In the Grace Settlement's Forest Sanctuary, which looked like a natural temple, an elf was praying under the expectant gazes of Diana Lockear and her most trusted subordinates, those who survived.
Three months passed already since the war began against the 'Golem Master', as he was dubbed in the Grace Settlement. Depicted as monster by elders, portrayed as a monstrous spawn of the devil by the children, he was surprisingly held in high regards by Diana, who had never encountered such a clever opponent.
Suddenly, this elf started to gesticulate as if he were possessed. His eyes started to bleed, his body was agonizing in silence. With great difficulty and pain, the elf took out an empty sheet of Goatskin Paper, and started to draw lines…tunnels…and various skulls. As he continued to draw, his hair turned from a shiny blond colour to a colourless white stain, wrinkles, rarely seen on Elf's faces, were now appearing on his face. However, the man continued to draw.
Eventually, he had drawn 16 maps, before falling on the ground, dead.
"Diviner Druid, you won't be forgotten. Your contribution is huge, and today is the day we will march towards the hidden enemy's headquarters!", Diana shouted. Behind her, several guard divisions were brimming with mixed feelings of fury, shame and fear.
What everyone ignored is that Drodosis had ordered Fang to spy on them. After Fang learnt how to cast the invisibility spell, he had shown tremendous talent as a magical spearman and a master assassin.
While elves possessed keen senses, they lacked knowledge. How could they expect invisibility from their human opponents? Had they been fighting against ghost-like entities, or ghouls from the underworld, they would have taken measures, but invisibility was not one of mankind's perk!
After hearing from Fang, Drodosis went on a special magical rock, surrounded by acid. It was a huge acidic pound he constructed to hasten his meditation rate and his comprehension of theories.
Grinning, Drodosis entered a state of deep meditation. The golems, from a distance, suddenly received a flow of orders to follow.
Drodosis wanted to confuse the enemy, so he purposefully changed his tunnels. Divination could be used to 'guess' what would happen in the future, but if Drodosis changed his base after the divination, then his enemies would be helpless.
They were basically throwing themselves into a wolf's den! And he was no average wolf!
Setting up a new myriad of tunnels, Drodosis also shouted to his soldiers: "Ironcloud Knight Order! Stop playing and listen to me for a sec'. The enemy will soon march towards our base. In three months, we have managed to capture 1623 elven powerhouses, and we must have killed just as many! In three months, we have gained the upper hand, making their forces look weak. In three months, we worked our ass off to become much stronger. Today, we will encounter them. However, we don't play with rules, we bend rules, we create rules! I want you to follow my golems and set up traps according to these maps. Can I trust you?"
"YES, SIR!", everyone said in unison.
There were no more sissies in this Ironcloud Knight Order. There were only warriors who had gotten a lot of experiences, lost a few friends, gained new ones, and more importantly, they didn't fear battles anymore. Most of them were closer than ever to breakthrough, some already did.
The Ironcloud Knight Order's overall strength had improved by leaps and bounds in the past few months. Drodosis was no exception, knowing very well that it was only a matter of time before he would breakthrough the intermediate acolyte realm. As for breaking through the Peak Knight realm, he still needed a few years of tedious training, even though he had a grand knight breathing technique. The main reason wasn't his actual internal energy, which was much denser than average knights, but his age.
16 miles to travel, through unknown tunnels filled with traps and shrouded in darkness. This was the harsh trial the 550-soldiers-big army had to face. However, Diana wouldn't back down now. She had waited for three months in order to get maps and a way to reach her enemy. For three months, she suffered humiliation beyond imagination. Every time an elf was dead or captured, her confidence withered away, bit by bit.
Her hatred towards humans had grown tremendously, and she both respected and desired death for her nemesis: The Golem Master Drodosis.
It's not as if she had never encountered him. Many times, Drodosis had intervened to counter the might of her archery, using his golems or himself to shield his subordinates. While Drodosis could do that, Diana didn't have magical beings at her side, and she didn't have magical spell either. She was just a simple -yet overpowered- archer. More often than not, she could only curse endlessly, having to bear the sight of elven youths being taken away.
Her Deadeye title was tainted with shame. Grace Settlements' elders were blaming her for being too straightforwward, but she knew the truth. The elders' point of view was overly simplistic and too irrational, as they wanted to wait for the Forest Deity to express herself. It took three months. Three months of daily humiliation, endured by the whole Grace Settlement, for 16 maps.
In the eyes of elders, victory was already done. If not, the Forest Deity would have simply told them to surrender. Yet…this information was falsified. Diana realized it as the tunnels started to collapse behind them, and the traps dealt casualties to her best warriors. Earth spikes, falling boulders, holes…Each step they took within the tunnels, had to be taken with carefulness.
