blood rain over their own bodies

    Meanwhile, sma rifles were fired from a farther distance by the space knights who are in charge of aiming from the top of the tower. The orcs that were hit by the sma gas couldn''t escape death anymore, their bodies instantly shattered.

    The rain of arrows from the Asgardians also hit the bodies of the grotesque creatures one by one on the battlefield. Although not infrequently the arrows miss and actually hit their own warriors.

    In the midst of this chaos, a particle gun managed to hit King Ivasaar''s body who was flying above the battlefield, preying destruction upon his enemies. The electric current immediately enveloped his body, but of course the resulting wound didn''t affect him much, who is a Full Moon magus.

    With explosive rage he immediately maneuvered in the air, it was at that moment that the silver sword de was swung at a high speed that could not be seen with the naked eye. In an instant, a streak of silver appeared in the battlefield and dozens of heads from his enemies were rolling on the ground.

    On the left nk, while ferociously roaring the high orc Karra lunged at the barbarians using his ives. The screams of his victims echoed equally loud through the air as their bodies were torn to pieces as if by wild beasts.

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    BOOM!

    Amidst of the chaos of the battle, the deafening sound of another explosion sounded when the dark elf king, Vizier, used his Tier 6 spell [Inferno st] to annihte arge number of enemies. The spell was capable of creating an explosion of fire with such high intensity that even enemies who did not intend to attack it were also hit and destroyed in the raging mes.

    Captain Theron roared loudly, seeing how his troops were being ughtered one by one by the races he hated so much. Yet he couldn''t afford to rx as his eyes stared intently at the figure of an elf who seemed to be floating towards him.

    King Castiannded only several meters away with a very intense aura of anger. It was clear that he had already intended to cut the body of the space knight captain using his light de.

    "You don''t belong here. Surrender or die!"

    Captain Theron smiled haughtily. "Even if I die, I will bring you and your people with me to hell!!"

    The man immediately took out his Tier 5 weapon [Acid-Etched de]. Arge sword with a high flow of liquid sulfuric acid on the de, which is capable of melting any object in seconds with each sh.

    He mustered his energy and stamped his feet on the ground, propelling his body at breakneck speed as he swung his sword at the enemy before him. However, he was quickly blown away quite far as the king of Castian parried his attack using his shining sword.

    Such a result was expected from their sh, since the two were notparable ¨C a Crescent Moon against a Full Moon magus. Even with his high tech weapon and armor, the captain couldn''t bridge the gap he has with the high elf king.

    Even so, not willing to give up so easily, the captain immediately picked up his bearings and continued his assault, using quick movement to maneuver as he drew and unleashed his sword on the other party.

    The captain was only able to throw half a dozen blows before sharp ice projectiles formed in King Castian''s hand; he used the tier 5 spell [Ice Lance]. As soon as thetter waved his hand, the projectiles immediately shot out at the speed of light; powerful enough to knock the captain to the ground hard and severely fracture his power armor.

    The high elf king looked down on the captain, saying, "Anyst word, human?"

    Captain Theron raised his head and looked around, seeing how the battle quickly turned in the favor of the orcs and elves as his soldiers were overwhelmed. Nheless, a condescending smile was still present on his face as he essed a device on his arm and chuckled darkly.

    "You might win this battle, but you are not winning the war!"

    What he had just done was sending an order to use all the remaining power in the cannons to blow the army away. However, as soon as he turned around to look at the tower, he was shocked to see that his space knight warriors, who were guarding the weapons, had been reced by a single individual ¨C a white-haired elf carrying a human head in his hand.

    The figure flew and threw the severed head of Jarl Mkai, causing it tond several feet from the captain''s lying body. The man seemed to have met his death swiftly, as evidenced by his wide open eyes.

    "Who are you?!!"

    The white-haired elf immediately descended from the sky and walked towards Captain Theron calmly. "I am the King of Arcadia."

    At first, the human captain red in surprise, but then his expression suddenly changed again. He grinned widely. "Good. It''s good that you''re here. The right choice because you will soon see the ughter of your own people. I''ll kill them all!!"

    Tristan replied with a mocking smile. "Which people? I think your prison is already empty."

    The man was stunned. "Impossible!!" he shouted in disbelief.

    Hearing those words, Captain Theron waspelled to turn in that direction. There, he saw several space knights casually walking out of the city.

    "Useless! Why are you guys here?! You should be guarding the prison!!!" His anger peaked

    Tristan couldn''t help but shake his head hearing that. He snorted softly. "Don''t scold them, they are just following order" With a smile Tristan added "Mine."

    The man quickly noticed the change in his subordinate''s hateful expressions as he stared into their faces. Unbeknownst to him, they were already affected by The Blood Elf spells.

 Chapter 430 Liberation 3

    <h4>Chapter 430 Liberation 3</h4>

    It was Astrid who managed to sneak into the cities of Zephyria, she disguise herself as one of the Asgardian soldiers whose job was to send food and weapons supplies to the soldiers in the city.

    From the information Astrid got from her reconnaissance, Tristan immediately made a siege n to liberate the cities from his enemy''s control, which he nned to be carried out within a maximum period of three days.

