"Well, that was an awesome chat with him"
"Yeah we even got these luxury"
After the conversation, we set off to return to the headquarters in order to report the situation. With my nature magic, we crossed the waterfall and we met with the escort team that was waiting for us at the other side.
"General Alwin, I'm glad that it went well"
"Yeah, surprisingly the masked man there is friendlier than he seems"
"Really? Just as we've said he's a good guy!"
The one talking to him was one of his commanders who seemed to idolize the man who stormed the headquarters himself without getting stuck in the lady's barrier and took down dark-elves divisions himself, with an amazing performance of scattering the division flags at the headquarters.
"Okay Okay, let's go home"
"This smell… General, I smell something nice"
"Yeah… our friend gave us some take-home presents"
"Woah! This is amazing! Mist man is amazing!"
"He's not "mist man", he told us his name"
"Whoah! That's amazing! So, what is his name?"
"Slaine… he says I don't know if it's real or not but if that's how he wanted to be called, it's courtesy to use it and identify him by that name"
"That's awesome general!"
"Yes yes let's go home and share this with everyone"
"Gotcha General… Everyone! Form ranks!"
The elves that hid on the treetops appeared, without sound, appeared and went down from them and formed two lines and stood side by side, forming two lines to let the council members pass.
Wow, I almost forgot that I'm with the higher-ups of the resistance.
Being at the same rank with them, I positioned myself beside the resistance fighters.
"Hey Lyra, you come with us we need to discuss something with you"
"Yes! Vice-leader!"
It seems that they haven't finished with me yet, I walked beside the council members as we walked through the elven aisle formed by the fighters.
On the way home, the council members discussed the alliance potential with Slaine, the tense was lifted when he offered coffee and tea, after that all he did was to introduce himself and told us how he took down the divisions by himself and two of his teammates that didn't appear.
We have also already known his intention, it was simple, to destroy the dark elves in order to lift a curse. In exchange, we told him information on where this dark elf caster he is finding could be, which could be one of the higher-ranked dark-elves who dwell in their castles, however, they have already occupied the three great elven kingdoms so it would be hard to pinpoint. But for that alone he was grateful.
We also gave him other information we have on the dark-elves, as well as a small history about how the resistance was formed.
"So… elf-priest were you able to pinpoint his magic output and race?"
While they were talking the elf-priest secretly used magic in order to identify the man's mana, it's sneaky but we had to be on guard with such a dangerous person, and it seems that he didn't notice at all, or did he let us do it on purpose to display that he has no intention on harming us?
"Yes vice-leader, Lyra was right, he doesn't have mana, about his race I can't identify him because he really doesn't emit any mana signatures, usually I would have known it due to its mana output, if he's a dwarf, a half dark-elf, or what kind of creature he might be"
"Then how is he able to produce those magic? Ah… it hurts my head, plus that weapon called "gun" I haven't seen anything like that before! Which tree produces that kind of wood embedded with metal?!"
"Calm down vice-leader, we have come here for a potential alliance, right? So why didn't you bring it up to him immediately?"
"Well… to be honest, it would be dangerous to ally with him immediately, I can surmise that after three visits we should be able to propose a formal alliance with him and his team, depending on the situation"
"Can't we just offer him a space in HQ? That way we won't have to make these troublesome visits"
"I already told him about that, that during the negotiations we will offer him enough space near HQ"
"What did he say?"
"He rejected, he says he doesn't need it, and that it's dangerous, I don't really know what he meant by dangerous though"
"Why? It's better than being bitten by bugs at where he is staying right?"
"I'm not sure, he seems to be a peculiar one, but yeah let's not rush it, I'm sure it will go well, our interests align, and I couldn't detect lies from him also"
"I'm really jealous of that item you have in your ears, the earings that tell you if someone is lying right? Shouldn't that be an item for wives rather than yours? Haha!"
"Shut it, if it were easy to produce it I would have already done it and given one to your wife, so she can tell that you have been flirting with other women when you visit the other camps and bases"
"S-Shhhhh!!!! Shiihhh!!!! What the hell are you saying in public vice-leader!"
The tense aura and pressure that they had before visiting the man called Slaine, was gone and they are now able to have a banter with each other, maybe they are really happy with the results? That he wasn't an enemy.
But as the three of them continued their banter the scout ahead of us suddenly shouted.
"Commander! General! And honorable council members, enemies ahead of us! They are surrounding the HQ!"
"Huh?! Where the hell is it?"
"According to my magic eyes, this direction… it's in front of the headquarters anti-dark elf barrier! And they are slowly surrounding it!"
"Impossible! How did they find it? Our lady's spell should still be in effect!"
"Everyone! Let's hurry!"
We immediately headed towards the headquarters, and as we got closer we saw our comrades barely holding our line as a barrage of dark elven spells were thrown upon them. Lady Allannia is at the rear maintaining the anti-dark elf magic barrier.
The number of dark-elves moving upward was uncertain due to the trees that covered them, but they were numerous and have brought magic beasts with them. They covered themselves in robes with vertical white lines, indicating that most of them are elf-priests level. They looked like a sea of forces gradually swallowing the mountain.
The defense was holding thanks to the barrier spell and the counter-attacks of the defending force led by general Bulas, numbering up to ten battalions while the enemies that were swarming couldn't be counted.
"General Alwin, they have discovered the headquarters, what shall we do?"
"According to protocols, they should evacuate the non-combatants as soon as possible while the defending force will hold until the retreat if finished, elf-priest, but at that encirclement, it would be hard"
"Then they have to fight there to death! What about the lady?!"
