"Here we are." Lysandra spoke, her eyes shining with excitement at how she would bully her daughter and son-in-law.
Eric and Elara nodded solemnly.
They stood beneath the shade of trees. Before them stretched a vast open field, and at its center loomed a massive man-made wooden enclosure—a roughly built village.
Directly ahead was a large gate, left wide open.
The village remained a fair distance from where they stood, roughly 100 to 150 meters away.
Beside the open gates stood two Dark Elf guards.
Both were lax, drinking and laughing with tribesfolk who occasionally brought them food or drink.
What Eric found weird was that they—three unknown people, though quite some distance away—were in clear visibility for anyone to notice, yet neither the Dark Elf guards nor the Dark Elves coming and going glanced toward their direction even once, as if they didn't even have a desire to look outside the wide-open gate even for a moment, almost like they were intentionally avoiding seeing them.
Many might not find this situation weird, but Eric found it very unnatural. After all, he, Lysandra, and Elara were not hiding at all and were almost blatantly standing far away in a straight line away from the gate.
All these Dark Elves were acting as if they weren't even supposed to glance outside the wide-open gates even for an instant. And Eric could also clearly see that these Dark Elves weren't acting but were truly avoiding looking outside, as if there was nothing but a wall in front of them.
He eventually stopped thinking about it, as it might be that these Dark Elves simply thought there were no threats around this area, so they were too relaxed and partying.
"Go ahead, take your shots!" Lysandra spoke with great interest in her tone.
Eric took a deep breath and nodded.
He slowly raised his bow with his left hand to aim toward the left guard.
Elara also solemnly nodded. It was her first time killing someone, not to mention someone from the same race as her. Although these Dark Elf tribes were not High Elves, they were Elves nonetheless.
On the Elven Continent, there were many civilized Dark Elves, and Elara herself knew quite a few of them. So, in that sense, she would be killing her own race at this moment.
But she also didn't have a single shred of hesitation because these tribes were truly unruly and wild. They would kill Eric's town eventually and bring suffering to him. So, she planned to end this Dark Elf tribe completely before they succeeded.
Elara raised her wooden-designed, low-grade Tier 1 bow and slowly pulled the string. A single wooden arrow, matching her bow's design, manifested out of nowhere.
She made a complete pull and glanced toward Eric, who was on her left, to see if he was prepared, as she was planning to take down the guard on the right side.
Eric silently nodded at Elara, and both of them released their arrows at the same time.
Both Dark Elf guards had wide smiles on their faces. Although they had to stand guard, everyone in the tribe had come to offer drinks and food to them and even let them have some 'fun.' So, they were very happy and satisfied.
Suddenly, they heard two sharp air-cutting sounds. As Elves, they naturally had great hearing capabilities, so they swiftly jerked their heads toward the sound to investigate.
When they saw and realized what it was, it was already too late.
The only word that resounded loudly inside them was—DEATH!
Puch! Puch!
Two arrows penetrated right through the two Dark Elf guards' foreheads, and with the momentum of the arrows, they were dragged deep inside the gates and rolled right into the center of the ongoing party.
Drinking, singing, dancing, and some 'other' activities all came to an abrupt halt.
Eric was quite amazed by the power of their arrows.
Even though he didn't get the complete picture, the damage was quite severe—almost as if a big hole had appeared in those Dark Elves' foreheads, and a huge amount of blood and brain matter flew out like a river, almost as if instead of an arrow, they had been penetrated by a spear or a pole.
Another fact Eric found very strange was that if those arrows were that powerful, why did those two Dark Elves travel so far? Only the arrows should have penetrated and flown out of them.
The way both Dark Elves flew inside the village seemed both natural and unnatural, as if someone had intentionally dragged both their bodies deep inside the camp.
Eric glanced toward Lysandra from the corner of his eye.
He had a feeling that she was the one who had done it, but how?
All the Dark Elves—fully-naked or half —turned toward the two guards who had flown all the way from outside the gates in front of them, and for a moment, they were all dumbfounded. They couldn't figure out what had just happened.
As a traveling tribe, they were always very cautious during their travels. Since they had arrived at this place two weeks ago, they had secretly surveyed the entire area and also understood the power scale of the human tribes nearby—they barely had a handful of Rank 1's. So, who would dare to attack their tribe?
The Dark Elves were only startled for a brief second, and soon the smart ones shrieked thunderously, "AMBUSH!"
All the mortal Dark Elves dashed madly toward the open main gate, while all the Mana Wielders charged toward the opposite side—toward the backdoor—almost as if their most hated enemy had arrived there, and they needed all their Mana Wielders to deal with it.
But strangely, not a single one doubted what they were doing—neither the mortals charging toward the gates naked without any weapons questioned this, nor the Mana Wielders charging toward their backdoor questioned their stupidly illogical actions.