    In order to save time, he divided his team into two groups, one was besieging the city of Zephyria, while the other was besieging the city of Nexusia. But of course, they would carry out a simr operation, where one team would wreak havoc to distract enemy forces while the other team would go and free the hostages.

    After deep contemtion, the Blood Warrior Tribe led by several elves would be the one to wreak havoc and distract the guards at the main gate.

    However, based on Tristan''s analysis and belief, these space knights who were extremely proud of their technology definitely didn''t want to jump head-on and would use their Cannons to exterminate the enemy; that''s why Tristan was forced to formte a ruthless strategy that put the Uruks and grunts in the front row.

    The reason was simple, these orcs were expendables, they could be easily bred and they dly died in battle. His elite force and the elves, on the other hand, was the opposite. So although it was cruel and cold-blooded, Tristan still went on with his n.

    When the space knights are busy annihting the cannon fodders at the forefront, then Tristan would have time to summon his two dragons. In the city of Zephyria, it was Nara who was in charge of sowing chaos and disorder, while Nora was rampaging and causing trouble in the city of Nexusia.

    As he had expected, once the two dragons appeared, the space knights immediately changed the focus of their weapons, using all their cannons to shoot at the two creatures.

    When that happened, the other space knight warriors and Asgardians had no other choice but to jump straight to the battlefield to fight the Blood Warrior Tribe and the elves there. There were simply no other options for them.

    In that exact moment, when everyone''s attention was upied with the raging battle, the other team tasked with freeing the hostages would have an easier time entering the city with all the things going on.

    The first hostage rescue team was led by Tristan himself, followed by Prince Elroth, king of Hdar, and also Levi whose main job was to send the residents to a camp that had been set up behind the hill.

    Meanwhile, the second hostage rescue team was led by Can, along with Hanz, Osgiliath, and Elder Duran.

    With this, the residents of both cities were liberated within hours.

    ****

    By this time Tristan had returned to the camp. He saw his two wives simultaneously running towards him, they threw their bodies and immediately hugged him tightly.

    The elf immediately smiled gently and looked at her beloved face in turn. "I''m fine"

    In a way, the battle this time brought great advantages for Tristan. Because apart from the abundance of blood essence he managed to obtain, he also managed to plunder the weapons of the space knights which would definitelye in handy in the future.

    "Are Can and Hanz not back yet?" asked Tristan, when he could only see Osgiliath, elder Dun, Kolvar, and Queen Leena present at the camp from team two.

    Queen Leena shook her head in response before saying, "ns have changed a bit. Can and Hanz are waiting for us in Nexusia, after that we will go to Prontea together."

    Tristan couldn''t help but slightly frown when he heard the unexpected news. He was really annoyed, why did that damn Can change the n without his consent. Still, he chose to quickly hide the annoyance in his heart.

    Later that day, as the army began to advance through the cities, Tristan heard the voices of people''s conversations in his ear.

    "I heard, our King Can is the one willing to give up his throne for the Monarch?"

    "Is it true? But why?"

    "I heard the Monarch much stronger, he is the better person to lead our kingdom:That''s why King Can is supporting him."

    "Correct. The king could now even unify the kingdoms of Wood elves, high elves, and even dark elves! He can also chase away the Ounders!"

    "I heard he is also the chosen one, the elves called him the Blood Monarch!"

    "This is amazing!!"

    "Long live His Excellency! Long live the Blood Monarch"

    This was part of the Liberation proposed by Can, a way to bring the people''s support to the war, the real meaning of Liberation.

    However, the cheers and praises that were directed at Tristan somehow made his heart feel ufortable. He pensively looked at the faces of his people, it was clear that they put a lot of hope on his shoulders.

    Suddenly, Tristan''s eyes caught the silhouette of a human figure approaching him. The other party was wearing a dark cloak covering their face.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t even get a hundred meters close to him before being stopped by one of his Elite BlooWarriors.

    "Arghhh!"

    A scream of pain was heard as the figure fell to the ground. Tristan immediately saw the figure''s face; it was an Asgardian, in fact, one of their powerful Jarls.

    "I came to bring an important message to your king!"

    Seeing Tristan''s cold gaze, the man said the message with a trembling body "Cease your attack right now, surrender¡­ Or your sister, La, will die¡­."

    Hearing his sister''s name being called in such a sentence, he immediately gritted his teeth loudly, the veins on his neck popping out. It was obvious he wanted to dissect the person in front of him alive. But Tristan quickly cast the Blood Seal and, with rage, drained all the information from the man.

    Unfortunately for him, the man was a lower-tribe Jarl. Trusted enough to deliver the message but not important enough to carry any critical information. He even came with conviction, prepared to be killed to get honored for his tribe.

    "You came for honor? I will give you one."

    With a simple order, the man was unable to resist before he started to pull his knife and cut his own fingers one by one.

    "Now you can return with your honor."

    Themotion quickly brought attention to one of his wives, who quickly approached him.

    "What happened?!" Serene asked when she saw multiple gingers on the grounds.

    "Just people who want to mess with me," Tristan said.

    ***

    Nexusia City

    Amidst the pile of corpses killed in the recent war, Can was standing face to face with another ck-robed figure. This time the mysterious figure is a Space Knight whose job is to send a message to the former king of Arcadia.

