Chapter 21: Pure-Blooded Elf
"No good, some kind of strange energy wave is disrupting our signal!"
Before the already-set-up signal transmitter, the five members of the Elite Squad gathered, their faces tense as they stared at the screen flickering with bizarre runes. The lead spellcaster, after frantically pounding on the keyboard for a moment, could only angrily slap his own thigh and grind his teeth, saying: "Magic, psionic energy, holy light... no signal can be transmitted—this world is completely shielded!"
"You mean, we can't tell headquarters our coordinates... we're trapped here?"
The knight, who usually wasn't the quickest to react, suddenly became sharp-witted when trouble arose. He furrowed his brow and muttered: "This isn't good. A shielded world, a faulty teleport, an ecological environment so similar to home... I think there's definitely something behind this..."
"Think nothing! Shut up!"
The clergy raised a finger and, without hesitation, cast a Law of Silence to seal the knight's jinxing mouth. Then he turned to look at Priest and said somewhat helplessly: "What do we do, Captain? The teleport went wrong, the signal is blocked. If headquarters doesn't send someone to find us, we might really have to spend the rest of our lives in this world."
"...Don't jump to conclusions so early."
Priest pondered for a moment. He looked around at the dense forest and slowly said: "The energy wave blocking the signal is either due to the planet's special structure or some kind of magical device... Our teleportation error is the same. There's no reason the return beacon would connect to this world for no reason."
"The world's structure can be changed, and a special magical device can be stopped or destroyed. There's always a way."
Having said that, Priest paused. He let out a breath and said seriously: "In any case, don't panic first. Treat this like a normal otherworld exploration. Constantine, is the camouflage cloak ready?"
"It's ready, Captain."
The alchemist Constantine had been preparing something off to the side. Now, he held five green cloaks that looked like they were made of moss, and handed them to everyone in turn.
"Clark, Sade, Wayne, take them."
After distributing the camouflage cloaks specially designed for jungle areas, Priest was the first to put on his helmet and cloak. He said in a deep voice: "Our supplies are ample, and the environment here doesn't seem to lack food sources. For now, let's find a high point to observe the general situation of this world."
The meaning of a captain's existence is to provide a backbone for the team. With Priest giving orders and leading the preparations, the squad quickly organized themselves. The five of them equipped their camouflage cloaks, turning into blurry green phantoms, and then cautiously entered the surrounding dense forest.
Leading the way at the front were Priest and the knight. They silently pushed aside vines and drooping branches, carving a small path through the woods.
Although all five of them were now at the Gold-rank level, capable of traversing even the Black Forest of the Mycroft world a few times over, who knew if this otherworld might have a group of Gold-rank monsters or some terrifyingly powerful 'Overlord Creature'? Just like the Overlord Squid they had encountered before—its massive size combined with a psionic energy fluctuation strong enough to sweep across half a continent made it nearly invincible below the Legendary realm.
As for this dense forest, Priest had only one thought.
'Uncomfortable.'
It wasn't just him; all five members of the Elite Squad felt the same way.
As soon as they entered the forest, a clear and intense malice came from all directions. Even the knight, whose spiritual perception was the dullest, instinctively pressed his hand on the sword at his waist. It felt as if all of nature was suppressing and opposing them. The thin camouflage cloak could fool the naked eye and magical scans, but it couldn't deceive the trees and flowers beside them.
This feeling was actually very strange, but Priest vaguely sensed a strange familiarity, though he couldn't describe it. The young warrior looked up and looked around. He could see that because the overly dense foliage blocked the sunlight, the entire forest interior was exceptionally dark and cold. Countless thick vines wrapped around almost every tree, even forming a massive net of vines.
There were no insect chirps, no bird calls, no animal trails in the woods, no signs of biological activity. Although it was almost evening, it was already pitch black deep in the forest... The further they walked, the more cautious Priest became. He felt that entering the forest so casually might have been a mistake.
But flying into the sky and becoming a target for other unknown creatures would be an even greater folly.
After walking for about an hour.
"Whoosh—"
The alchemist suddenly took off his helmet and took a deep breath. It could be seen that his eyes had turned bloodshot, and his pupils had become vertical slits like those of a dragon or snake. After doing this, the alchemist said in a low voice: "Something's wrong, Captain! My thermal perception vision and life energy perception vision can't see a single living thing... This forest is problematic!"
