Age of Adepts

Due to its neighboring Skywater City, elves of the west coast couldn’t avoid passing by Quel’Lithien Lodge on their way to the famous Skywater City.

This place became a beautiful town where every passing traveler couldn’t help but stop by.

Inside the elven kingdom, it was rare to find large merchant unions like those in human kingdoms. The exchange and trade of goods and resources mostly took place on a local barter basis. Most elves had long lives and enjoyed artistic pursuits such as music, drawing, gardening, and the like. Their desire for material enjoyment was minimal, and they usually pursued a ’perfect’ life of self-sufficiency.

While humans lamented the brevity of their lives and busily chased after money and power, the elves spent their adolescence roaming as they liked on Garan. They drank dew when they were thirsty, picked wild fruits when they were hungry, and climbed onto any branch to sleep.

Things like influence, wealth, and power had instead become useless things that wasted their lives. Most elves chose to reject these concerns from their lives.

It was such a life of enjoyment and an atmosphere that promoted the pursuit of elegance that caused the pace of the elves’ lives to become so laid-back and relaxed.

The west coast might have sent several warnings, but most of the places that had been assaulted were situated upon the shore. That was why the elves of Quel’Lithien Lodge remained as relaxed as always, even as Skywater City sent out squads of pegasus knights and hippogryph riders to scout the coast. They were still enjoying every day of their lives to the fullest.

As night fell, the pedestrians walking to and from Quel’Lithien started to thin out.

The Fantasy Forest might be the home of the elves, but when night fell, the ferocious magical beasts would also come out to roam. The elves didn’t enjoy walking in the forest during the night unless it was necessary either.

Under a short cliff one and a half kilometers away from Quel’Lithien Lodge, the black-robed Billis was softly discussing something with Mary.

After five days of hiding by day and traveling at night, Bug Adept Billis had finally managed to arrive near Quel’Lithien along with his bug army. Now that they had come, the next steps of the operation would have to go according to Bloody Queen Mary’s instructions.

That was why everyone remained silent after meeting here. They silently listened to the words from Old Fox Vanlier.

"This is already a core elven area close to Skywater City. We would be daydreaming if we thought we could calmly surround and exterminate the elves as we have before. If we stay here for too long, a hundred kilometers of distance is nothing for the garrison of Skywater. That is why, regardless of whether we win or we lose, we need to be fast. The time we spend on attacking Quel’Lithien Lodge cannot exceed five hours."

"Isn’t five hours far too short?! With that much time, even if we successfully managed to invade the town, we won’t have enough time to clear out the resources inside." Billis said, his face dark as the clouds in the sky.

"Lord Billis, don’t you forget, we are still in a precarious position here. If our locations are exposed to the elves and their mobile forces catch up, it would be tough for us to lose them and make it to the coast. That is why we definitely cannot stay here for too long. Five hours is enough for us to route the elven garrison in town and take a huge bite out of the cake."

Mary’s face remained emotionless as she stood to the side. She wasn’t paying too much attention to the conversation going on between Vanlier and Billis. She looked toward the northeast and frowned intensely. She had a constant feeling of tremendous weight pulling upon her heart, making it difficult to breathe.

Could the operation this time have been exposed? Or was something going to happen during the mission? Or was it that there were some powerhouses nearby?

For a moment, the countless possibilities swarmed toward her, disturbing her thoughts and making it difficult for her to stay calm!

"No need to argue anymore!" Mary decisively ordered, "We only have four hours. Once the four hours are up, immediately scatter, regardless of what the outcome of the battle is. If you are not afraid of dying, you can stay behind and take the loot; everything you get will be yours. I won’t be asking for any of it as my share!"

Billis naturally didn’t dare to disagree in front of Mary and nodded his head in agreement.

Since time was of the essence, there was no longer a need to set up a siege before the attack slowly!

After coming to a consensus, everyone immediately split up and began the operation.

Billis’ bug army was always at his side. He raised his hand slightly as he walked into the woods and softly called out, "Come out, my people!"

Billis’ had just spoken his words when a hundred-meter area around the woods immediately boiled with activity.

The black earth swelled up into tiny hills like waves in an ocean. As the top of these hills broke apart, large swarms of black beetles surged outward and turned the area into a horrifying sea of insects.

Billis’ black body immediately fell apart and scattered into hundreds and thousands of black bugs that joined the swarm. They turned into a terrifying flood and rushed toward the nearby Quel’Lithien Lodge.

Behind the swarm, a large flock of bloodsucking bats borrowed the cover of the canopy and pressed forward as well.