Lysandra smiled, satisfied with Eric and Elara's perfect shot.
She excitedly spoke, "From here onward, all the mortals are yours, while I will try my best to take on all the Mana Wielders. I won't be able to provide any support, so don't rely on me. Let me remind you both—these mortals are fairly strong, as they live within the wilderness all year long. So, good luck!"
After saying this, Lysandra disappeared into thin air.
Eric was speechless.
He didn't know if that was some technique or if Lysandra's speed was so abnormally fast that he couldn't even notice how she disappeared. No matter which, the wind didn't even move with her movement, as if she had truly disappeared into nothing.
Eric shook his head and focused on the village gate. It was better he didn't waste time deciphering a Grandmaster's capabilities with his puny brain. These things were better left to expert A.I.'s.
Riya rolled her eyes. She had a similar guess to Eric—either it was some elemental capability, or Lysandra's speed was just monstrous. They currently lacked the information to understand or guess these things.
Elara gravely looked toward the gate. She had already knocked another arrow into her bow and was waiting.
She knew there wouldn't be a single moment of rest, as the number of mortals was around a thousand or so, and the Mana Wielders numbered about a hundred. Lysandra had already informed them of this.
If she and Eric couldn't kill them before they reached their location, they would have to fight in melee, which was extremely dangerous, considering these Dark Elves' numbers.
Lysandra appeared on the other side of the tribe camp, before the pitiful backdoor of the tribe, which was facing the assault of over a hundred Mana Wielders alone.
With her hands on her hips, Lysandra laughed wildly.
Not a single Dark Elf Mana Wielder even bothered questioning what was going on—why there was a High Elf here, what this High Elf wearing such a long, expensive gown was doing in a forest, or why she was ambushing them.
No, these Dark Elves didn't waste a single moment in idle chatter and started attacking Lysandra wildly with long-range attacks that cost them Mana. Even the Dark Elves who were only experts in close-range combat and terrible at long-range were expending their Mana crazily to use long-range attacks on Lysandra.
Lysandra continued laughing and didn't even move from her place, but all the attacks disappeared before they could even touch her.
After a while, Lysandra recalled something and waved her hand as if she were removing some dirt from the atmosphere. Some 'specific' Dark Elves who were still within the camp, doing nothing, turned to 'wind' without anyone noticing anything.
Eric and Elara started rapid shooting.
One after another, arrows flew from their bows toward the incoming Dark Elf mortal hordes, who were screaming, yelling, and charging wildly toward Eric and Elara while ignoring everything around them.
These mortal Dark Elves were so brave and courageous that even Eric felt deeply touched.
Even the most idiotic animal would at least flinch or think twice before charging toward their enemies so stupidly while also trampling and shoving their dead tribe members in front of them.
Jokes aside, Eric felt his brain was no longer braining.
It just made no sense!
At the same time, he was also weirdly impressed by his bow once again, as these arrows were going through multiple bodies, and with each shot, they were killing multiple Dark Elves.
The number of Dark Elves was so huge, and they were charging with such enthusiasm that Eric didn't even have the time to think about this extremely weird situation.
"They are all mentally influenced somehow… Lysandra must have done something to them that has made them brain-dead!" Riya thoughtfully remarked.
Eric felt a chill run down his back.
'Is this what a Grandmaster is? Taking control over others' minds while they can't even put up any resistance? And not to mention such a huge crowd all at once?'
"Focus!" Riya quickly reprimanded, then continued speaking, "No matter—you need to do something quickly, or both you and your new cutie-crush will be run down by naked Dark Figures! Seriously, don't they know any shame?! Even the women are completely naked! Was there any lack of 'leaves' in this forest?"
Eric rolled his eyes. It was clear these Dark Elves had been engaged in some unique activities before their party was interrupted. But no matter—he suddenly realized Grandmasters were truly scary, and the entire world was much scarier than he had initially thought.
Riya shook her head and provided her own thoughts on the matter, "My guess is just like I mentioned—'influenced,' not 'controlled.'"
"I don't think Lysandra is controlling them, and indeed, you as a mortal could probably also be influenced, but I am here, and I'm sure she hasn't done anything to you without you knowing."
"If these Dark Elves are truly just temporarily influenced, they'll probably remember everything later—if they live, that is. Either way, this has given us a small fraction of information on what a Grandmaster could do, but we shouldn't come to any conclusion before understanding this in more depth."
"For now, focus on reducing their numbers. I don't want my wealthy-sister Elara to be trampled by these naked people who have some unknown fluids on them. Ewwww…"
Eric was impressed that Riya had even noticed such details, as he didn't have the liberty to check these naked men and women's lower bodies.