Eventually, they took two days to reach the underground base. An army was waiting for them, and they couldn't help but be mesmerized by the sight. Fire pig, Giant Cows and Dire lizards being tamed on the Eastern side, magical mushrooms glowing in green light pretty much everywhere on the ceilings supported by huge pillars decorated with strange yet beautiful patterns, dozens of houses, baths, roman thermae, statues and even a laboratory which seemed to attract the curiosity of everyone!
From a distance, the elves' admirative looks turned grim as they realized that their kin were bounded in huge cages, about 3 cube meters big each, containing a few elves in each cage. All of these cages were elevated about 50 centimetres away from a gigantic acidic pool which Drodosis originally created to deepen his understanding of acidic theories, but became a tremendous trump card to inflict psychological damage to his enemies.
1623 elves, all bound and weakened, helplessly crying, seeing themselves used as 'leverage'.
Drodosis' Ironcloud Knight Order looked majestic. Their green armours were in pristine condition, their spears were sharp, and their shields unbelievably sturdy. Their stares radiated decisiveness, ruthlessness and a hint of savagery. They wanted to fight.
In front of them, ten golems were standing. Humanoid bodies made of mud, they seemed unkillable, and truthfully, with elven powerhouses, it would be difficult to do as much as scratch these monstrous beings.
On the top of these golems were Drodosis, and the nine best archers, wielding long bows of the highest quality. The elves could recognize these bows, since they were from elven craftsmanship. These were looted bows, crafted and refined by the greatest of the greatest elven bow makers. Coupled with Ironcloud arrows, and wyvern poison, the issue of the battle was already set in stone.
"You lost, Diana Lockear. If you try to fight, I would order these chains to break, and you would lose 1623 elves. Some of them are your family, maybe brother, cousins, maybe just friends. But they are all from your village. It can't be denied that they have been a bit mistreated here, as I couldn't afford any mistake happening, but as long as you surrender, they will be returned to you. In a few months, they will regain their peak strength", Drodosis voiced after a few seconds.
"We are thrice as many as you are", Diana answered.
"You are exhausted and weak, not to mention that we have the upper hand in techniques. You know that any of my subordinate can defeat 5 elves, not to mention that my whole Ironcloud Knight Order uses a formation with golems. You are reasonable, unlike your narrow-minded elders. Tell me you'll surrender. I don't want any casualties. I am honest here."
"Why would I believe you? You killed my grandfather in his sleep!"
"The past is the past. Only the present and the future counts."
"Mm, you really do underestimate the elven pride!", Diana said, while releasing a deadly arrow. Unfortunately, Drodosis saw through this, and a golem deflected the arrow with its muddy arm. It was easy and efficient. The arm had been pierced, but a strange and bizzare sight unfolded before the elven army. The mud started to fill the hole and a few seconds later, it was as if the golem didn't sustain any damage.
Even the great Diana Lockear didn't manage to deal damage to this colossal creature!
"You're truly not fitting as a leader, Diana.", Drodosis shouted, while his subordinates shot arrows and spell at their enemies. It was truly a bloody sight. Casualties appeared at both sides, but for each Ironcloud Order Knight that was injured, ten elves were dying. A few seconds later ten cages fell into the acidic pool, and agonizing cries could be heard.
The elves were hesitant. Should they fight, their whole families would die in front of their eyes. It's not as if their enemies were as evil as they were portrayed. There was a way out!
A young elf in the frontlines, only 42 years old and unable to withstand these agonizing wails, unsheathed his sword, and cut Diana's throat.
As her body fell on the ground, the battlefield had been interrupted. The young elf kissed the corpse, mumbling words of excuse. A few seconds later, he shouted, "I am Beldroth Mirella. I am now the Grace Settlement's leader, and I hereby declare this war finished. Whatever conditions you have, Golem Master, I will accept them. As long as you promise to abide by the Silver Union laws and treat us as war prisoners, that is."
Diana was dying, but she could hear every single word issued by Beldroth. She was unbelievably shocked, and despair overcame her. She was crying every single tear she had left in her body, unable to believe that the man she loved, cared and even gave status to would betray her so easily.
'How could you do that, Beldroth? I gave you everything I had…'
Diana lost consciousness from blood loss. Drodosis advanced, and shackled all enemies, killing off those who showed resistance. Seeing Diana's body, he was quite surprised.
The expedition was nearing its end. After negotiations, Drodosis and the druid elders agreed and sealed the contract. No humans would set foot in the Magnolia Forest. In exchange, the Grace Settlement would have to provide a certain amount of resources to the Thornfield family, resources that would be transported through huge tunnels connecting the Water Fortress and the Underground Base. A hundred elite elves would enter the Water Fortress and act as middle-men, charged with the task of transporting goods.
These resources were diversified, from healthy and tamed magical beasts to rare herbs, as well as Magnolia Tree planks and top-tier bows as well as arrows. The Thornfield family would not be happy about such an end, but Drodosis decided to go with it anyway. The reason was simple.