    "Kill the blood elf, Bring his head for us."

    "Or else What!?"

    The messenger turned around, a wide grin evident on his face. "Then you will see bodies of your citizen hang on the wall of Arcadia..."

 Chapter 431 Camp

    <h4>Chapter 431 Camp</h4>

    Golden Rainforest

    Standard barracks made of wood and tents were set up on the outskirts of the forest. The area around the camp was surrounded byrge logs that function as a defensive wall, and reinforced with various weapons, such as shields, cannons, and giant slingshots that could strengthen the protection against the enemy attacks that mighte at any time.

    It was a simplified description of Tristan''s defense camp set up on the outskirts of the ce.

    Golden Rainforest was a forest surrounded by valleys located 300 miles from the eastern boundary of the cities of Nexusia and Prontea. With dense vegetation and many species of nts and animals that could be a source of food, Tristan chose that ce to set up his military defense camp.

    Another reason why he chose this location was because this forest was close to his destination, the city of Prontea. Thus, it would be easier for him to monitor the situation in the city; Like he was doing now.

    Armed with the [Infinitylens] binocr he had looted from yesterday''s battle, Tristan could observe every detail of the city very clearly. That was because the specifications of the binocr was high. Although the binocr was for astronomical observations, the distance of observation could be pretty far.

    Seeing the state of the city that had been ravaged somehow made Tristan''s heart ache, he felt that he had made a powerful bond with the city in just a span of a few months.

    He suddenly thought about the fate of his people in that city. Behind the tightly closed doors of the houses, there must be many souls who were being stricken with fear. Just thinking about it, Tristan felt bitter.

    His body suddenly trembled as he looked towards the pce. He did not know what kind of fate would befall his sister in that building.

    The news from the Messenger was ringing in his ears once more; Could he meet La again?

    "Feel sad thinking about your people?"

    A voice suddenly appeared from behind him. Tristan turned around, right in front of him stood a half-human elf he hated.

    "Why are you here?!" asked Tristan sarcastically.

    Can looked at the cityscape below him, his gaze wandering far away. "Just like you... I thought about their fate."

    Tristan momentarily fell silent. "You are no longer the king. Do you still feel responsible for them?"

    The former King of Arcadia smiled faintly. "Once you vow to protect your people and the whole kingdom, then the burden of responsibility will follow you to death," he said.

    The man was stunned, Can''s words seemed to be embedded in his mind. Regardless of how much he hated the man, Tristan couldn''t deny that Can was a very wise and remarkable king, although their way of ruling was contradictory.

    It made him think, could he be a king who always prioritized the safety of his people like Can?

    "Just be honest. Have you ever feel worried about your people?"

    Tristan immediately scowled. "Suprisingly... i actually have"

    Can smiled mysteriously. "Then, are you willing to sacrifice your life for the safety of your people, Tristan?"

    The change in atmosphere was very obvious when Can suddenly pulled out his sword. Tristan immediately turned his head upon sensing the movements from some direction. Hanz was seen sprinting towards him while gripping his sword tightly.

    Realizing the situation quickly, the man immediately put on a crooked smile. "You want to kill me?"

    SPLAT!

    ***

    Solitude Field

    Day after day came in a row, the chaos that arose as a result of the conflict between the two sides continued to instill fear in people''s hearts. The sounds of shing swords, powerful explosions of magic, and the cries and screams of the citizens had been altered into a melody that was no longer foreign to be heard in conflict-prone areas.

    However, far to the southwest of the heart of the Kingdom of Arcadia, 100 miles away beyond the stretching mountains, a contrasting atmosphere which was so calming could be felt in the expanse of field. The ce was quiet without riots; It was a massive field called the Solitude Field.

    Amidst the grass that grew high, stood five male figures who were the leaders of the elves. There was Can, the former King of Arcadia, with his loyal warrior Hanz, the King of the High Elves Castian, the King of the Dark Elves Vizier, and the strongest elf of all, the King of the Wood Elves Ivasaar.

    Silence enveloped them, until suddenly the wind howled and the leaves broke free from their stalks. An airne flying across the sky made a loud, piercing noise, sending the frightened little birds flying away from their nests.

    The flying airne, which was the size of the firefly thennded on the ground. As soon as the door of the airne opened, eleven figures from the human race immediately descended and set foot on thend.

    They were all important figures from Asgardian and Space Knight, with powers that were no less great than the opponent side. In total, there were 1 Full Moon Magus and 3 Half-moon Magus from Space Knight. Meanwhile, from Asgard, there were 3 Half-moon Magus and 4 Crescent Moon Magus.

    General Jareth, the Full Moon Magus of Space Knight, immediately led the others to the enemy''s camp. Arriving in front of Can, he immediately spoke with a sly smile etched on his face. "I heard you have done the deed, now let me see it"

    Can then pull out a bloody ck cloth and when he opened it, there it was the head of the Blood Elf.

    The sight made the Asgardians turn amused, a few of them has seen the blood elf before and to see him dead gave them some smile, the Space knights however was not convinced.

    [ Cyclone Grasp ]

    In an instant, a sudden gust of wind blew from General Jareth''s body. The wind condensed and formed a giant palm, and in the blink of an eye, the palm suddenly moved swiftly and headed for Can.