The clergy and the spellcaster also stopped at the same time. The two of them raised their staffs and crystal ball warily, ready to attack. The clergy said coldly: "The air is getting thinner... The surrounding plants are absorbing all the gases!"
"They're even repelling magic... These plants seem to be creating a dead magic zone!" The spellcaster added seriously: "We need to get out of here quickly!"
With three spellcasters in the team all indicating something was wrong, Priest naturally believed them. Besides, he himself felt that the forest was filled with an unsettling atmosphere. But even so, Priest could see that the trees in the surrounding forest were indeed ordinary trees, and the vines were indeed ordinary vines. Even if these trees and vines exuded a dangerous aura, that didn't mean they could suddenly turn into monsters...
Wait.
For some reason, Priest suddenly thought of his little sister, little Blanny, puffing out her cheeks as she sensed a potted plant.
"Your sister has a talent for the path of nature that appears once in a century..."
"She is very suitable to be a Druid who upholds the path of nature..."
Dense forest, vines, trees, danger, attack...
"Attack! We're going to the sky!"
Without any hesitation, Priest erupted with a violent gravitational battle qi from under his feet. Instantly, countless rotten leaves and withered branches were flung into the air like an explosion, and he was already holding a crystal greatshield, breaking through the blockade of the canopy, and arriving in mid-air.
Priest's voice, serious to the point of sternness, could be heard from the air: "It's nature's force! A Druid is using nature's force to control the forest and attack us!"
Hearing their captain's voice, the other team members no longer held back. Immediately, accompanied by the rapid chanting of incantations, layers of blazing holy light mixed with scorching fire elemental magic surged like a torrent, sweeping away all the surrounding trees. In an instant, this patch of forest was burned away by the high-energy flow, and a plume of black smoke billowed up. Amidst the thick smoke, a sturdy modified flying car broke through the heavy smoke, shooting like a meteor towards Priest's position in mid-air.
"Thud."
Priest skillfully boarded the car mid-flight. This was a coordinated maneuver they had rehearsed: if the exploration team encountered an unexpected situation and needed to flee, Priest would open the way with his shield, drawing the first wave of fire, while the knight would retrieve the flying car and take everyone to escape directly.
This time, they were lucky. There was no need for Priest to draw fire. The unknown enemy seemed not to have reacted in time, allowing them to escape safely.
At this moment, without much talk, except for the knight Clark, all the exploration team members looked down at the forest below.
Then, everyone's pupils contracted, and their faces showed shock.
On the ground, just a few seconds ago, the forest that had been ignited by the two area-of-effect spells 'Flame Nova' and 'Holy Nova' was now completely extinguished. It could be seen that a visible green light was converging from other parts of the forest. It quelled the flames, spurred new sprouts, and within ten seconds, the fierce fire that could have burned down a large forest had completely disappeared, turning into wisps of green smoke.
But what shocked everyone was not this, but the black figures that emerged from the forest along with that green light.
"Elves?!"
The alchemist, who had the best eyesight, exclaimed in a low voice: "Are they elves?!"
Following him, the others soon also saw the appearances of the figures hidden in the woods. Without a doubt, they were elves.
The leading elf wore primitive leaf clothing and a tall crown of antlers. He looked up at the flying car that was rapidly moving away, then shouted something that the others couldn't hear. Instantly, a large number of figures leaped out from the forest. Dozens of elves drew longbows from the tops of the tree canopy and shot at the flying car. Countless wooden arrows imbued with faint green nature's force flew towards the exploration team like raindrops.
But even though they were imbued with nature's force, the power of these wooden arrows was not strong. Priest only slightly used his battle qi to disturb the gravity in a small area, and all the arrows became crooked, unable to hit their target.
After shooting the arrows, the elves seemed to have no other means to stop the flying car, and could only watch it leave.
"..."
The elf leader wearing the antler crown watched the flying car, which had already turned into a small dot in the sky. He raised his hand to stop the other elves who wanted to chase. The elf leader lowered his head in thought, then said in a hoarse voice: "They... are flying towards the 'Sacrificial Holy Mountain'... Foolish, walking right into the trap."
"No need to rush to pursue, warriors of the tribe. We only need to wait. Death will naturally descend upon these otherworldly monsters."