As soon as the words left his mouth, dozens of fireballs were hurled at the vines on the ground. The struck vines twitched in pain, crawled a few more steps forward, then fell still.
However, the fireballs were not enough to stop the advancing mass of vines. Several people dressed as magicians pulled out scrolls from their robes, opened them, and muttered a few incantations. The scrolls released a barrage of fireballs, overwhelming the vines and incinerating them within moments.
But soon, arrows began shooting out from the forest, each one precisely hitting the throats of the magicians, causing them to clutch the arrows and collapse with agonized cries.
The shrill screams marked the beginning of the slaughter. Quickly, attackers surrounded the camp, and the sounds of spellcasting, clashing swords, and death cries filled the air.
By this time, I had infiltrated the inner part of the camp and located the tents where the hostages were held.
For someone like me, such infiltrations and rescues were as easy as breathing.
Upon entering one of the tents, I immediately understood why the elves were attacking the camp.
Inside, about twenty female elves were confined in iron cages just big enough to hold their bodies. They were naked, weakly fluttering their almost transparent butterfly-like wings.
Though it was my first time seeing elves, I couldn't mistake them. Their pointed ears and the wings on their backs were unmistakable signs.
The cages emitted a faint magical energy, clearly designed to suppress the elves' magic. Without their magic, the elves were harmless. Seeing their helpless state, my sympathy surged.
Unfortunately, I didn't know how to unlock the magical restraints on the cages, so I had to leave them confined for now. However, considering elves were allies of the dragon clan, I couldn't just abandon them.
I had to find Alice in another tent, but Little Feather should be able to take care of the elves. So, I summoned Little Feather, who was carrying Philiya. With the guards outside dead by my hand, no one noticed Little Feather's swift descent from the sky.
Seeing the miserable condition of the elves, Philiya almost screamed, but she quickly controlled her emotions, understanding it wasn't the time to be shocked. Seeing her manage her emotions, I told Little Feather to protect the elves and took Philiya to the other tent.
This tent was different from the one holding the elves. It had one large iron cage with nearly thirty little girls inside, all looking worn out and listless, but overall better off than the elves.
Philiya couldn't hold back any longer. She circled the cage, calling out Alice's name repeatedly. The girls inside, awakened by her cries, slowly opened their eyes. When Philiya was halfway around the cage, her feet seemed to root to the ground. She stared at a blonde girl inside, tears streaming down her face.
I knew this must be Alice. I quickly broke the cage open and carried the sleeping girl out. After a quick check, I was relieved to find she was unhurt, just sleeping.
I handed Alice to Philiya and said, "Don't worry, she's fine, just asleep. Stay in the tent with the children, and don't come out. I'll check the situation."
Seeing Philiya nod obediently, her face tear-streaked, a strange feeling rose in my heart. Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused on guarding the tent.
The battle outside was clearly in favor of the attackers. Though they were outnumbered, they were evidently more skilled individually.
Using the cover of trees, they moved in small groups, systematically killing the approaching enemies. Their close-combat fighters were protected by a layer of light, obviously provided by a high-level light mage, shielding them from many attacks. Their superior equipment made it difficult for the slave traders' attacks to reach their bodies, leaving them to fall one by one under their swords.
Their mages were also stronger, casting lightning bolts, fireballs, and wind blades that appeared out of nowhere, overwhelming the slave traders.
Seeing the battle's direction, I knew the attackers could defeat the slave traders without my help. So, I stood guard between the two tents, ensuring their safety.
An old mage and a few others suddenly rushed towards the tents. Seeing me standing guard and the dead bodies around, they looked incredulous. The old mage raised his staff, challenging me. He lifted his staff high and shouted, "Water Shield!" A light blue ring of light surrounded him.
I sneered, thinking, some people don't know their limits.
I knew he was surprised because his magical barrier hadn't detected my infiltration.
But even if he had set the barrier, I could go anywhere on Dragon Island without being detected, not even by Kalle, the chief.
Although his magical energy was close to that of a saint mage, he was still just a high-level mage. What right did he have to challenge me?
I clenched my right fist and punched. This punch used only a fraction of my true energy, manifesting as blue battle energy, and it hit his shield. With a "boom," my fist sank halfway into the shield but didn't penetrate. The shield held against my attack.
Although the old mage was visibly straining, shaking violently, he had managed to block my attack.
Then, the blue gem on his staff flashed, and a pushing force sent me back two steps, catching me off guard.
I was intrigued that his quickly cast spell could block my blue battle energy attack.
"Break!" I shouted, unleashing the third form of the Free Spirit Fist—Triple Fold Strike. Bright blue light flashed as I struck his shield again. The blue light and the water-blue shield clashed. The gem flashed again but couldn't withstand my concentrated energy attack.
My fist punched through, hitting his chest. The shield shattered into water droplets, and blood sprayed as the old mage's body flew, crashing into a tent and rolling several times before lying still.
I casually walked over, picked up his staff, and, satisfied with its quality, stored it in my spatial ring.
The few who had followed the mage stared in disbelief, mumbling "impossible." No one dared approach.
By then, the sounds of battle outside were dying down, eventually fading to silence.
Several figures approached. Leading them was a heavily armored greatsword warrior, followed by a mage in robes, and beside the mage, an elf dressed in clothing made of leaves and carrying a bow. Behind them were two beastmen, one with a tiger's head and a human body, the other with a bull's head and a human body, each standing around three meters tall. They were clearly members of the tiger and bull clans. Today, not only did I encounter elves, but also beastmen.
The elf shouted loudly, "How dare you attack, imprison, and sell elves, and capture innocent villagers for slavery. Release them immediately, or our Alliance Mercenary Group will not let you off."
Fear flickered in the eyes of the slave traders. They kept glancing around, clearly looking for a chance to escape.
But the situation was beyond their control. The attackers had already surrounded them, blocking all escape routes. I noticed that among the attackers were more elves and beastmen.
To avoid any misunderstanding, I called out, "The elves are in the tent behind me, but their magic is bound. You can send someone in to take care of them. I'm here to rescue people as well, so please don't misunderstand."
I then summoned Little Feather from the tent. To avoid complications, I had already shrunk its size to that of a small bird, no larger than a fist.
Despite this, I noticed the mage from the Alliance Mercenary Group looked at Little Feather with a mix of surprise and curiosity.
Hearing my words, the members of the Alliance Mercenary Group relaxed. The leading swordsman took out a scroll and read aloud to the slave traders, "Kabur, leader of the Raven Thieves, Grand Swordmaster; Soar, Mage, deputy leader of the Raven Thieves. You have captured and sold elves more than twenty times, totaling over fifty elves sold, not to mention the number of humans you've sold. With your crimes, even killing you ten times wouldn't be enough. Huh, Soar is already dead." He glanced at the old mage's body and then at me with surprise.
"Hmph, since you've tracked us down, I have nothing to say. But if you think it's easy to deal with us, you're mistaken." One of the slave traders, a swordsman in tough leather armor, shouted as his longsword glowed blue and swung it at me. The others also sprang into action, clearly aiming to storm the tent and take the elves hostage.