Chapter 139: Before the Great Battle

  Tulalion Forest lay on Erathia's southwestern border. Ten days after departing from the stronghold near the capital, the band of thieves arrived at the forest's edge in a formidable procession.

  One of the continent's largest forests, it stretched for hundreds of miles and spanned nearly a hundred miles wide. Judging by its outer dozen miles alone—dense with lush trees and teeming with animals—it seemed a harmless sanctuary for all living beings. But the unforgiving nature of its deep-dwelling masters was universally known, rendering it nearly untouched by humans. The four hundred thieves advanced cautiously, reaching the forest without major incident—attracting no notice from Erathia's armies. Along the way, thieves summoned by Sylka from various regions continuously joined them, swelling their numbers to four hundred.

  The only minor trouble came from within the thieves' ranks. At the stronghold, it was said that over half the thieves clearly heard the sounds emanating from Mr. Sanderfirth's room. The woman who emerged afterward, with her throat alone, nearly caused dozens of thieves to lose control of their bladders. The cries lasted for a long time, shifting in content and pitch. Such sounds inflicted immense psychological torment on thieves already tense from a full day of flight. To make matters worse, Sylka immediately ordered all thieves to march nonstop toward Tulalion, demanding they conceal their tracks. Let alone committing atrocities, they couldn't even seek out prostitutes.

  Adding fuel to the fire, such sounds never ceased on any night during the march. They grew longer, louder, more brazen, and increasingly inventive. Within a day or two, the way the thieves looked at the black-clad woman resembled a pack of wolves starved for a decade eyeing fresh meat. They seemed to wish they could tear through the tight-fitting clothes outlining her exquisite form with their gaze alone, plunge into its depths, explode, erupt, spend themselves, and devour her whole. But it was clearly no meat to be freely devoured—especially when it was already being chewed in the mouth of another beast. However starved, few would sacrifice their upper body for the sake of their lower body's impulses.

  But "few" didn't mean "none." On the fourth day, four thieves whose reasoning had been overruled by their lower heads seized an opportunity. Using the pretext that the leader wished to discuss plans, they lured the black-clad woman to a secluded spot. Presumably, they weren't impulsive enough to force themselves upon the expert Sylka had hired at great cost. Likely, they intended negotiation or discussion. But the exact proceedings remained unknown. The woman returned quickly, afterward crying out even louder and more intensely with the man called Sanderfirth in a private spot. The next morning, when it was time to depart, the four thieves were discovered in the woods.

  The four thieves weren't dead, but they might as well have been. Their limbs were broken, they were stripped naked, and hung upside down from trees. What should have been between their legs had been severed and stuffed into their mouths.

  Other thieves, seething with frustration to the point of nosebleeds, grew agitated. Many, seeing the fate of comrades who shared their desires, grew indignant, eyes reddening as they prepared to draw blades. One shouldn't mistake these thieves for docile lambs just because they had remained inconspicuous and unremarkable. Their obscurity was merely relative to Sylka's brutality and the man's mysterious power. These were Erathia's most violent thugs, its most dangerous criminals—murderous blood flowed through their veins.

  But such a scene was nothing before Sylka, who arrived upon hearing the commotion. He crushed the four thieves' skulls like overripe tomatoes, wiped his hands on the corpses, and stared at the surrounding thieves. His tone contained ten times more fury than theirs: "If you want women, fine. After the job, you can do as you please with the money we get. But now is the time for work. Anyone who can't read the situation and acts recklessly now—I guarantee they won't even have the chance to look at a woman afterward."

  After Sylka's declaration, the rest of the journey proceeded smoothly and peacefully. Upon reaching the forest, the two groups finally separated.

  Sylka handed a map and a scroll to the man called Sanderfirth. The map depicted the deep forest terrain and partial features of the elven settlement, drawn by thieves who had escaped previously. The scroll was for breaching Tulalion Forest's elven barrier. According to Sylka's plan, the man would lead Hilton, Jessica, the Druid Anderson, and the Soul Magic caster Old Bill—these elites—to secretly infiltrate the elven settlement first.

  "As long as you carry this scroll, it can conceal the aura within a hundred-meter radius, preventing detection by the forest's sensing magic," Axsis explained the plan to the group. "When you reach the elven barrier, you can use the scroll to break it unnoticed and slip inside." He continued, "By the time you infiltrate, we'll make a grand entrance to draw the elves' attention. That's when you can act. Remember, your task is to find a leaf..."

  "What? Find a leaf? In a forest this vast? Are you fucking insane? If those elves just toss it on the ground, how would we even know where to look?" Hilton yelled at Axsis. Though he knew their elite team's mission was to find something important, he never imagined it would be something so absurd.

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  Axsis waved his hands emphatically. "Listen to me. It's no ordinary leaf. It should be a sacred relic guarded by the elves. And you'll know it when you see it."

  "Know it when we see it? What does that mean?" Old Bill asked, narrowing his eyes.

  "In short, you'll just know..." Axsis answered with a lack of confidence. He had never seen the object himself; the esteemed employer had described it vaguely, and he could only repeat it abstractly. He quickly emphasized his tone, "Relax. We have over two hundred men here serving as your bait. Are you worried you won't get a chance? Once you capture an elf and ask, you'll know. The moment you obtain that item, the elves will surely descend into chaos. That's our great opportunity. With those two scrolls, heh heh..." Axsis's laughter sounded as if he were already mounted upon an elven maiden. "We can seize all of Tulalion."