"We have no choice, roughly the numbers climbing the mountain are about two to three divisions or so, if we can just make a passage somewhere we can create an exit point for the refugees and hold that line, but we are heavily outnumbered"
"What about reinforcements from other camps? This is bad! They are getting surrounded! The encirclement is getting thicker as we are running!"
"No! They won't arrive in time! According to what I see, they are barely holding against elves that have nullifiers with them!"
Nullifiers are magic that dark-elves specializes in, while we have the ability to counter magic with another element, they can make their dark magic all-use anti-magic, in other words, its a weapon specialized in taking us on who are prideful of our magic and spirits casting. This dark magic is also the reason why many elven kingdoms have fallen easily.
We are running towards the east side where we could see the climbing dark forces and our defensive fighters throwing magic at each other. Hearing the conversation of the council members, I felt my heart sinking due to the fear, however, I kept my mouth shut as I follow orders.
My newfound family in the headquarters... will be once again taken away from me? No! Vaeri... please be safe.
"Alright men! We are on their flank! This is a good position! Continue running!"
While they were busy trying to penetrate the barrier, they climbed at the mountain where our HQ is it was supposed to be a big hurdle but with their numbers, the disadvantage that they should have was gone.
Closing in, we on their right flank are running towards them under the general's orders.
"Commander! Have the casters prepare a barrage of their most deadly magic and the spirit users to awaken your partners and manifest them already! We are gonna hit them quick and rendezvous with the main force! We'll try to open a path for the non-combatants to evacuate!"
"Yes general!"
The escort team that we have was a single battalion, but with the elf-priest, general Alwin and the vice-leader with us, we have more firepower than we need to cause some damage. As we ran we got close and closer, first, we just saw their figures like ants racing to the top of the hill, and now we can already see their grey-colored skins that were showing in the gaps of their stuffy clothing, and when finally we were in range the general made his first order.
"Casters deploy magic! Spirit users unleash your partners! Others prepare your bow and arrows! Offer your hearts for the resistance! Charge!"
…
I Valeri, is currently working with the polishing of the arrowheads, with my nature magic I can summon small treants to help me speed up the work, right now I am sitting in a circle with them, they have different flowers in their heads that makes them smell good, the kids get scared of them but personally I think they are very cute.
Unlike Lyra's power treants, these little ones are small spirits, but it helps everyone in the camp.
Daily life for someone like me who has supporter magic is less dangerous than the ones on the frontlines, I don't have the courage to fight against those horrible looking monsters that just happened to have the look of an elf.
Just as I was about to finish my chores, I heard a sudden scream that would destroy my daily life.
"Enemies! Enemies sighted climbing the mountain! HQ has been discovered!"
"What? How did they even discover us, what were the scouts doing noticing them at the last minute!"
Long rage spell bombardments exploded on top of us, hitting the barrier the esteemed lady set up for us, its fierce firepower echoed to us within it, we felt our ears ringing as different kinds of spells with dark magic within it was bombarded to us. They are trying to break the barrier by force.
The barrier did well in defending us, but for some reason, we were found out, it was supposed to keep the camp hidden.
The sound of evil powers pounding on the barrier is pounding the hearts of everyone who heard it, everyone who was used to the peaceful life in the resistance was suddenly reminded of the terror and humiliation of living in the fear of them, being hunted as livestock and being killed and used in the most horrible manner.
However, we couldn't let them do what they want to do. Those dark-elves!
"Over my dead body! Even how small power I have I will fight!"
We immediately headed out to our defensive positions, where lady Allania also showed up with her glimmering white armor, she looked like an armored fairy, in the chaotic scene, the sight of her made us calm down for a second as she appeared together with the elf-priest Sylvar, the two have the monstrous spirits in all of the resistance.
"Attention!!! I will be explaining the plan to defend our headquarters! According to protocols non-fighters will be evacuated at the back with the supporting team as an escort. But this is something I must tell you, our escape!
It has already been blocked!"
Suddenly everyone who heard it who was scattered everywhere couldn't believe what they are hearing, fear and terror are written in their eyes, as they held their loved ones.
"The only choice is to fight! But don't worry, we have amulets that can boost my magic for a longer time, we can still keep up the fight! Even we are outnumbered and surrounded, we'll show them that the resistance- no… the true elves! The elven people will not submit to their terror!
This will either be our ending! or be the start of our victory! Everyone! Offer your hearts for the resistance!"
Her voice echoed throughout the entire headquarters, together with the long rage magic bombardment. Everyone immediately took up their wands and staffs, as well as their bows and arrows.
"The only threat to my barrier are those dark knights that carry magic nullifier swords with them, and elf commanders! I and the elite squads will hand them, while the others will focus on the dark knights that will charge! Defend the non-combatants at all costs!"
We know how dark-elves treat prisoners, they will either be submitted to rape or their body parts will be cut into several portions and be distributed to each one of them to attach to their body. This is why they look so much different from us, although they have the same kind of ears, they have so many distortions all over their body, the more decorations they have the more elves they have killed as if it was a trophy.
To them, it what fuels their dark power, which is why the select dark knights and commanders the dark elf who hunted the most elves are able to use the nullifying ability. Just the sight of them can make you feel sick.
Even so, I have to fight! In my own way, the small treants made from flowers can go around and cast heal on the fighters, I'll summon as many as I can.
Please… reinforcements, please Lyra, come back, even a small number of soldiers could at least open a path for the non-combatants to escape.
I won't let myself be a prisoner! I will die protecting the ones I care for! I will offer my heart for the resistance! So that the day may come that we will be able to reclaim our lands, our nation, our rights, and our freedom!