The congregations of trees got more separated the more we delved deeper into elven territory with Estel leading the way. Since the moonlight was gradually getting clearer, my night vision increased slightly with the Owl Lenses.
It also seems like elves can naturally see in the dark since they have their own night vision.
I was beginning to hear chaos from afar, so I conjured five magic swords in the case of a surprise attack.
"S-Seven..."
Like I feared, we were attacked. Thick vines numbering over ten started emerging from the ground and tried to assault us in all directions.
Since Estel is still recovering her mana, I dealt with it myself by making my swords thrice larger and producing thirty more.
"Magic Sword Arts: Bladestorm."
My swords orbited me and Estel then formed a tornado that shredded the vines that tried to pass through. By far this is the best offence and defence technique I know with my swords.
Once all the vines vanished, I cancelled the sword art before it drained more than 5% of my mana.
The elven village was just as it was described by the elves back at the Star Continent. Their homes were attached to the tallest trees in the entire forest. No, perhaps they ARE attached. Knowing elves, they despise destroying nature so they'd rather use wood magic to build their homes rather than chop wood like humans do.
However the forest was currently being burned down. Debris of fallen huts crashed on the ground and the citizens were nowhere to be found.
"Estel!"
A female elf with ashen hair came to us while panting gravely. Her hair disheveled and clearly stressed out, but ofcourse she's a girl so she's still cute for me.
"Caine, what's the situation?"
"Haah... Hah... W-Well, the militants are out there pushing back the hoard of monsters but we can't be sure they'll be lasting long... Have you gotten reinforcement from the humans yet?"
"Y-Yeah..."
The elf named Caine's eyes fell on me who was standing innocently next to Estel. Then her expression suddenly went several changes after she looked into my mana. The first one was concerning since she drooled a little but she fixed that with a look of approval.
"S-Still, a Sorcerer is enough, right?"
"A single human sorcerer... I don't know, but we should try. Those humans are such cheapskates to send a single magic caster here."
Truth is noone sent me, but her misunderstanding seems fun to listen to so I'll let it be.
"Um, can I have more details about this issue?"
I asked Caine kindly and she started to fill me in.
"Well, I think we're dealing with a Dark General."
"A Dark General!?"
Estel looked surprised after hearing that, I guess anyone would have the same reaction if it were someone else. That being said, I'm also quite dumbfounded. This means I'm going to be fighting a Dark General?
"At most we probably would need a Grand Sorcerer for this. But we have your back... Wait, what's your name again?"
"It's Seven Clavery."
"We have your back Seven Clavery, so please help us. If things get too dangerous and might take your life, please retreat quickly, you're not obliged to risk your life for us."
The way she said that, the elves must be sincere in asking for someone's help. She even lowered her head for me.
"Please, if you win, you can ask for any reward you'd like from the inhabitants of this village."
"Anything?"
I asked once again while eyeing Caine's body. She was flustered after noticing this but didn't say anything else.
So in other words, after this I can ask for every girl in this village to "offer" me 2,000 points each. Meaning at the end of the night I would have atleast more than 100,000 Affection Points.
"I-I can already guess what reward you'd like. Please rest assured that we can fulfill it for you."
No, I don't think I'll be doing that. I only do it to get affection points to use my skill, I'm not going to use girls like toys for my own self-comfort.
"Don't worry, I already have a reward in plan. Please tell me where the enemies are."
On our way to the battlefield, I asked alot of questions to better handle this fight, if I should take it lightly, go full force, or create a tactic if it's needed.
According to the intel that Caine gave me, there are no walls that surrounded their home unlike human villages which explains why nothing was blocking our way when I got here.
As an easy and small target, the Dark Lord's forces decided to attack this place since attacking the human villages would alarm the nearby cities and it's respective nation, hence they would take action.
Therefore, this elven village a continent away from it's nation's power would be the best if we're talking about wiping out the world's population bit by bit.
