Theodluin Presdove was a 48-years-old elven guard, with high talent. Three weeks passed already since the evil humans had invaded their lands, captured their soldiers, and ambushed their elders.
Theodluin was not blind. He knew things were going south for the Grace Settlement. Half of their forces had been killed already, maybe even more considering the many elves whose whereabouts were unknown. The enemies appeared in one place, and as soon as they finished their business, they would disappear. Those who witnessed their intervention were either huge powerhouses, or captured.
Theodluin was the pride of the Presdove family, 682-years-old household which witnessed the birth of many heroes. Theodluin, however, couldn't accept what was happening in front of him.
He was the guard captain of a faction of 50 elven swordsmen.
While elven swordplay and human swordsmanship shared similarities, they were two very different styles. The elven swordplay was balanced, elegant and from a distance, it looked like a dance. On the other hand, human swordplay was relying on physique, brute force and revolved around feints and parries.
The Grace Settlement had a wide array of swordsmanship, but…The Presdove Guard Faction had met the wrong enemy. They were protecting the walls, deemed as a 'safe' area by the elders who were studying the enemies' patterns.
However, whoever thought of Drodosis' tactics as a mere pattern would be doomed! Drodosis used unpredictability, and his ability capability was several times that of his enemies. After all, elders would have to debate among themselves, before issuing their findings to the Leader Diana Lockear. Besides debating, Diana had to agree on that. Internal conflicts would erupt, and this took sometimes up to several hours! In the meantime, Drodosis could easily shift his targets, and that was exactly the flexibility he needed to overwhelm his opponents.
An elven out of two could fight. Other 'civilians', as one would call them, also knew to fight, but because of their talents in crafts, their age or injuries, they weren't powerhouses. Yet, in these difficult times, the Grace Settlement had managed to summon 3500 powerhouses to fight, most of them being as strong as preparatory knights! This was a huge number, even for Drodosis!
Back at the rear walls of the settlements, the Presdove Guard Faction led by Theodluin was surrounded by three golems who emerged from underground tunnels. As soon as the crowd of preparatory knights and knights arrived at the surface, the soil seemed to close naturally, making the ground look like untouched. This sight was too magical for the elven who had never witnessed Earth Magic!
'So this is how they avoid elders' detection! I have to report! I definitely have to give this information to the higher ups! Only then we will have a glimmer of hope!', he thought.
However, Diana and the elders had already come across this information a long time ago. They had also heard about the elven prisoners' condition. Everyday, Drodosis would emerge somewhere in the village, and throw a few executed guards' head in the wooden village.
Although Diana supressed the news, it wasn't necessarily a good thing. By keeping this calm, her subordinates lacked direct knowledge and were even more vulnerable in the eyes of her enemies!
Distracted by internal conflicts, she had trouble intervening and defending her troops for the various attacks in different locations by golems and knights. Elders with significant strength had already been captured in their own homes or killed in daylight.
"Surrender!", Siegfried shouted to the enemy, but he was only met with a refusal, "Then die!"
Opening his eyes, drawing his bow, he shot an arrow which seemed to be able to deal 25 points of damage, a considerable amount for a novice knight. His men, following his actions, all released an arrow as well.
The elves rose their shields, tried to parry a few arrows, but they were surrounded by the knights. A coward elven youth, barely 30 years old, which was considered a teenager in elven society, tried to break out of the encirclement, but the golem, despite being 3 meters tall and seemingly weighing several tons, stomped the elven youth with its muddy and gigantic right foot.
Blood splattered everywhere, and bits of its brain landed on everywhere on the ground. The scene was brutal. To elves who lived peacefully for years, some of them being gardeners or herbalists just yesterday, it was a horrifying experience.
Soon enough, the golems started to close the distance with the Presdove Guard Faction, or at least what remained out of it. This time, the Ironcloud knights and preparatory knights weren't hiding behind the golems, but they were actually closing in next to the golems, making it absolutely impossible for just one elf to escape. This was the Encirclement Formation Drodosis taught them.
Protected by the 150-centimetres-high shields covering most of their bodies, the Ironcloud Order could easily advance without any fear. There was a slight opening on the top of the shield, specifically made for the knights and preparatory knights to see what was in front of them. It was narrow enough to block incoming arrows, and big enough to let them see perfectly.
"Spears!"
*Sling*
The spears moved in a particularly synergised way, with force coming from the Ironcloud soldiers' whole body, the scene looking like a water tsunami crashing against the enemies' ranks. Rotating their waist slightly, the force coursing through their body was concentrating at the tip of their spear, which was the core essence of the Water Fortress Spearmanship, an inheritance left behind by a Thornfield ancestor of Peak knight strength, which Drodosis passed down to his subordinates.
The elven soldiers had waited the perfect moment to parry, but surprisingly, they couldn't deflect the fast spears at all. These spears seemed to weigh over 12 kilograms, which was huge, and their puny 3-kilograms-heavy sword had very little power in comparison. Their racial and trained nimbleness couldn't be put to use, since the space around them was too small to display any athletic feats. This was the essence of the Encirclement Ironcloud Formation, a perfect counter to elven' attribute advantage.
*Splash*
Tens of elves were killed.
This was a massacre. Injecting a paralysing solution into the survivors' body, Drodosis, from a distance, commanded his golems to shackle the prisoners. In a few minutes, they would be back in the Underworld Base, and these elves would join their kin, shackled in maddening conditions.
When Theodluin opened his eyes, he found himself incapable of lifting anything besides his toes and his fingers.
'Where am I?'
In the darkness of the night, he could hear the breathing of other prisoners.
"Is there anyone?", he asked.
"…ahhh", an elven woman wailed in pain and frustration. She tried to speak, but because of dehydration, the words were never voiced.
