I couldn't believe their gall. Elves were strange, arrogant, pesky, a pain in the ass to deal with and high elves even more so, but this?
Calling upon great old me with the help of a short burst of condensed killing intent? Why couldn't they simply come here, like any other normal creature, talk to me face to face?
The sole reason I didn't take too much offence was that I myself failed to act all gentlemanly. There were some high elves snoring upon pricky grass still.
They had yet to wake up, testament to how degraded their bloodline had become over time. Back in the day, such a half-assed dose of sedatives would've served at most as a prank.
While hurrying through the woods, I wondered just how much time I had before my essence would end up getting mistreated once more.
The conclusion I came to was that thanks to a certain pesky individual so full of gushing energy, my worry-free time was rather limited.
I unconsciously increased the pace, shooting over the forest floor as fast as was possible somebody could who had no plans to plant his face on the next rugged tree trunk.
It wasn't long before I found myself in a sun-shunned clearing. Only a few rays of precious sunlight filtered through the mighty treetops.
A strange place for a meeting, I had to admit. "So, excuse me for a moment. Just need to clear my head, won't be long."
I cleared my throat, stroking my horns sheepishly. Too many thoughts had been circling around the youth lately, too little space left in my head for other concerns.
"My name is Thoth. I'm an old acquaintance of Elfriede's, one she might not even want to see again, but that's trivia."
The elite troop composed of ten archers, five mages, seven guards, all well-dressed, did not make me lose face.
They failed to react even, keeping their expressions schooled and eyes unreadable. I was grateful for that.
As in the good old days, the high elves gave me those moments I needed to make sense of the mess.
At this point, I noticed that their features seemed perhaps a little too cold, but I thought nothing more of it.
After all, one could not have everything. And compared to the previous gang... they could not be related at all.
"In any case, I'd prefer you call me directly, come up close or simply make your presence known if you are too shy for that stuff.
I don't usually bite... Which I cannot, of course, promise if I'm greeted with killing intent. Shit happens all the time, you see. Shit—"
The answer came immediately, enchanted arrows blowing holes into the ground where I'd been standing just an instant ago.
"What the—" My brain failed to understand. Yet time wasn't lenient on me. The next volley of arrows cut off my escape path while three warriors equipped their slender swords, dashing at me.
The other four circled around me with ease, their steps light and empathy non-existent. While they kept a certain distance and often hid behind obscuring vegetation, it wasn't hard for me to spot them.
The game they were playing at... If I found no counter soon, they'd terribly decrease my range of movement, forcing me to take on more risks or get beaten up.
And that was without taking the five mages into consideration, each chanting slowly. Or rather, three did and the other two only faked it.
Just in case I exceeded their expectations. These were the points I took note of within the first three seconds of the scuffle.
The next fifteen, the pressure on me mounted until I went against their intelligence once more, unfurling my leathery wings and shooting up into the skies.
Winged combat and competent archers... had the greatest compatibility with a wet grave, all things considered.
So I remained there just long enough to inhale some air and shout my signature spell. "[Darkness' Grace I]!" This brought me behind their backs... right into the two mages' immediate range.
They must've felt the subtle fluctuations of mana as the spell took effect, aptly reading my landing point and blasting the hell out of it.
"[Poison Wine II], [Wood Sharpenel I]." The branch I stood upon, terminated its existence in an epic explosion, the wooden splinters persistently following my evasion manoeuvre.
"[Leave Pressure I], [Leave Cut I], [Leave Zumba I]!" Between two rabid vines out to strangle me alive, the splinters everywhere and leaves enchanted with all kinds of nasties, it wasn't soon before I fled into the shadows.
I recognised these spells well enough to identify one mage's School of Magic: Forest Disturbance. Not the best choice for fights surrounded by mother nature, but surely the most annoying.
It lacked offensive and defensive options to an absurd degree, but the controlling aspect of these spells... would serve any team well.
"In rage thou hast come to a decision," the wooden sharpenel gathered in his hands, "thou hast served the plate, [Sharpenel Bomb II]!"
Finished with his semi-incantation, the mage's gaze turned even frostier as he launched the messy ball of unstable mana my way.
There might've been shadows everywhere in this sun-shunned clearing, but their line-up revealed only a limited number of blind points.
Which, I found while hurriedly casting "[Dark Dam III]," existed to animate me to happily jump into their trap, apparently.
I'd rather consume a shit tonne of mana than gamble on the mage's limited control. By the time I retreated to any one shadow-clad spot in my immediate vicinity and he changed trajectory...
The damage incurred wouldn't just amount to some elevated levels of wasted mana. Being half a tier higher, the dark walls ate up the sharpenel bomb, albeit with difficulty.
The spell crumbled immediately after, revealing some totally destroyed patch of forest floor and a nearly disintegrated smaller tree.
Then the warriors were upon me once more, brandishing their weapons without feelings while the other three mages almost reached the end of their incantations.
However, all things said and done, I felt some long-missed excitement bubble up within me. An emotion that quietly limited my output, I was sure.
I'd play some more with the trained bunch, exhaust them before explaining this embarrassing misunderstanding and returning together to meet Elfriede. That was the plan.