"How many soldiers are fending off the Dark General's army?"
"They number over 200 but there may have been casualties earlier so it might have decreased a little."
"Who's the Dark General controlling the monsters?"
"She introduced herself as Nemisis. Our reconnaissance are still gathering sources of her identity but so far we can't find any clues. We're assuming she's not someone recorded in history."
Nemisis, I've never heard of that name. If only Arlet was here she'd probably know something like how she informed us of Garek's real weapon while we were fighting him.
But right now I have to handle this by myself.
"Watch out!"
While I was lost in thought, a fuming projectile came hurtling to our location and Caine was the first to erect a magic barrier to intercept it.
But something felt wrong so I reinforced her barrier with 3 more layers of the same spell. The fuming thing that revealed itself looked like a bomb, and just like one, it exploded, causing two layers of magic barriers to shatter and the remaining two to crack.
I noticed these things were present everywhere in the battlefield and the elven soldiers were doing their best avoiding them. But they had to suffer seeing their landscape get destroyed. The once beautiful forest they probably lived in was now full of craters, burned down and infringed upon.
"Caine! You're back!"
A male elf came flying to our direction and landed in front of us. He had some visible wounds on his shoulders but nothing too severe.
"Yeah, hows the situation here?"
"Obviously we're getting wrecked. Twenty of our men are down and the rest are running out of fuel, on the other hand, the Dark General isn't even making a move yet."
"No need to worry, I brought reinforcements. It's just one person but she's a sorcerer. With this we may stand a chance against the Dark General."
From that evident magic circle that observed me from his eyes, I could tell he just viewed my mana pool. But what bothered me was he was looking at my chest when he did that. As much as I wanted to hit him, it doesn't even seem like he did it on purpose.
"Ma'am, I think it's the best course of action to abandon the village and evacuate all the civilians. The sorcerer can help us buy enough time so it might work. Furthermore..."
"Furthermore?"
"Our enemy... Is a dark elf."
"What..?"
Caine looked bewildered after hearing that while I was curious as to why.
A dark elf? I've never seen one before. Actually I've never even heard of them existing in this world. Now I really want to see the enemy.
When I wanted to step up and have a look, Caine grabbed my shoulder making me stop.
"S-Seven Clavery, this might be harder than we expected."
"Why?"
"Dark Elves are completely immune to magic. They're the greatest enemies of us elves who specialize in magic. Only Martial Artists or siege weapons can harm them, you won't do much good as a magic caster."
Immune to magic? That's unheard of. I don't even know how that's possible since nothing has been immune to my attacks all this time. I can't even imagine it but I'll go and try to understand first.
"W-Wait, Seven Clavery!"
Using a magic sword as a hover board, I darted away from them and circled around the battlefield looking for the dark elf while avoiding multitudes of flying arrows and spells being shot at me by the monsters below. Peeking from a distance, the non-combatant elves had begun to evacuate.
While searching, I occasionally shot magic bullets at the monsters below to help out the soldiers. It doesn't cost much mana so I'm able to recover them from just breathing.
Then finally, I saw her.
She was positioned at the most protected lines of the enemy forces while riding what I assume to be a black dragon. Dark skinned, white haired and her eyes looked like red rubies. Her expression shows she's waiting for something challenging to come her way so I'll give her that.
With a loud thud that scattered dust from all directions, I landed in front of her. The moment the dragon saw me, it immediately started gathering energy at it's mouth, forming a violet sphere that I assume to be dark magic. Although dark magic isn't directly harmful, it's still troublesome to deal with.
"Hey you!"
I called her out and she shifted her focus on me. The other monsters haven't noticed me yet so it's a good thing, but I really hope this dragon stops charging it's attack or else I might get hit.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Seven Clavery! I wish to fight with you one on one!"
I stated bluntly. After a quick assessment, she dismounted the dragon and landed nine meters away from me, now what worries me the most is the dragon is still charging energy.
