"Good job."
I glanced up in surprise at Wesley Snyder's words. He and his party were emerging from the mist, bloodied and battered. I noticed that Baldur was holding up a disembodied mutant's head, which he then callously tossed onto a pile of Kobold carcasses that the elves were piling up to cremate. My eyes flickered to it, not recognizing it at all. Disturbingly enough, it had human features, but distorted to an exaggerated degree by what seemed like chemical stimulants and surgery.
"Where were you?" Eliza demanded angrily. Wesley turned to her, his eyes unreadable behind his tinted sunglasses.
"We struck the dark elves from the shadows, as you can see. We suspected there would be reinforcements coming from the branches above, pinpointed the location where they would…uh, warp in, for a lack of a better term, and then hit them hard."
"That explains why they didn't have many reinforcements as I thought they would. They are usually accompanied by mutants known as Grotesques, but I was surprised to not see them around. They are tough bastards. Seems like you cleared them out, though." Sigmund joined us, looking weary as he sheathed his sword behind his back. He nodded to the trio. "You have my thanks."
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about them, but then again, I guess they had a good reason for taking a different route. I remembered that they had gone up another path instead of following us to the frontlines. This must be why.
"I see. Thank you." Eliza didn't look convinced, but she wasn't rude enough to dispute Sigmund in front of other people, especially since there was evidence that Wesley's party had been in a fight. I was half expecting Wesley himself to reveal a fanged smile, but he wasn't Blade.
"How are you doing? That seemed like quite the difficult opponent."
Sigmund smiled slightly at my concern and shook his head. "Ardena is certainly formidable, but we were evenly matched. Neither of us were able to greatly injure the other."
Why, because both of them were Saber class Servants?
"I don't know what you're thinking right now, but I'm certain that's not the case."
"Right. Sorry." I decided not to dwell on the joke because clearly nobody got the reference. Instead, I checked on the elves, but it appeared they didn't suffer much casualties this time because my summoned spirit beasts had bore the brunt of the attack. Following the raid, I had dismissed them back to my dungeon so that they could heal and rest.
Fortunately for us, it was a bad matchup for the dark elves. Their poison wasn't very effective against my ghost type spirit beasts, or this would have been bad. Their splinter rounds and poisoned blades couldn't penetrate the armored hide of my Guardian Golems or the hardened shells of my Colossal Crabs and King Crab, while the dark elves had ignored the more vulnerable mud fishes for the more obvious threats. I was glad I hadn't summoned my Lantern Fishes and Little Anglers or they would be writhing in pain from the neurotoxins.
The system notified me that I had ten ordinary spirit contracts as a reward. I blinked when I saw the window pop up. I didn't even know that the system had issued me a quest. Apparently, it had something to do with defeating the dark elves and saving Viridian Village. But I was so preoccupied with fighting that I failed to notice the system's quest. Well, ten ordinary spirit contracts, huh? I would take that. I didn't even expect anything, so this was a bonus for me.
"We should take a rest before continuing," Eliza suggested when Sylvie and Silvia trudged up to join us. The fairy sisters had been in the rear, dismantling the spirit arrays that they had set up, while Myria and Morten were close by. Myria had recovered from her ordeal, the poison now completely purged from her system, and her complexion had improved greatly from her previous pallor. Excellent.
"We can't thank you enough," the elf chief said as he limped toward us, bowing his head humbly. "It is only because of your assistance that we were able to get through this without any losses. Those who had been hit have been treated with antidotes and elixirs, and should be well on their way to a full recovery. As long as no one died or was abducted by those awful dark elves, it is a simple matter to heal their wounds."
"Abduction?" Myria asked. The elf chief nodded.
"The dark elves are known for taking prisoners, to enslave them or conduct nightmarish experiments on them, turning them into grotesque monsters."
I recalled the disembodied head that Baldur brought back and shuddered.
"Ah, the mutants that we fought." Wesley nodded somberly. "They were accompanied by dark elves who appeared like twisted surgeons."
"Dark alchemists," Eliza hissed. "They enjoy turning captured specimens into monsters called Grotesques, sewing together separate entities and combining them into chimeras. Or making use of cells to clone homunculi."
"They were tough bastards," Baldur said with a grimace. "Took a hell of a beating before they finally went down. And they had all sort of weird weapons such as blades grafted into them, like fingers or appendages. Disgusting things."
"And they were in pain," Wilhelmina said softly, her gaze haunted. "I looked into their eyes, and through their insanity…their broken minds, I could still see a small measure of humanity inside there, suffering from torment."
Somehow, I was glad that the trio had taken care of those things for us. Otherwise, I would be traumatized if I had to fight those things. But something told me that I would inevitably come up against them. Yikes.
"It's not just slaves and experimental specimens," the elf chief said. "Sometimes they would send the slaves into gladiatorial pits and watch them struggle against monsters and spirit beasts. They revel in blood and suffering, after all, and somehow their twisted sense of a warrior culture transformed into a desire for gladiatorial coliseums. The owners of gladiators tend to make a lot of money from such fights, and such is the prestige that many dark elves decide to participate in the arenas to earn glory and indulge in violence. Those are the Gladiatrixes you saw."
"I see."
"In any case, you guys should return to rest for a bit." The elf chief smiled. "Since we were able to force the battlefield into the outskirts of Viridian Village, our homes didn't suffer any damage this time. We should be able to offer more hospitality than before."
