"So what did you talk about back there?" Emilohi asked as the three of them sat at the dining table. It was lunchtime, however.
"Let's see… something about Nneka, his concern and plan regarding the vampires, ah right, he also offered me to train the soldiers." Replied Dov as he took a couple of dishes into his plate.
"Really!? He asked you that!?" The Prioress looked really surprised, a pleasant one.
"Hm? Is that such big of a deal?" Dov stopped what he was doing as he was curious at what she was about to say.
"It is!" She stood from her chair with a wide smile on her face. "Do you know what happened with the late chief, Night Bear? Ezesinachi's father."
"More or less. He got caught in the three necromancers war, correct?"
"Y-yes…" She got a bit gloomy all of the sudden, even though she was the one who initiated it. "You see, Hunter. Ezesinachi never was the type to like the demons, in fact, he despises them."
"We lost the war against them centuries ago, and now… we're nothing but servants." She went on. "But the accident with his father just made it even worse, he got too obsessed with hating the demons instead of just, you know… wanting to be free."
"I see. It's completely understandable." Commented Dov.
"The Chief had it rough, huh…" Celene sympathized with him.
"Though worry not! Ezesinachi is a strong kid." The lady went bright again, showing that motherly face of hers. "Still, I know you're hiding your true self, Night Bear. But you emitted so much demonic lust, something only belongs to the incubi."
"Knowing that he finally took thurst in a demon… maybe, maybe he might finally forgive them, he might finally be truly… happy."
"Yeah…" Dov froze for a bit, he couldn't stand looking at her face. "I hope so too."
"Have you agreed to the offer?" Emilohi excitedly asked.
"Not yet, I need time to think about it." He answered.
"Well, whether you agree to it or not, you two can stay here as long as you like~" She looked so happy when she offered. "I love having the two of you here."
"It reminded me of his old days."
***
**
*
"My lord! My lord!" In panic, one of the dark elf soldiers ran back toward Ezesinachi with a report between his panting breath. "There— there is a human among them!"
"Oh? Is it the shapeshifter?" The Chief was intrigued by his finding, although he was not surprised.
"Y-yes… but she's now fully human and cast—"
His words stopped the moment he saw cold white mists fuming before his eyes. The soldier turned his gaze back to where Leyna was, and horror started hitting every vein in his body, shrouding them with fear.
All his enemies were now armored in ice, including the really tall lycan, and a masked figure who was walking in his direction with a big pistol aimed straight at him.
*Bang!*
Dov shot his gun multiple times. Yet before he went to pull the trigger, Ezesinachi threw that soldier away from him and raised his glaive to the front.
*Clank!*
That weapon started spinning fast, blocking every single bullet thrown at the Chief.
However, when Dov stopped shooting at him, Ezesinachi noticed something happened to his glaive. It was covered in dents deep enough for the tip of his thumb to feel. Deflecting those bullets clearly was not the best idea.
"This is your end, my lord. Your arrogance to plan a genocide will be the fall of your race." Dov continued to approach them, sending a menacing message that kept the other elves frozen where they stand. "You are weak and minor, what gave you the confidence to go against such a powerful race like the humans?"
"So you know our plan, huh? And I see you're siding with those cold bastards. Here I thought the Hunters should be a neutral enforcer!" The Chief pulled out a dagger from his back pocket and threw it straight toward Dov's head.
"We exist to execute the mission given by the Guild." But it was immediately blocked by a piece of [Shielf of Corvus]. "So if you're on our list, that means the guild redeemed you as a criminal."
"Heh, then that just proofed our organization isn't that neutral after all!" Ezesinachi suddenly jumped at a speed faster than a traveling sound. In full force, he swung his glaive harshly towards Dov's neck, which the masked Hunter then swiftly evaded.
Dov sent a couple shots at him in return, yet none of them managed to hit the target due to the Chief's insane speed and reflex. The duel between them began, and it was a complete stalemate from the get-go.
*
On the other side, Celene was busy clashing with the Commander. Ax went swinging from all directions, clanking with every metal possessed by the old elf.
His shield might not be the best defensive weapon ever made, but the huge amount of vitality he possessed made it hard for her to finish him off.
And there came another problem. Somehow Celene could feel her stamina continuously being drained with each hit she threw at him.
"This is stupid… I never felt this tired fighting someone before." Celene thought to herself as she panted before the tanky dark elf. "Even when sparing against Dov, I can hold out for hours. That is of course… if he doesn't decide to knock me out."
"What is it, young Hunter? Does that cold armor wear you down?" Ikemba smiled at her. It looks sincere yet full of mockery. His clothing might be full of cuts from her ax, but his body was still clean and unwounded due to his recovery speed.
"You're such a bullshit, Commander. I've killed… a lot of tanks… during my apprenticeship with Night Bear… crimes didn't discriminate on roles… after all." She had massive trouble speaking due to her short breath. "But you…" The lycan stared dagger at him. "Why won't you die!?"