"Very well, I am Nemisis. A Dark General serving under that damned Dark Lord."
"Nice to meet- wait, did you just swear at your boss?"
"So what? That bastard isn't even our boss, he killed our actual boss and started fooling around. I was even sent here by force."
"Your boss was killed? What?"
I don't get it. Is she saying the original Dark Lord got killed? So this means he'll take 200 years to come again, and he got replaced by someone else?
"Anyway, let's stop talking. Aren't you here to fight?"
"Y-Yeah... I am..."
"Then let's get going already!"
In the blink of an eye, she was already face to face with me. A blade swept by my neck as I bent my body to execute a backflip to gain some distance. I noticed that the black dragon fired it's breath to the skies instead of firing it at me.
"Woah, you have good reflexes."
No way, she's an elf but she's using daggers on both her hands. I guess this is the massive culture difference between a normal elf and a dark elf.
This time, she ran towards me without that insane blink speed so I conjured ten swords and launched them towards her consecutively.
She didn't bother avoiding them. Just as the magic swords were about to make contact with her skin, they disassembled and scattered into particles of mana that seeped through her skin like it was absorbed.
Her advance didn't stop there, there was a sudden burst of speed after she absorbed my mana and once again we were face to face. But this time... Strangely too close?
『+1,000 Affection Points.』
"Wh-What in the world? Why are you- mhm..."
I was in deep shock. Instead of stabbing me to death like how she easily could have, she's kissing my lips right now.
M-My tongue... She's sucking too much...
『+200 Affection Points.』
My mana, I feel like it's quickly leaving my body. I couldn't move, she was holding my body so tightly and she's too strong.
"Fuah... You're unexpectedly delicious."
She finally stopped, but she even spouted such indecent words.
"Th-Thanks... You're delicious too."
"Want to do more?"
"Sure!"
Once again we started kissing and I felt my mana being sucked out again.
W-Wait! What am I doing kissing my enemy!? And isn't this incredibly bad for me?!
"Y-You know what, nevermind. I forgot we have to fight."
"Ah, you're right. I forgot we're enemies. Let's just continue this later."
We took our distance from each other again. I was being careless, I lost almost all my mana from that kiss. So a dark elf's ability is to consume mana and not be immune to it. Maybe I can overload her?
Ack, she licked her lips. So hot...
N-No! I think I'm the one getting overloaded with lust here since she doesn't even seem unfazed from eating up 75% of my mana and I know for certain that 75% of my mana pool is more than 20 mages combined.
"You know what? I won't kill you, brave magic caster. So do your best fighting against me."
I didn't know I would be overpowered to the point I'm being given a handicap by my enemy. That being said, I have no reason to use [Write Destiny] now.
"You've got one thing wrong. I'm not a magic caster."
Her expression was slightly bothered but she kept her distance nonetheless which is what I'd want.
"Bane Of True Evil."
I wielded my true sword against Nemisis who was standing on guard ever since my sword changed attribute. Judging by how it turned into the holy attribute, I'm guessing she's somewhat sinful. But the power I'm feeling from it isn't that intense so this means she isn't evil.
Alright, let's start!
BOOM!
Using my remaining magic to enhance my physical strength, I delivered a dangerous blow towards Nemisis who was blocking my attack with her two daggers.
"Qinggong."
She disappeared again but this time she's above and aiming to chop my neck.
"Don't make it harder for me to take you alive, Clavery."
"We can do that later."
Even though we're evenly matched right now, she looks like she's having fun fighting with me.
Then my fun ended when the blades of her daggers started emitting blue light. One thing for sure is that it isn't the work of magic since I can't feel it's presence, I saw Percy using this kind of ability as well so this might be a martial arts technique.
"Wha-!"
The next moment we exchanged blows, Bane Of True Evil was sent flying to a distance and disappeared, most likely returning to my grasp.
"You're disarmed now, Seven Clavery. Now give up."
