Point-of-View: Shin Tanaka

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  "Humans! We must kill them!"

  "How dare you creatures enter our forest!"

  "You lowly scoundrels, we shall make you regret coming here!"

  Kyle and I had just encountered a group of seven Elves, and this way how they reacted the instant they saw us. Belia was right, these Elves would never agree to coexist with humans, their hatred is clearly very strong and runs deep.

  "Mind if I take care of this? We can conserve energy if we alternate and take turns," Suggested Kyle, as the Elves surrounded us.

  "Sure, works for me."

  "Alright, then when I give you the signal, jump as high as you can, 'kay?" She instructed, glancing at me.

  "Got it."

  She then swiftly flew up, lightning violently crackling around her hammer as she rose up. I swung my sword across as some of the Elves fired arrows at me, deflecting them away with ease. One of the Elves began to fly up to Kyle using wind, I swiftly swung my blade up across at the Elf, sending out a slash that sliced him in two before he even noticed.

  "What……this cannot be, how can a human have such power!?" Exclaimed one of the other Elves, as he shot towards me.

  They're a lot more powerful and skilled than the majority of the humans we've fought in this world, with the exceptions of those who obtained power ups from monsters, but even so, these Elves are too weak to challenge us.

  This feels more like a massacre than a battle……though I imagine the Silvland troops that were powered up by Corruption Magic must be struggling against the Elves.

  "Now!" Exclaimed Kyle, giving me the signal to jump as streaks of lightning viciously burst and crackled out of his hammer, static electricity heavy in the air.

  As two of the remaining Elves fired arrows at me, I sprang up with all my strength, rapidly rising up through the air as I evaded the arrows, and going up even higher that where Kyle was hovering at.

  "Alright, now do it!" I called out.

  Right on cue, she raised her hammer and swooped down at a rapid pace, slamming the hammer onto the ground as she closed in on it……

  "Clap of the Thunder God!" She exclaimed.

  Upon impact, a massive, electric explosion burst out, frying the Elves to death and scorching the surrounding trees and bushes, a thick dust cloud rising up as the heavily charged air crackled with lightning.

  As the dust began to clear, it revealed a small crater, from the force of the hammer itself, and around it, heavy scorch marks from the lightning damage. I slowly descended back down by using wind to slow down my fall……after Belia had modified our bodies so that we could use Elemental Magic, I could use Wind Magic, and I had been trying to learn how to fly, but I hadn't yet fully gotten the hang of it.

  "Nicely done. Let's keep going, shall we?" I suggested, as I landed.

  "Yeah, let's go," She replied with a nod.

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  Point-of-View: Dwayne Alan

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  "Okay, on the count of three, we ambush them, got it?" I whispered, as Lily and I hid behind some bushes.

  We had come across what appeared to be a store of some kind……though like every other building in this place, it was made of wood and perched in a tree……I hadn't yet seen so much as a single house or structure in this forest that hasn't been built up in a tree.

  "I……I don't know, these Elves seem like they're just regular civilians……most of them aren't even carrying any weapons," Replied Lily with a conflicted look on her face.

  There were about fifteen of them here, a lot of them were female and looked like they were just out shopping……but we can't afford to be soft here……

  "I get where you're coming from, but……remember what Belia said? These things hate us with a passion, our very existences infuriate them……with that in mind, we have to completely wipe them out before they can do it to us instead," I replied with a frown.

  "I……suppose you're right," She relented with a sigh, "Okay, then, let's attack on your signal."

  I then focused, channeling my Mana into my spear……it took a while to get the hang of using Mana, but thanks to that, my firepower has increased quite a bit……literally. I then stood up and swung my spear across horizontally, sending a fiery slash out at the unsuspecting Elves, and slicing four of them in half, as the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

  For a brief instant, there was dead silence, before screams of confusion, horror and fury rang out, as the Elves took in the sight of the corpses of their brethren. One of the Elves then shot towards me with a roar, tears of rage streaming down his face, and right as he closed in on me……Lily flung her trident at him, one of the prongs piercing into his left eye and the middle prong going through his forehead and killing him.

  It then got wrenched out of his head, flying back to Lily as the corpse fell onto the ground, blood pooling around it as it collapsed. One of the Elves, a female with dark blonde hair that was long in the front and covered her right eyes, with the back and sides on the short side, along with light green eyes.

  "All of you, get away from here, call for reinforcements……these humans are powerful," She remarked, stepping forward with a frown.