    And without anyone noticing, the item inside the ck cloth had suddenly changed ces. General Jareth put away the ck cloth, an evil smile immediately formed on his face upon seeing the object in his hand. "Is this really him?."

    "Its really not easy to kill him. Now, fulfill your promise! Get off this!" Can snapped angrily. Followed by the hateful res that Vizier and Hanz sent at the Space Knight.

    Major Cassius stepped forward, he replied to Can''s words with a greedy smile, "You did good, unfortunately, we are not satisfied with just the death of the Blood Elf."

    Anger immediately took over Ivasaar. "How dare you break your promise!"

    "You will all die in this ce!"

    Space Knights and Asgardians were confident to fight the elves, because judging from the number and level of strength alone, it was certain that their side would win against Can''s side, especially without the Blood Elf who was their greatest and strongest enemy in this world.

    In a situation like this, where Can''s party only consisted of 1 Full Moon Magus and 4 Half-moon Magus; If a huge battle broke out, then it was certain that their side would suffer heavy losses.

    However, King Castian, who had been silent from the start and only observed the situation, suddenly spoke up. "You are so confident about winning the fight?" he said with a mysterious smile etched on his face.

    The Aesir and Space Knights instantly red upon seeing the three Half-moon Magus, Aesir Vidar, Tyr, and Firsetti suddenly moving toward the elves and stand by their sides.

    "You traitors!! You will pay the price for having dared to betray us!!!" Aesir Bragi exploded furiously.

    "Sorry, old man, but I dont trust these outsiders at all" Vidar hissed

    The clouds suddenly darkened, while fiery thunder rumbled in every corner of the horizon. Aesir Tyr closed his eyes, concentrating on the energy gathering in his open palms.

    [ Electric Burst ] [ Magic spell tier 7 ]

    The battle between powerful magus quickly started.

 Chapter 432 Raid

    <h4>Chapter 432 Raid</h4>

    Meanwhile, far on the horizon, two Magical Creatures were seen flying side by side towards a certain ce. On top of one of those giant''s bodies sat a white-haired elf who was ready to smear his whole body with the enemy''s blood again.

    Yes, the elf was none other than Tristan!

    Unbeknownst to many people, a few days ago, when Can and Tristan were talking to each other in their defense camp in the Golden Rainforest, the two of them had prepared a very well-thought-out n.

    At that time, Can told Tristan that during the operation to liberate the city of Nexusia, he had met Aesir Vidar after the Messenger had left with a message for him.

    Aesir Vidar made an offer to Can to cooperate with him in expelling the invaders, because Aesir Vidar and several other Aesir had realized that the real goal of the Space Knight did not necessarily want to kill the Blood Elf, but they also wanted to rule this.

    Can and Vidar finally arranged a n and formed two teams. The first team containing the strongest Magus would fight in the Solitude Field. Meanwhile, the second team, which contained Tristan and the remaining elves, would attack the pce at the same time.

    When Can exined the n, at first Tristan was hesistant. Can, however, kept on convincing him that maybe this would be a perfect opportunity for him to save La.

    Finally, Tristan agreed to follow the n. He used [Blood Synthesis] skill and made a fake head to trick the Space Knights. All to increased the chance of the enemy not massacring the people of Prontea.

    The awaited day had arrived. Both teams had gone to their respective operations at once.

    At this time, the Blood Elf had arrived at his destination with his two dragons. Their presence, of course caused amotion among the guards. Seeing two gigantic creatures hovering above them made them panic.

    A Space Knight standing on the watchtower immediately shouted his lungs out.

    "We are under attack!!!"

    "Prepare to attack!!!"

    rm sounded deafeningly and the guards prepared to attack from their positions as the Space Knight Soldiers were ready with their Cannons.

    It was the cannons that were originally nned to be used to y the people in the town now changed direction and aimed to kill the giant creatures.

    [ Target locked ]

    "Howitzers! Shoot!"

    WOOSH...

    BOOM! KABOOM!

    Cannon fireing from various directions was easily dodged by Nora and Nara. Instead, the shots missed and destroyed their own side.

    Arghhh!

    The screams of the people who had fallen victim to the misfiring resounded. Instantly, bits of flesh scattered, and a pool of blood was created. Panic ensued in that ce.

    Meanwhile, Tristan still stood calmly in his position, observing the melee from Nora''s back. He still didn''tunch any attacks. The elf just repelled the rain of arrowsing towards him using the highest grade ymore Sword he made with [Blood Synthesis].

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    The Space Knights standing on the balcony of the pce started to form a circle, firing their sma and kic weapons from all directions.

    Continuous shots stormed at Tristan and he made use of [Blood Synthesis] skill to create a defensive shield.

    A blood red dome covered him like a giant umbre, blocking all the arrows and gunshots that attacked him indiscriminately.

    The sounds seeded in causing the guards inside the pce to rush out to check the situation. Tristan immediately smiled upon seeing thousands of people finally gathered under him; He found his prey!

    The Blood Elf immediately ordered his two dragons, "Do as nned. Don''t kill all of them, don''t damage their weapons... And most importantly, don''t destroy or burn the pce. My sister is inside!"