"Forgive my rudeness, but we are on a tight schedule." Eliza bowed her head. "We need to make our way to Noctwood as soon as possible. We'll only stay for a short while before we resume our journey, so we are unable to enjoy your hospitality. We appreciate your offer nonetheless."
"Are our brothers and sisters in Noctwood under attack as well?" The elf chief asked, looking grim. Eliza nodded somberly.
"Spirit beasts…and I fear the dark elves might have something to do with it, considering what had just occurred here. We might have beaten them back, but I suspect that's just a fraction of their forces. Surely, they wouldn't have committed everything they had for a single enclave."
"That was just a single raiding party," Sigmund agreed. "From what I know, the dark elves possess far more forces than what we have seen here. With all due respect to Wesley Snyder's party, even the three of you wouldn't be able to halt an entire contingent of Grotesques. You probably only faced a company."
"There were less than fifty Grotesques," Wesley admitted with a solemn nod. "And we were hard-pressed even then. I can't imagine how the battle would have turned out if more had showed up."
"We would have been captured and turned into one of those things as well," Baldur remarked. "Or more likely, be enslaved as gladiators. The dark elves love warriors, especially the strong ones."
"Anyway, as much as we like to move on ahead, we need to rest after such a fierce battle." Myria glanced at Eliza, who nodded her consent. "Let's set up a spot nearby to take a break before we resume our journey."
"Thank you once again," Eliza told the chief. "But in the interests of time, we'll be staying in the vicinity so that we can set out immediately once we've recovered our strength. So we will not be returning to Viridian Village."
"I understand. In fact, I'm grateful that you're prioritizing our brethren and fellow enclaves over your own welfare. However, if you have anything you need – anything at all – you are more than welcome to return to Viridian Village and request it of us."
"Will do."
We found a nice shade under a particularly large tree, and set up camp there. I say that loosely, because we didn't pitch any tents. Even though it was a good day to pitch a tent or a nice day for camping. Never mind, I doubted anyone caught the reference unless they were fans of R18 manhwas.
Sigmund folded his arms and leaned against the tree, while Myria, Sylvie, Silvia and Eliza found roots or stumps to sit on. Morten flopped down on the grass and promptly went to sleep, with Baldur mirroring him. Blade…Wesley Snyder sat down on a nearby log, with Wilhelmina next to him.
I was about to join them when I sensed a call from Long Wang. The message was transmitted to me telepathically, and I could hear his voice inside my mind as clearly as if he was speaking right next to me.
"My lord, I believe you might want to return to your dungeon for a bit, if you don't mind."
"Huh? Oh, okay. I'll be right there."
I leaned in to whisper to Myria and notify her that I would be gone for a while. She nodded and beckoned for me to go.
"Just don't take too long."
"It'll probably take less than an hour."
"No problem. I'll let them know. I mean, not that you return to your dungeon, but you won't be available until then."
"Thanks."
"Do you mind if I tag along?" Sylvie asked. "If it has something to do with your dungeon, then it might be a good idea if I come along."
"Where my sister goes, I go as well!" Silvia piped up. I nodded.
"Sure."
The three of us went around the tree, and once we were out of sight, I teleported us straight to my dungeon. We stepped right into the main hall of the Deep Sea Palace, looking around for Long Wang. As usual, he was waiting for us in that formal posture, bowing at his waist when he caught sight of us.
"This way, my lord, and madams Sylvie and Silvia."
"You don't have to be so formal," Sylvie told him. He shrugged, but didn't object. Turning around, he strode toward the bar that I had set up.
As always, there was a motley collection of spirit beasts relaxing at the bar and sipping their drinks. I waved at the Lantern Fish who served as the bartender. Xiao Jiu waved a fin in return before he went back to polishing wine glasses. He was accompanied by a couple of Collector Crabs and Construction Crabs who ran around to blend fruits into drinks or bake pastries and other snacks for the guests.
And it was one of these guests who Long Wang led me to. I blinked in surprise and stopped when I caught sight of the humanoid figure. She could pass off as human, aside from the long, pointy ears that marked her as an elf.
But she didn't resemble any elf that I had met before. She didn't sport the delicate, pale features, golden locks and blue eyes that the regular elves of Yggdrasil possessed. Nor did she have the red eyes and gray-blue skin shared among the dark elves.
Instead, she had dark skin the color of mahogany that contrasted starkly against messy, white hair, and yellowish eyes. In any other story, she would probably be classified as a dark elf, but not in reality. By now, I had heard from Eliza that elves didn't differentiate themselves by skin color, and their dark brethren were those who indulged in demonic pacts and accursed powers, not because of their appearance. So she was just an elf.
"This elf is the guest who wants to speak to you, my lord." Long Wang lowered his head. "I thought it better to contact you because you probably would want to listen to what she has to say."
"Yeah. Thanks. I appreciate it." I nodded to my dragon butler in human form before turning to the guest. She watched me insolently, but I didn't care. Instead, I blurted out, "Let me guess, you're an elf mercenary named Rikschascha?"
"…excuse me?"
"Never mind, sorry. I'm mixing up reality with Dungeon Odyssey." I cleared my throat. "My name is Song Jun Wen, and I happen to be the current master of this dungeon, known as the Deep Sea Palace. Um, I heard that you wanted to see me?"
"Yes." The elf lowered her head slightly, expressing the minimal amount of respect. As expected, she was still an elf, with that arrogant and condescending attitude so common to her species. "My name is Raquel, and as you correctly surmised, I'm an elf mercenary. I am here to offer my services to your dungeon."