'The Thornfield Council is a bottomless pit of greediness. If I let them manage the Magnolia Forest, then in 50 years, it won't be a resource point anymore, but a razed forest with nothing more to harvest. They lack the far-stretched sight needed for a resource point management. '
"Here is a book written in elven language", Drodosis said while giving away a grimoire of the highest quality, freshly written by Drodosis himself.
"Thank you, sir", Beldroth Mirella said. He was now the chief, and had the greatest power.
"You are weak, with barely an elite-knight physique and above-average swordsmanship", Drodosis continued, "But you have intelligence and an open-minded quality, rarely seen in elves. Today, you saved the Grace Settlement from being completely eradicated. You will find many advices in order to manage the Magnolia Forest, and increase the exploitation of resources you can find within them, while many recipes to treat plants, cultivate trees and expand the forest. Cultivate your body and the Magnolia forest. Work hard. In five years, I will come back and check on your progress. Any acolyte who enter the Magnolia forest, if he isn't from my knight order, kill him."
"…", Beldroth was smiling bitterly. He had always been unique, and his strive for knowledge had enabled him to earn the love of the greatest leader: Diana Lockear. Yet, she ultimately gave in to hatred. Driven by revenge, she was detrimental to the village. He killed more than a leader this day, he killed his love, his wife, and possibly the mother of his future children. Why? Because he loved the Grace Settlement more than anything, even more than he loved Diana. It was selfish and horrible, but he didn't want people around him die in front of him, because of him. So what if he lost a lover?
To Drodosis, Beldroth was truly a horrible being, killing someone he loved. But he didn't need a friend to manage the Magnolia Forest. He needed that exact ruthless leader.
Beldroth had become a leader. He couldn't allow himself to be weak. He guided Drodosis to the warehouses, including the ancestor's treasure rooms.
An elder was mumbling: "Blasphemy. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. Blasphemy…"
But Drodosis paid him no attention, and continued his search. The strongest druids would be crippled before being freed. This way, their experience would be passed down to younger generations, and Drodosis would be completely free from worrying about a rebellion. If they decided to try something anyway, they would not even have half of their past power, especially with crippled leaders, while his Ironcloud Knight Order would be twice as strong as before.
After finishing scanning the whole accumulation of rare and old parchments, he burnt the most precious ones, so that this elven settlement wouldn't be a threat in the future. It would also deter some knight powerhouses lurking in the shadows from trying anything on the Grace Settlement when they were weak.
He went into the warehouse then, and as agreed, he used the golems to distribute a Magnolia top-quality bows to each Ironcloud Knight Order Members, as well as a few dozen arrows to each one of them. However, he was just beginning his plunder.
"…", Beldroth stayed deathly silent. He seemed to have aged considerably while suffering the sight of his settlement's inheritance being plundered by this young human. He was picking up precious herbs and throwing them in giant bags, as if they were spices from a common grocery store! Did he not know some of them only appeared once in a decade!
And yet, he was the one guiding him.
Drodosis was so elated while picking up herbs that he was sweating from excitement! Dragonscale grass, Forest Stone, Poll Roots, Oyame bananas, Kal Grass, Wacceo Karnel, Ittubi branch, Ufumom Juice, Ivory Apples, fortresh herbs, Sureau rouge, Citron de Montagne, Spirit Sesam…
Each one of these herbs, seeds or spices were unbelievably useful, and some could be used to reinforce body strength, and more importantly, increase agility! After utterly emptying the Herb Warehouse, Drodosis finally decided to leave this Magnolia Forest.
[Beep! Outcome of the war: Victory.
Casualties: 8 preparatory knights, one novice knight from the Ironcloud Knight Order, 70 medium injuries (non-life-threatening), 12 light injuries, 16 heavy injuries.
Deaths in the opposite party: 862 elven swordsmen, 652 elven archers, 82 beginner druids, 12 intermediate druids, 1 advanced druid + many traumatized, crippled or injured elven powerhouses.
Earnings: 688 magic crystals, over two hundred top-quality long bows, over two thousand arrows, 6 Enchanted Magnolia Bows, 7 Elven Archer Cultivation techniques (increase dexterity, sight and accuracy), Dragonscale grass, Forest Stone, Poll Roots, Oyame bananas, Kal Grass, Wacceo Karnel, Ittubi branch, Ufumom Juice, Ivory Apples, fortresh herbs, Sureau rouge, Citron de Montagne, Spirit Sesam…
Total Evolution Points gained through the expedition: 337.]
It was indeed a flawless and bountiful victory. His personal gains were unbelievable, more than the Council in his family could ever imagine. As for his Ironcloud Knight Order, while there were many people injured, it had improved by leaps and bounds. There were 32 novice knights, 8 veteran knights and all preparatory knights only needed a little push to break through! Drodosis had confidence in making them all break through by the end of the next year.
With Blue Beard, a veteran alchemist, and the herbs he had gotten, even if he couldn't get his hands on a lot of internal energy elixirs, he would still get many resources for himself and his subordinates!