An Ironcloud knight came here with a torch. There was no flame on the church. It was a rod with a glowing ore incrusted in the top, illuminating light.
Theodluin could see hundreds…no…over a thousand elven prisoners, all shackled in a similar fashion! Their back was against the wall, while their legs were on the ground. They could do nothing to end their sufferings, besides refusing to eat or drink like that woman.
The Ironcloud Knight seemed uneasy about them. Theodluin mistook it for pity at first, but hearing his voice dismissed these nonsensical thoughts, "Ah…Why am I doing the chores! The leader told us not to kill them, but I don't understand how forcefully feeding elves will end up benefitting us! Well, thinking is up for the commander, not me anyway."
"Please, please let me out!", Theodluin asked. Instantly, a few elves with enough force and stamina signalled him not to voice any other words. He was shocked.
Where was the dignity of elves? Where was the strength, glory of elven civilization? Where was the core spirit of the Grace Settlement? Did these elves lose their honour? Did they give hope? Did they forget that Diana always find a solution? Where did their faith go?
However, the knight didn't even see him as a living being. He took a spoon, and plunged it in the throat of the first elf he saw. The knight went on the next one.
This was…hell. Maybe it was worth than death itself.
One day passed, two…three…eventually, the elf lost count, since the darkness didn't allow them to receive an ounce of sunlight. Every few hours, a group of newcomers would come here, most of them injured then treated in a hurry by the knights with medical skills.
Some were respected druids, known for their arrogance. But Theodluin didn't see any respectable being in this prison. They were defeated, shameful elves. They had failed their families. Even the Presdove family felt so. What about the commoner elf? Most of the weak-willed elven guards were losing their minds, suffering from PTSD, falling asleep and being tormented by nightmares, awakening in cold sweat and fear. Then they would open their eyes and discover once again the harsh truth of the reality.
Eventually, a kid appeared in front of them, with golems. These muddy beings, dirty but unbelievably strong, started to carry them to the surface, one by one. The wait was impossible to bear. Where were they taken? Were they being disposed of, seeing no use in them staying alive?
'I DON'T WANT TO DIE!', Theodluin tried to shout, but his throat was dry. They were made weak on purpose.
In reality, Drodosis wasn't moving them to the surface or a place to butcher them. He was moving them, because the hygene in this place was becoming more and more unhuman. While he didn't mind making these murdering elves suffer a bit, he couldn't allow them to die or catch a disease.
Carried away, Theodluin Presdove could actually see how meaningless their so-called architectural feats in the Grace settlements were in comparison with this underground base!
Drodosis had carefully simulated a blueprint for an underground base, using records he had scanned from the archives and adding a few interesting features from ruins.
His underground base was near perfect, symmetric, with long tunnels supported by wooden foundations. The numerous ways could easily lose a man with a good orientation sense, not to mention elves. However, Drodosis and the knights knew this place better than anyone.
It wasn't anything grandiose, but it was really efficient to move. There were quite a few traps in case of sudden attack, and more importantly, there were plenty of buildings, underground farms and countless species of edible mushrooms growing on the walls, something Drodosis had gathered and cultivated here to limit travels to other cities. The knights had several sets of clothes, allowing them to wash their armours quite frequently, a luxury rarely seen in this world.
Theodluin could see the smiles of elation on the faces of his damned enemies. Those who had taken everything from him were playing cards, having fun! Wasn't it a war in their eyes?
His Presdove Guard Faction, which he trained with for more than ten years…his status as a captain…Everything had been completely disappeared now. While his family and friends in the Grace Settlement were living in constant fear and uncertainty, some even giving in to superstition and rebellious thoughts, this Underground Base…Was peaceful!
Soldiers in there had a complete faith in Drodosis, allowing them to have peace of mind. They all got about 8 hours of sleep a day, and they even trained their breathing technique in their spare time! The daily ambushes only took a few hours at most, allowing them to live particularly well.
Was it really possible to live in such a good environment in war?
Anyway, the soldiers had everything from friends to food, hobbies and training. Others might not know how beneficial it was, but Drodosis knew that in large scale conflicts that lasted longer than two months, the impact was huge. And, while the elven army was tired, exhausted from both external and internal conflicts, the Ironcloud Knight Order was having fun. Going into a battlefield was a joyous opportunity to prove their value to Drodosis after all!
Every few days, a preparatory knight would break through under the stress of life and death combats, bloody massacres and the consumption of magical beast and plants' porridge. Drodosis himself was making quite a lot of progress concerning his body attributes, not to mention preparatory knights, who had half his stats!
Many of these preparatory knights didn't need life and death battles, or magical beast food, or magical plant brewage. Most of them lacked a purpose, a goal in life. Joining the Ironcloud Knight Order had awakened a flame into the core of their soul, one that had been extinguished a long time ago in their youth. For many, this very sense of belonging was the main reason why they were breaking through the knight realm.
After a few minutes of 'touring', Theodluin and his peers went into a building, some sort of Roman Thermae. For the first time in a long time, they weren't bound by any shackles, but they also knew that they were too weak now to try anything. The water was hot enough to burn microbes, yet warm enough to make them feel at peace.
An elven female tried to escape, but after getting out of the building, she found herself lost. Where was she supposed to go? There were dozens of tunnels which appeared to be as dark as an underground world can be. Which one could get her to access the surface? How could she possibly have enough luck to choose the right one?
Eventually, Acolyte Maria, nicknamed the prophet in the Ironcloud Knight Order, tracked her down in a few minutes with her tracking spell, blinding her for life with a knife in the process to make other prisoners fear consequences of insubordination.
'There is no way we will win this war…', Theodluin thought, despairing, 'They are living in a paradise while we elves are living in fear, internal conflicts and superstitions!'
This was a horrific realization, which many elves came to accept in this 'tour'.