"Ahaha…" Ikemba softly chuckled. "And here I thought, you Hunter would be resourceful."
"Grr…" Celene growled angrily. She clenched her ax once more ready to strike him again. Then with swift steps, she dashed as fast as she could and pulled her ax through her right wing.
Ikemba saw it, and immediately repositioned his shield to cover his left side, sadly not realizing it was but a bait. Before he could react, Celene quickly spun clockwise and struck her weapon deeply into his waist.
It was painful, but his stance remain unmoved. He quickly shoved Celene's hand away, and let his wound heal itself at an insane rate.
Seeing all is for naught, Celene hopped away from him, rethinking a better strategy.
"That confirmed it, I felt significantly more tired after landing that attack." She spoke on her mind. "Drain or siphon, whatever it is, touching his body will do damage to my stamina."
"If that's the case then… he's a complete nightmare for melee combatants to fight against."
Like Leyna said to Dov, Ikemba is a Palladium ranked adventurer, one rank below the maximum which is Rhodium. But he had quit his adventurer's life to support his homeland back when he was a young age.
Life wasn't so endearing back then for dark elves. They were at war with the demons, a massive race that now conquered 80% of the land in Lustmist province, with succubi and incubi scattered all over the continent supplying them with energy.
He was only in his level 41+ at the time, and the same could be said for all the other adventurer soldiers around his age. After all, that was the optimum level for them to start serving their land fighting humanoid rather than monsters.
Unfortunately, on this day, all of those soldiers have already passed away, leaving Ikemba the only survivor of his age.
After their defeat fighting the demons, the dark elves were forced to become their puppet state and treated like servants.
But the worst happened centuries later, when the war of the three Necromancers took place and forced most of the elven soldiers to join a side and fight against other cities, against even other dark elves.
Ikemba lost all his brothers in arms to this cruel war.
But as said before, level 41+ was an optimum level to start fighting against humanoids. They already gained about 5 personal skills, and soon will get their second passive personal skill at level 51.
The Adventurer System has a unique way to give someone their skills as it also calculates their current situation, occupation, and most common enemies.
Celene gain her [Howlless Night] because she started becoming a Hunter, which help her tremendously in her profession.
Then as for Ikemba, since all he fights during his 41+ to 83 are humanoid combatants. The skills he gained were also specialized for fighting them. So even though Celene is a Hunter, her skill set was highly inferior to Ikemba who is used to humanoid combat.
However, that's about it…
"If you asked me to be honest, Commander. It's been a while since I ever used a weapon other than my ax in a fight." Celene opened a portal to her [Inventory Ring] and shoved her hand inside. "But ax isn't the only symbol that I got on my badge."
The lady suddenly withdrew a giant warbow from her portal, with wolf carvings thickly crafted on its limbs. Her fingers then pulled its string far, and two lightning arrows quickly formed themselves attached to it.
"Damn…" The Commander's jaw dropped seeing how bright her lightning was.
Celene stood in her stance, aiming her shot toward the slow and tanky dark elf in front of her. She pulled even harder, to the point where her right arm started shaking due to the string's limit. That bow is massive even for someone her size.
[Personal Skill]
[2nd Act]
"Twin Shocks."
She released both of her arrows, and they coursed through the air as fast as thunder. Though even with that speed, the Commander managed to rose his shield and blocked the two of them. Now he had two lightning arrows stuck on his shield, shining brighter than the moonlight.
Sadly for him, it was not the end of her advance.
[1st Act]
"Lightning Charge!"
The lycan came like a boulder, hitting him hard, crashing his bones into the ground. Then as he lay there from the impact, Celene took both of her lightning arrows on his shield and stuck them deep through his palms.
Now the shock effect of her skill began to paralyze him, rendering him helpless, unable to move a single string of his muscle. Although the old elf was still a tank and his body will continue to heal like madness.
"Excuse me, lady vampiress!" But then, as Celene sat on his entire body, she called upon one of the royal vampiresses fighting near her.
"Yeah? Ouh…" The lady looked at the Commander vibrating on the ground due to the shock effect, with his eyes wide open and both of his pupils shrunk to nothingness. Even if he's her enemy, she can't help but felt pretty bad for him, not to mention how gigantic Celene was. That must be worryingly heavy.
"Can you please bleed him out, he kept on regenerating, it's driving me insane." Pleaded Celene while taking her time to restabilize her breath.
"Uh… sure."
The vampire lady rose her hand high and started casting her spell. The air above them began to get clouded with blood mist, and every elf around them was just too intimidated to even approach such a menacing lycan.
"I don't care how experienced or high level you are, you will always be inferior to me, Commander," Celene said to his face as two blood daggers formed from the blood mist. "Why you might ask?"
"Because unlike you, I have a cold-hearted Night Bear as my master."