  "I still feel uneasy... Can we really take Tulalion just like this?" Perhaps due to an elder's inherent caution and intuition, Old Bill suddenly hesitated.

  "Here we have four hundred of Erathia's finest criminals backing you up, willingly serving as bait!" Axsis nearly shouted. "What more could you want? I have three more scrolls here, and the gentleman who provided the scrolls is our backup—that is..."

  Sylka suddenly emitted a low grunt from his throat, a sound so ferocious and dangerous it resembled the growl of a starving Behemoth. Axsis's voice and movements froze instantly.

  The others' faces also darkened abruptly. Infiltrating Tulalion was no picnic. Discovering that these supposed allies were hiding secrets they refused to share was deeply unsettling. The reward was tempting, but compared to life and limb, it paled.

  The atmosphere suddenly froze. Only Sylka's increasingly heavy breathing filled the air.

  "Enough. I have no desire to investigate what this is about..." It was the man called Sanderfirth who spoke. His calm tone and confident words fully displayed the demeanor of a master. "I only need to know you'll pay us the promised reward afterward."

  "Naturally. Of course." Axsis nodded like a woodpecker foraging.

  "Very well. Let's go." The man waved to Hilton and the others, walking toward the forest depths. The others seemed infected by his attitude, following behind him.

  "Wait." Sylka suddenly spoke. The man and the others turned to look at him.

  "Thank you for your trust. Go with peace of mind," Sylka said, flapping his lips that resembled two slabs of dead meat. The words were completely at odds with his character, though his voice still carried the carnivore's bloody stench.

  "The feeling is mutual. I thank you too," the man tossed back coolly to Sylka. He led the group into the forest depths, soon disappearing from sight.

  Sylka stood with arms crossed, motionless. Axsis and the four hundred thieves behind him dared not move. After a long while, certain the group ahead had entered the forest depths and wouldn't return, Sylka finally turned and whispered to Axsis and his men, "Let's go."

  "Right, everyone, attention! Gather around me!" Axsis shouted to all the thieves. He pulled a magic scroll from his robe, identical to the one he had given the man earlier. "When we enter the forest, stay within a hundred meters of me, understood?"

  Sylka took out a map, glanced at it, and said, "Head east for twenty miles first, then south. That's the closest point to the elven settlement."

  "Boss, are you sure this will work?" Axsis suddenly whispered to Sylka.

  Sylka replied coolly, "With those few serving as bait, what's there to worry about?"

  "I don't mean that. What if... what if that guy dies inside under the elves' siege? What if the elves outnumber our expectations, we can't take Tulalion, and we fail to get that item..." Axsis's voice suddenly turned fearful. "What then?"

  "Even if this worst-case scenario happens, capturing a hundred or so elves will suffice. Besides, this worst outcome would be entirely his own doing. We bear no responsibility. Let's go." Sylka snorted. He turned and walked east. Axsis sighed, leading the four hundred thieves behind him.

  Far from them, yet still at the edge of Tulalion Forest, Cardinal Adela and Temple Knight-Commander Lancelot had been waiting for some time. Though Celeste was hardly close, the journey was nothing on griffin-back.

  After a scout Temple Knight reported the thieves' arrival, Cardinal Adela used an "Atmospheric Sensing" scroll.

  This strategic magic scroll, generally used on battlefields, possessed no direct destructive power but remained extremely useful. Using it required an exceptionally high rank and was prohibitively expensive. Only he could use it here, yet he chose to deploy it now—showing how cautiously he regarded this operation.

  In his cradled arms, a white mist swirled, containing countless tiny specks of light moving slowly. At the center was a large cluster of specks, nearly forming a solid orb of light. Outside it, a few isolated specks drifted slowly inward. On another side, a separate cluster of specks moved sideways for a while before also heading toward the center.

  This mist was a condensed view of Tulalion Forest; the specks represented elves and humans within range. Through this magic, all movements in the battle situation were under his control.

  Adela focused on the image, then his gaze fell upon the few isolated specks. Others couldn't discern the subtle differences between these specks, but he could sense that the energy they represented was the strongest.

  Lancelot stood beside Cardinal Adela. Behind him were four Temple Knights and ten Templars. With him and the Cardinal, this group of over a dozen could capture a city without breaking a sweat.

  "What's that?" Lancelot suddenly noticed a phenomenon on the magical map. Though his magic rank couldn't wield such strategic magic, his decades on the battlefield had likely made him the most experienced viewer of such maps. Yet now, he couldn't comprehend something on the map.

  At the very center of the large cluster of light—presumably the heart of the elven settlement—lay a considerably large speck. It was completely unlike the specks representing humans or elves. Not only was it much larger, but it also seemed to emit a strange green aura.

  Cardinal Adela also noticed the speck immediately. Intrigued, he focused his gaze on it.

  The image reflected by this magic was infallible. Under the user's control, it sensed beings possessing life force, souls, and magic simultaneously—like elves and humans. Even beasts, even one as massive as a Behemoth, wouldn't appear if the controller chose not to display all life.

  "Such immense life force and magic... what could it be?" Lancelot pondered, then his pupils shrank. "A dragon?" He immediately shook his head. "Impossible. How could such a thing be here..."

  Cardinal Adela also pondered, but he suddenly let out a soft gasp of surprise. His body jolted, and the magic in his arms vanished instantly.

  "What is it? Do you know what that is?" Lancelot asked, frowning.

  "No, I don't," Adela smiled. His smile was always handsome, but now it carried a hint of allure. "Which is why we'd best go see for ourselves."