A frightful scene was occurring within the woods beneath the faint dim moonlight!

............

Warren was only an ordinary elven bowman!

He was very fortunate to be selected as part of Quel’Lithien’s garrison and became a trainee soldier.

HIs daily mission was to guard the lookout located at the edge of town and prevent the wild and magical beasts from breaking in.

The job of a guard was incredibly dull.

If it weren’t for the smart and cute Owie keeping him company by his side and talking to him, Warren would not have been able to endure the long and silent nights.

Owie was an owl that had grown up alongside him. He could be considered an animal companion of his.

Yet, today, something was clearly off!

Owie appeared flustered and anxious once night fell. It occasionally flew into the forest and circled the place as if looking for something. However, the night was dark, and the woods were dense. It always came back without any findings.

Just as the bright moon in the sky had reached its peak, this usually composed animal companion of his continued to circle high in the air as if it had been possessed. Owie then quickly landed on Warren’s shoulder and shrieked.

"Enemy; danger."

Warren could only get some simple information from the owl after some quick communication.

He wasn’t a druid and couldn’t use nature magic to converse with the animals directly. Warren had only been able to figure this much out thanks to his familiarity and understanding of Owie.

Enemies were closing in on the lookout?

Warren quickly shouldered his longbow and picked up a quiver. He tied his shortsword to his waist and pulled on a vine, scampering up the tree near him as quick as an ape.

Warren found a hidden spot and hid his body with the dense foliage. He then pulled upon his bow and nocked his arrow before hiding his breath and scanning the forest in the night.

As a trainee member of the garrison, unwarranted alarms without finding any enemies would cause his commanders to reprimand him. As such, Warren could only observe his surroundings silently.

As he calmed himself down and placed his attention upon the night winds, he faintly heard some strange noises aside from the rustling of the leaves.

Chi chi, cha cha!

It sounded like insects biting on dead wood, but also like the sound of insects rubbing their shells against each other.

Such a dense wave of noise. Could all the bugs nearby have gone berserk?

Warren finally realized something was off as he was still stunned.

The ground was moving.

When he looked intently upon the ground, the black earth itself seemed to be creeping forward, surging toward him soundlessly like a wave.

The chittering sound was growing increasingly louder!

The black curtain of the night could no longer stop Warren’s sharp eyes. His expression finally turned!

This...this wasn’t the ground moving. It...it was an uncountable number of black beetles crawling forward.

They were like a black sea, surging across the forest, climbing over hills, traversing rivers, and advancing toward Quel’Lithien Lodge at an insane speed.

Beeeep!

An ear-piercing whistle finally rang out.

The arrow in Warren’s hand shot out and instantly sunk into the black sea of insects.

Who knew if he even managed to kill any of them? Warren quickly drew his bow again and prepared for another attack.

Just then, a strange sound of beating wings also arrived by his ear.

Warren lifted his head in shock; what came into view was a quickly expanding mouth.

............

At the instant the whistle was blown, a lithe and agile female elf emerged from a tree hall in the center of the animated Quel’Lithien Lodge. She looked into the distance where the whistle had come from.

Almost at the same moment, Deputy Garrison Captain Alan arrived before the female elf, panting as he pressed his quiver against himself.

"It seems to be a siren from the southwest! Have you sent someone to investigate?" This capable female elf was the captain of the town’s garrison. She quickly asked the deputy captain this question when she saw him arrive.

As the military leader of the town, she was not as ignorant as the ordinary elf.

The west coast had not been peaceful recently!

If this siren was indeed from the southwest, then the problem might become very, very serious.

"I have. It’s Warren who’s keeping a lookout on the west tonight. Judging from the sound, it seems to be a siren from the west lookout. What do you think? Do we need to inform the garrison to gather?"

"Gather!" The female elf captain was still looking into the distance, "I keep having a feeling then something bad might happen tonight."

Before the deputy captain could ring the bronze bell in the center of town, the southwest direction had already been thrown into chaos.

The chaos didn’t happen in a single place. It was confusion everywhere.

One could see with the naked eye what was happening. The southwest border of Quel’Lithien appeared to have been visited by a foul wind. Everything was snapping and blowing about where it passed. Many elves were screaming at the top of their lungs while quickly fleeing and climbing up tall trees.

It seemed as if some terrifying beasts had charged into town.

"Immediately gather the troops. I will go ahead and look."

The female elf had no time to think. She left her instructions and leaped onto a tall tree, quickly running toward the source of the commotion.