Since I didn't want to surrender, I conjured a magic sword to strike her from above without knowing. But like I expected, it got absorbed. I knew it, she was holding back all this time.
"Weird, I think something felt cold around my neck just now."
She barely even noticed it, huh?
Wh-What now?
"You have delicious mana, so perhaps we can get closer, no? I'll arrange a position for you in our side so why don't you come with me?"
"S-Sounds like a good offer but I'll pass. I don't want my movements to be restricted since I'm a traveller."
"Is that so? What a pity, I guess I'll just leave you here. I still have a sense of honor so I wouldn't want to kidnap you, additionally, you might get the attention of that shameless bastard of a Dark Lord and I wouldn't like that."
"If you hate your boss that much then why don't you get rid of him?"
"As if I could, that guy used some strange curse on us generals and now we can't even do as we please, every order he has would be done. Even the previous Dark Lord was kind and benevolent to us."
"So you're saying, your new boss is a bad guy?"
"Yeah what else kind of good guy do you think enslaves people? Atleast our original Dark Lord only calls for us when necessary and even apologizes for inconveniencing us."
She sure loves to compare the two. But like Thalia-san said, it really looks like the Dark Lord was some kind of good guy except we all have our own definitions of good.
"Ah, I almost forgot about you. No doubt you wouldn't just sit still while I kill these elves so how about I drain your mana until you pass out."
Sounds like a good way to pass out but I'll pass since I don't want to see innocent people dying.
But not like I can do anything when she's so close and her embrace is so herculean I can't even budge.
"Mhm..."
I'm losing mana again. At this rate, I really might pass out. If I lose consciousness, things will repeat itself again, countless people will die.
But what can I even do in this situation!? I can't use magic! And my strength isn't enough either!
Then all of a sudden, Nemisis stopped kissing me and looked from behind her. There was some guy standing from behind us.
His appearance looked peculiar for me. He was wearing clothes that young nobles wear in this world which was a black suit, but the most bothering me is that, his hair is jet black and his eyes were purplish, his looks were almost identical to mine as well.
"Two Sevens..?"
Without any warning, Nemisis was sent flying to her right side after she let go of me to prepare for combat. His attack was so fast I can't even tell what he did, but if I remember correctly, I saw his foot move a little.
Since I got most of my mana pulled out, I almost lost consciousness and fall face-flat on the ground. Thankfully I managed to find my balance in time.
"Question."
That guy spoke in a husky voice, his expression looked serious. And I'm not feeling any bad vibes from him like I do from my male friends back in the Star Continent meaning I don't have to be cautious on being hit on.
"Should I kill her or not?"
"Don't..."
"Understood."
He disappeared again. He's so fast I can't even see him, and what's with his damn appearance? He looks so identical to my Seven Clavery self that it worries me.
A second later, he came back holding Nemisis from her collar. It looks like she passed out, I can't blame her if she got hit by something like that.
Thud.
Did he just drop her on the ground like that!? He's definitely not a gentleman! No, he's probably gay!
Putting personal beliefs aside, I caught Nemisis before her face crashed to the ground.
But this really is confusing. Who is this guy and why does he look like me? A poser? He's not an enemy is he? Even Nemisis was done in by just one kick. If I fight him I'll surely be defeated in the same way unless I use my skill.
"Hey, who are you?"
"Vincent."
Vincent, huh? I'll remember that name. Maybe he's someone famous in the Dragon Continent and I just didn't know about it since I just got here.
"..."
Since I was still curious about his looks I stared at his face, but for some reason he looked annoyed. There is something additionally familiar though, his flowing hair style slightly resembled something I've seen before.
"...I'll be going."
"Y-Yeah... Thanks."
After leaping to a tree to another, he completely disappeared from sight. I should have asked why he looked like me, I'm worried that guy was some kind of family for this body.
Putting that stranger aside for now, what should I do with Nemisis?