    "Understood, My King!"

    As per their King''s orders, the two dragons started to rampage, sending some of the soldiers running while screaming out of their lungs. Their escape, however, led to another disaster, because the hordes of humans who tried to escape were immediately blown up by Nara''s me.

    The Bloodgem Dragon immediately spat out a fiery breath capable of exploding various [Explosion] objects.

    KABOOM!

    In just a few seconds, thousands of people who were on the run were immediately annihted. Pieces of their bodies scattered, even flown away into every corner of the pce, making the ce look like a human ughterhouse.

    "Good, Nora!"

    Tristan immediately carried out his n, he performed [Blood Extraction] in order to collect more [Blood Essence]. Because Tristan believed he had to be able to control the Space Knight soldiers. They would definitely be useful in the future, not to mention the tremendous advantage he would get if those high-tech weapons fell into his hands.

    And the only way to do that was with the [Blood Seal]. For the sess of the process, of course, he needed more blood.

    The operation to liberate the city back then did manage to give him a lot of [Blood Essence], but it was still not enough for Tristan. Moreover, there was a hefty price he needed to pay for summoning the two dragons.

    Because of that, he had to ughter some of the soldiers to collect more blood, thus he would be able to control the others soldiers.

    [ Blood Extraction ]

    [ 150.000... ]

    [ 280.000... ]

    [ 180.000... ]

    The red mist spread throughout the pce, making the sky turn into a sea of ??blood.

    The terrifying sight managed to make the soldiers look like living statues. They froze in fear as well as in amazement upon witnessing how the Blood Elf absorbed all the blood from the fallen soldiers.

    [ 300.000... ]

    [ A mix of 450.500 high-quality blood cells was found ]

    [ Extracting and filtering the blood cells ... ]

    [ 200,190 Blood Essence points gained ]

    Tristan smiled with satisfaction after seeing the notification.

    "Good, now just move on to the next n."

    [ Blood Mastery ¨C Blood Seal ]

    [ Choose a target to seal ]

    The blood mist drifted from Tristan''s body and headed for his targets one by one. Fear was evident on the faces of those poor humans, while screams echoed throughout the pce. The people who managed to escape death ran aimlessly, trying to save themselves.

    [ Target Sessfully Sealed ]

    [ 2600 human is under control ]

    [ 200,000 Blood Essence has been consumed ]

    [ Current Blood Essence: 300, 540 ]

    "Finish them!!!"

    SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

    BANG! BANG! BANG!

    Paleness and confusion immediately framed the faces of the Space Knights and Asgard Soldiers who had managed to escape Tristan''s [Blood Seal] influence, when theirrades suddenly turned around and started ughtering their own people.

    On the right nk, the Space Knights were fighting with each other, attacking everyst one of them with their high-tech weapons. Shooting a rifle, or swinging an electric sword at an opponent who was once a friend became a sight to behold.

    Meanwhile, on the left nk, civil war also urred. The Asgardians drew swords and axes at each other, beheading them and smearing their bodies with the blood of their fellow soldiers.

    Wasting no time watching the chaos, Tristan immediately jumped down from Nora''s body and walked towards one of the Space Knights he managed to seal.

    "Show me the ce where my sister is!"

    However, before he could get an answer, an attack from another direction suddenly rushed back to him. 3 airnes took off and appeared to annihte him.

    The engines attached to the airnes began to transform, and in an instant, an extremely bright beam of ionic energy shot towards him.

    "My King!"

    Nora immediately dashed off to save her master. Tristan deftly jumped onto Nora''s back and dodged the attacks.

    WOOSH! KABOOM!

    A blinding explosion of light managed to destroy part of the pce roof. Tristan clenched his fists tightly, feeling agitated at the thought of his younger sister who was most likely in the building.

    Thooettt...

    Finally, the long-awaited help came at the right time. High in the sky, several Elves appeared riding Wyverns. They were Queen Leena, Prince Elroth, Lord Hdar, Levi, Osgiliath, and Kolvar.

    Queen Leena, who was part of the group, immediately looked at Tristan and nodded her head, signaling the man to take action.

    Tristan understood, he jumped off the dragon''s back and rushed into the pce to save his sister, fully trusting his fellow elves to deal with the Space Knights as nned.

 Chapter 433 Sister

    <h4>Chapter 433 Sister</h4>

    Armed with information from a space knight that he managed to seal, Tristan immediately ran towards a tower where his sister had been locked up all this time. Still, Tristan''s efforts to meet La were not as easy as one might imagine.

    Along the way, he was constantly blocked by Space Knights who managed hide in the pce. However, he didn''t need to get his hands dirty to ughter them this time, because there were already several Space Knight soldiers under his control and willing to open a path for him.

    Finally, Tristan arrived at the gigantic door of a room. Without wasting time, he immediately smashed the door open.

    He could see a brown-haired girl who had previously cowered in fear in the corner of the room, immediately got up as soon as she saw the arrival of Tristan. "Brother!!!"

    La spontaneously ran while spreading her arms, but before she could get closer, suddenly a sh of white light shone brightly; A spherical projectile with an electric spark was thrown at her.