  After a moment's hesitation, they all listened to her and ran away, as she pulled out her weapons……a pair of long daggers, with rope tied to the ends of their handles, connecting them together.

  "Should we go after them?" Inquired Lily uncertainly.

  "No, there's no need……and besides, this Elf girl has got some guts, let's respect that and take her on," I replied with a grimace, as I turned my gaze to the Elf, who gritted her teeth, a determined look on her face, "I can applaud your bravery, Elf, so we'll make sure to kill you painlessly."

  "Oh, how kind of you, human," She responded sarcastically, before adding fiercely, "I am Esta Grefiel, and among the Elves, my power is second to only the Wind Sage himself……you would do well not to underestimate me……human!"

  A powerful gust of wind then burst out from her, causing us to stumble back……in that instant, she closed in on me in the blink of an eye by blasting herself forward with wind. Crap! I quickly blocked with the handle of my spear as she swung her left dagger at me……the moment her blade struck my weapon, it got knocked away, as she lost her grip on it.

  Huh? Is she just fast and not that strong? I swiftly tilted my spear handle across as she drove her other dagger towards my chest, flicking her wrist like a rubber band as she did. Was that flick just for show?

  No……oh, shit, it wasn't just for show! I ended up blocking her thrust easily, the handle of my spear getting in the way of the blade.

  But she was expecting that……no, in fact, she was counting on it……earlier, when she seemed to lose grip of her left dagger, that was deliberate……because just now, when she flicked her wrist while driving her right dagger towards me, she ended up tugging on the rope connecting the two dagger handles……and while I was focused on her right dagger being driven straight towards me, I missed her left dagger being swung around from behind her and across towards me.

  Crap, I'm not going to be able to block this! Right as the blade began to close in on my neck, Lily deflected it with her trident, before firing out a blast of water at the Elf, who quickly sprang back and raised her hand, forming a defensive shield barrier in front of herself, Lily's water attack striking it and shattering it, but it managed to absorb all the force of the attack.

  The moment it shattered, the Elf fired out a powerful wind blast from her mouth at us, forcing us to leap away, narrowly avoiding getting caught up in the blast.

  "Okay, this one's nothing like the Elves we've fought till now, she's the real deal," Remarked Lily with a frown.

  "Yeah, she's powerful……but not that much more than we are, and we outnumber her two to one……we just need to play it smart," I responded, as I swirled flames around my spear.

  Let's finish this……

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  Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

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  Nice, my forces are making some good progress. I'd instructed the Silvland troops to try and take on the Elves while outnumbering them at least three to one……and some of them had taken that advice surprisingly well, and were definitely doing a lot better than I ever expected them too.

  Pretty even start, about ten thousand Elves had been killed so far, while about fifteen thousand of my troops had been taken out, though the rate at which corpses were piling up was getting faster and faster. Surprisingly, my sidekicks and summons really hadn't killed that many Elves so far.

  Shiro was doing great, he'd run into an especially populated area and taken out a good five hundred of them and consumed most of their life forces, Gela was also doing well, but she was deliberately taking her time, so had killed a bit less than two hundred. Druj and Hacte have been sticking together and have been quite efficient, but they're in a rather unpopulated area, so their numbers could be better.

  As for the summons……wow, they're having some pretty bad luck, they're hardly running into any Elves at all, they've barely taken out a dozen each. Hm, what's this?

  The Elf that Dwayne and Lily are fighting, she's got exceptional power……she's easily the strongest Elf that's currently in the Elf forest village, and I'd imagine that after Sylvar, the Wind Sage, her power is likely among the best of the Elves, if not the best……

  What's someone with that kind of power not doing on the front lines? Oh, I think I get it, she seems quite young……yeah, from the look of it, she hasn't yet reached her prime, the stage at which Elves stop aging for about nine centuries……wow, that means she's probably less than or around twenty-five years old, which is considered extremely young by Elves.

  Well, it doesn't matter, having one extra-powerful Elf makes things more entertaining, add some spice to the chaos and carnage. And besides, it's……I was snapped out of my thoughts as I felt something come into contact with my barrier. Hm? What's going on?

  I teleported close to the spot where I felt the interference……ah, there's the source of the contact I felt. An Elf……rushing in the direction of Sant's area. I see, that Elf must have been elsewhere when I set up the barrier, and now when he tried to return to the forest, he bumped into it.

  Should I intercept him? No, you know what, I'll leave him be……I mean, I'm kinda bored, so to alleviate my boredom, I can just take on whatever reinforcements show up and have some fun……

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