    [ Thunderous Throw ]

    WOSSH ... BOOM!

    "Ahhhh!"

    "La!!!"

    The girl closed her eyes tightly, her small body was suddenly thrown up against the window. Pain immediately bombarded her as soon as the sound of broken ss was heard, indicating that the attack had seeded in making her fall from the top of the tower.

    BRAK!

    "La!" Tristan screamed like a madman. He deftly used his [Blood Synthesis] ability, creating a or any object that could prevent La from hitting the ground.

    "My King!"

    His movements halted, a familiar voice called out to Tristan in the middle of the chaotic situation; The owner of the voice turned out to be Nara, who was flying in front of Tristan.

    The man then realized something. A sudden sigh of relief was heard as soon as he saw his sister''s body lying on top of Nara''s body; Apparently, the Dragon Bloodgem had caught La''s body in time.

    Tristan then jumped on his dragon body, he immediately checked La''s condition. The man was a little grateful, because the attack wasn''t from a high tier spell. Thus, even though La was injured and unconscious, at least the wound wasn''t life threatening.

    "Bring La back first!" he ordered Nara, while staring furiously at the Magus, who had been staring at him from the window with a grin full of mockery.

    "Very well, My King."

    Nara carried out the order and now the two of them were facing each other in the middle of the room, with a visible turmoil of hostility zed from their eyes.

    "You dare to hurt my sister, i will give you the most excruciating death!"

    It was a half-moon magus, a presence as strong as the mighty Can, but not enough to be a decent match for the current blood monarch.

    Without wasting any more time, the Magus named Vernon immediatelyunched an opening attack. Both of his hands were raised up, and at that moment, the weather suddenly changed drastically.

    The sky was filled with ck clouds that covered the sunpletely, while the thunder roared as though it was about to smite the whole kingdom.

    Suddenly, a powerful bolt of lightning descended, copsing the roof of the building and ending up hitting the crescent moon Magus'' body.

    BLARRR!

    Tristan felt d¨¦j¨¤ vu when he saw the scene in front of him. And sure enough, the spell Vernon used was a spell that seemed to have been used by Prince Janus when fighting Tristan and ended in his own death.

    Tristan was originally convinced of that until the Magus'' clothes shattered and changed into white armor that dazzled his eyes to the point of blinding him; It wasn''t the ck armor like Prince Janus''. From this, Tristan already knew that it was a different spell.

    [ Lightning re ] [ Magic spell tier 7 ]

    The spell was one level higher, because besides being able to increase the effect of lightning-based magic for a certain time, the ze that Vernon''s armor shed could cause his opponent''s eyes to go blind if they were forced open; Thus, in a situation like this, the opponent could only depend on his Katra to fight. Of course, it would be very beneficial for the spell user.

    Knowing that, Tristan used [Blood Synthesis] to create something that looked like a thick cloth to protect his eyes. High-grade ymore Sword made of blood was also created.

    At the same time, a long silver sword appeared in Vernon''s hand, it was a tier 5 weapon enveloped in a stream of lightning.

    Through his enhanced sense of hearing, Tristan could hear any sound that arose from every movement of his opponent.

    Thump!

    Starting from the sound of the floor being hit hard when Vernon jumped high.

    Swoosh...

    Until the sound of the air being split by the sharpness of the silver sword de. He could hear all of them.

    And now predicting the oing deadly attack was easy for him. When the Magus began to maneuver in the air and turned upside down, it looked like a rocket was hurtling towards Tristan.

    Thereafter, the Blood Elf also jumped, responding directly to the Magus'' attack with his ymore Sword.

    CLANK!

    The shing sound of two weapons resounded throughout the pce. The resulting violent collision ended with Tristan throwing the magus space knight a few steps away.

    "That''s it? is that all you got?! " Tristan shouted as his gaze upon his prey.

    Not willing to let him go, Tristan quickly dashed forward and within just a few swings of his sword, the space knight magus was already overwhelmed, he was repeatedly pushed backward. Seeing it, the corner of Tristan''s lips curled into a satisfied smile; It turned out that the Magus'' sword skills weren''t much better than his.

    However, that didn''t immediately give him the upper hand, because there came a time when Vernon managed to get a chance tounch an attack.

    The Magus thrust his sword into Tristan''s neck. The Blood Elf, however, managed to dodge it in time, causing the attack to miss and only graze his left shoulder.

    In that very second, Tristan could feel that his hands were slowly getting hot as though they were covered in scalding coals. Suddenly, his entire left hand ckened like it had just been scorched.

    The wind blew gently, yet it managed to destroy Tristan''s left hand, just like ashes from a burning piece of paper.

    However, the Blood Elf didn''t care about it. He immediately used [Blood Synthesis] to form a new hand.

    A look of worry quickly came out of Vernon''s face when he saw how Tristan''s hand immediately formed again.

    Tristan smirked evilly. "Now it''s my turn"

 Chapter 434 Take over

    <h4>Chapter 434 Take over</h4>

    CRACK!

    Tristan dashed in and managed tond a hard punch right on his target, a cracking sound was acutely heard. The Blood Elf marshaled all of his power into destroying Vernon''s armor, bombarding him with fist attacks.

    BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

    Meanwhile, the other party ultimately noticed that his only protective shield was starting to crack. He then keenly tried to counterattack. The Space Knight Magus once again cast a spell he was talented at, "Lightning Javelin.

    There was a roar of thunder that filled the sky, as though the sky was about to copse. In a split second, hundreds of ring lightning spears suddenly appeared and fell from the sky, shooting toward Tristan like a rainstorm.

    Sensing the iing attack, the man immediately jumped high while pointing his hands up. Right on the heels of that, hundreds of projectiles shaped like sharp, jagged spheres formed from blood flew toward the sky to shatter Vernon''s lightning spears.

    BOOM!

    The moment the two weapons collided, a huge explosion was inevitable. The ground shook, while the entire pce wall began to crack. The impact of the explosion shook the three airnes that were hovering in the air and contained Tristan''s fellow elves who were struggling inside.

    Vernon found that he was lying down with his armor already destroyed. When he tried to get up, his face turned shocked to find hundreds of blood spheres shooting toward him and deftly cutting his body like butter.

    SPLAT! SPLAT!

    "ARGHH!"

    The magus space knight couldn''t stand the pain as his body was mutted into several pieces.

    Amidst the thick, flying dust that nketed the surroundings, Tristan appeared, looking at Vernon like a lion targeting its prey.

    Knowing he had lost, the space knight said, "I have tried my best; you win. Kill me."

    The reply he received, however, was, "If you think you will die easily after hurting my sister, you are mistaken."

    Tristan suddenly roared. "Nora!"

    Vernon turned terrified when he suddenly felt severalrge, sharp nails cutting into the flesh of his shoulder.

    "ARGHH!!!"

    The man screamed his lungs out as the extreme pain sted his logic when the creature started to tear out his flesh.? His immortal body helped him regenerate, but it was actually what Tristan was counting off.

    The dragon tears up just enough to keep him regenerating and continue bringing excruciating pain to the magus.

    "Please kill me, please!"

    "No, not yet."

    However, at this moment, Tristan heard a loud explosion from another direction. It was a crash between two of the Space Knight airnes, and the ground once again shook from the crashing of two gigantic objects. The people around the crash site of the objects also fell victim, both from the Space Knights and Asgardians who were under Tristan''s control.

    Seeing this, Tristan decided to cast [blood extraction] toward the dying Magus and forcefully take the high-quality blood, just enough to drain all of his strength and recover his own wound. Then he cast [blood syntehesis] to restrain the man.

    "Unfortunately, I don''t have time to y with you." Not now¡­ anyway"

    He then turned around, leaving the space knight magusmander in desperation.

    Tristan headed toward the crash and found the explosion of the two airnes growing more and more intense before he saw Osgiliath, who appeared from behind the wreckage of the airnes and used an ice spell to prevent more damage before the mes spread to the engines.

    When Tristan saw that Osgiliath had seeded in carrying out his mission, he then rushed to the other airne. He sized up the area with a keen eye, noticing the corpses of the Space Knights scattered among the wreckage. In the midst of the piles of corpses, two figures were also standing and watching the surroundings. The appearance of Queen Leena and Lord Hdar made Tristan breathe a sigh of relief. He was grateful to see that his mother-inw was safe.

    Queen Leena immediately smiled when she saw Tristan. "How is your sister?"

    The man then nodded. "Yes, she''s fine."

    "That''s Good"

    "Where are the others?"

    "Kolvar and Levi went to the settlement to evacuate all the residents, while Prince Elroth..." Lord Hdar trailed his words; he then cast his gaze in another direction. "He''s fighting over there."

    Tristan followed the direction of the man''s gaze. In the distance, the third airne flying in the air shook violently above the sky of the city, right above a densely popted settlement.

    Queen Leena looked worried upon seeing the sight. "I''m worried. What if it turns out that Levi and Kolvar haven''t had time to evacuate all the residents? It could be bad if the ship crashes there."

    Tristan understood his mother-inw''s anxiety, but he didn''t need to worry about it because he already had a thorough n. The man then turned to look at the three elves in front of him. "Just leave it to me. You guys keep an eye on the fight here," he said while looking at the remaining Space Knights and Asgardians, who were desperately trying to defend their lives.

    "Nara!"

    The pping of the giant wings flung dust around the ce. Tristan immediately jumped on his dragon''s back.

    He went directly into the third spaceship and casually turned all the space knights he found within using [Blood Seal] to take control of the ships. Until he finally found Elroth, who was in grave condition after a hard battle with the ship captain,

    After healing the wood elf, Tristan rushed to the control room. There remained two Space Knight Soldiers; they were the pilot and co-pilot of the airne.

    Tristan forced them to immediatelynd the airne at the pce.

    Finally, Tristan seeded in bringing the airne back to the pce. There, the war between the Space Knights and the Asgardians under his control against their side had ended, which, of course, ended with Tristan as the victor.

    However, Tristan couldn''t be satisfied yet, because even after this, there was still a fierce battle waiting for him. His fellow elves, who were currently fighting in the Solitude Field, needed his help right now.

 Chapter 435 Solitude Field

    <h4>Chapter 435 Solitude Field</h4>

    The ins were rocked by violent tremors, deafening lightning streaked in the sky, storms ravaged and mes zed across thendscape; those were a small picture of the fierce battle that urred some time ago.

    16 Magus, humans and elves, shed with each other, bringing about untold destruction. Hence a ce that was originally peaceful had now been ravaged, not a single one of which had been left untouched by the destruction.

    The king of Arcadia, Can looked to be in such a terrible state as he cast a powerful Tier 7 spell [Celestial Binding] on the leader of the space knights, Major Cassius.

    As Can raised his voice, dozens of strings of light appeared out of thin air, covering the space knight''s body like a. As though that wasn''t enough, in a matter of seconds, the old man began to feel his body being cut by the dozens of weak-looking strings.

    "Arghhh!"

    Despite his screams of pain, the strings entwined around Major Cassius''s body tightened even tighter, pressing against him so hard that they managed to prate his flesh, causing his blood to begin to spill out.

    The Magus Space Knight let out a curse when he felt his bones had been shattered into several pieces. Yet, the strings of light continued to tighten the shackles until the imprisoned person''s body crumbled and lost its shape.

    "I WILL GET MY REVENGE, YOU DAMNED ELF!!"

    The scream was followed by a speck of lighting out of the Magus Space Knight''s body, indicating that he had died. Proof that Can had seeded in bing the victor.

    The former King of Arcadia smiled contentedly, in spite of the excruciating pain caused by the fierce battle and side effects of using such a powerful spell running all over his body.

    He tried his best to look at the battlefield despite the pain rising from moving his body, paying attention to the condition of the others.

    A rumble of thunder roared in the sky, followed by a scream of pain from someone Can knew well.

    "Arghhh!"

    Can immediately turned his head in the direction the scream came from. His eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing something bad had happened to his trusted aide.

    "Hanz!"

    The Kingsde warrior''s body had been struck by hundreds of lightning spears from the [Lightning Javelin] spell, which caused him to end up falling to the ground. Every inch of his body was charred ck as he groaned in pain.

    Can growled furiously and red at the culprit, Major Xander, who was grinning at him.

    He immediately lunged forward to save his aide,pletely ignoring the condition of his own body.

    On the other hand, the battle between the duo of dark elf King Vizier and light elf Castian against the strongest space knight General Gareth did not seem toe to a good conclusion.

    The two thought they could handle the full moon magus together while Ivassar the full moon wood elf dealt with the four other space knights. However, after casting the powerful Roots Of The Earth [ Magic Spell Tier 7 ] to restrain them all into a giant cocoon, the man was no longer able to stand properly.

    As for the Asgards, they have been fighting with each other, creating massive casualties on both sides.

    In the current situation, it seemed that the elven sides would most likely suffer a crushing defeat. But then, it was precisely at this moment that the elven monarch made his appearance.

    BAM BAM BAM

    Major Zenon was taken aback to suddenly receive a bombardment of fireballs from an unexpected direction. Before his eyes, a horrifying beast that was roaring in an ear-piercing voice while showing off its sharp fangs like sword des appeared.

    s, he realized toote. Before he could do anything, the giant beast made of lumps of blood already lunged toward him.

    BAAM!

    As soon as Tristan arrived at the battlefield, he quickly used his [Blood Legacy] form and joined the fray as the blood beast.

    Tristan didn''t give his enemy any chance to fight back. He grabbed the man''s body tightly with the blood tentacles and lifted him high into the air before mming his body hard onto the ground. A crater was formed as a result of the impact.

    A chilling sound of bone cracking was heard, which was immediately followed by Major Zenon''s groan of pain.

    However, the blood beast didn''t stop there. This time, its sharp tentacles tortured its enemies. The tentacles quickly moved to attack Major Zenon who was still lying down, still recovering from the attack he received.

    The moment he felt something wrapped around his body again, he realized that he was in peril. s, there was nothing he could do. The tentacles tried to tear his armor, causing the man to groan in pain again.

    "Arghhh!"

    His movements werepletely restricted. The only thing he could do was scream as the sharp tentacles started drilling his skin.

    Feeling that destroying the Magus'' armor wasn''t enough, Tristan, who was being chased by time, continued to bombard Major Zenon''s body with his tentacles, pummeling thetter relentlessly.

    BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!

    CRACK!

    The crack was reverberating in his ears. Major Zenon immediately turned pale when he saw the beast''s vicious grin. He could feel that thest line of defense for his life was about to tear apart, and it did shortly thereafter.

    One powerful punch to an unarmored body was enough to cause the man to lose his life. His ribs were shattered, and his internal organs received an intense shock. The poor man was only able to bulge out his eyes with a mouth that continuously spewed fresh blood.

    In the end, a speck of light shot out from Major Zenon''s crushed chest.

    Seeing this, General Gareth who was thest one standing decided to fly away from the battle, leaving the duo elves in relief.

    Tristan returned to his normal form. He snorted upon seeing the remaining blood essence after the continuous battle, which exactly made him decide not to chase the general.

    It appeared the battle was finally over, however, it was at this moment that Tristan realized something was happening to Can. Despite all the wounds within his body, his figure was standing still serenely.

    The previous King of Arcadia was no longer breathing.

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