“How can this be?! When did humans get this kind of power?!” Medith sprinted to the gate, staring at the barrier of the Glimmering Green Forest, shattered like rain of glass, her voice a fevered murmur.
“Captain!” Milia hauled Melia to the gate. Soon, nearly a hundred sprites—men and women—vaulted from the forest’s edge like sparks off a log.
Medith’s gaze swept like a cold blade. “Where are the rest? Why are there only ninety-three?”
“Captain...” Rita and Lina’s squad burst out with dozens in tow. Wounds hung on them like torn banners, and they looked drained to the bone.
“Forty-two... seventy-one...” She counted like beads on a prayer string. “You lost twenty-nine?” Medith’s pink fist cracked in her grip like a twig under strain.
Of the 245 in the Glimmering Green Forest, only 164 remained, petals torn by a storm. They were her heart’s work, and almost a hundred fell in mere moments.
“We could still counter with ease at first,” Lina said, tears burning like salt. “Then a few white blades of light flew from nowhere. Rita and I shot into the air and dodged. Dozens of our people couldn’t move in time...”
In just over twenty days, they ate from one bowl and shared one bed, talked under one moon, trained shoulder to shoulder. A few male sprites joked that Lina was so fierce no groom would dare marry her.
One heartbeat they were laughing; the next, they were on the road to the underworld, lanterns snuffed by a sudden wind.
“War is cruel.”
“You may show mercy. The enemy never will.”
“One moment you laugh. The next, all of you can die.”
“What we can do is become the devil—strangle every feeling. Only monsters can stand against monsters.”
Medith’s training words kept tolling inside her skull. Numbness came first; action second. She had felt nothing—thought drills would carry the day. Too naive. From the start, she hadn’t treated this like war. If only she’d taken it more seriously...
“Into the city—defend!” Medith saw the Mountain Bandits roar out like a flash flood. She shouted, and they pulled back, climbed the wall, and bristled like thorns on the battlements.
“Medith the Fierce-Tongued! What in the world? Why have Mountain Bandits driven so deep into our range?” The City Guard Captain still hadn’t grasped it. He only saw Iling, running fast and just as clueless, dash toward the council chamber.
From above, he watched flames claw the sky over the Glimmering Green Forest and eerie open patches like gouged wounds. Cold sweat finally slid down; his spear-hand slick with dew-like sweat, he almost couldn’t keep his grip.
“From now, command transfers to me. Everyone obey my orders without condition. I won’t waste breath on ‘why’ or paperwork. Say any word but ‘yes,’ and I’ll cut you down.” Medith’s eyes flashed a cold sword-light. Meeting her gaze, the captain felt a blade pass through him, his whole body freezing into shards of ice.
“Y-yes... yes...” He answered by reflex. A few guards beside him bristled. As Medith stepped to the parapet to look out, they crept up to whisper.
“Captain, the Queen only named her an honorary priestess. Why bow to her? She’s overstepping—even seizing command. We could—”
“Assemble every city guard. Obey her completely.”
“Captain?! You—”
“Go! I’ve no time for your quibbling!”
They ran, legs kicking like startled deer. The captain stepped behind Medith and stood, respectful and still.
“If one day Medith threatens you, obey any demand unconditionally. Do not resist her, or our home will collapse and vanish. This isn’t advice. It’s an order.” Sais’s stern command echoed in his mind.
Medith stared at a lion-mask man in front and four tiger-mask men behind, worry pooling deep like ink in water.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Xurenxus City’s long-silent [Battle Bell] pounded, each blow heavy enough to make the whole city tremble.
In the past, only the [Welcome Bell] rang—crisp and bright, a cheerful clang-clang for honored guests or the Queen’s return.
The [Battle Bell] was its opposite—dull and thunderous, every “Dong!” slamming straight into a person’s soul.
When the bell rang, the city went dead silent. Ten heartbeats after it stopped—
“Humans are storming the city—”
“Ah—”
Countless sprites broke into panic. The [Battle Bell] tolled for one reason only: humans attacking. The Elf Clan may have its rifts, but sprites would never lead troops to slaughter their own.
“Your Majesty the Queen!” Iling finally reached the council chamber. The Queen had already summoned everyone to their seats. Usually stern, noble, and radiant, she now looked drawn and marked with shock and guilt; her hair was still uncombed, clearly just up from sleep.
Even the ever-proud nobles wore faces of ash.
“Report the battle!” The Queen stood, voice taut like a bowstring.
“Human Mountain Bandits are attacking, their numbers around ten thousand,” Iling said, words quick and tight. “They have siege engines, fine gear, and weapons forged with unknown patterns. Among them is a man suspected to be a high-ranking foreign official.
“He’s well-read in books, tactics, and magic intelligence. The Glimmering Green Forest’s Collapse Point was broken because he pointed it out. He likely can find the gate’s Collapse Point too.”
“Your Majesty the Queen!” Lina arrived by order, stepping in without a bow and in the Whirlwind Squad’s white uniform. “The bandits have destroyed the forest’s barrier. Their combat strength is extremely high.
“There appear to be four bandit captains. Their power likely matches the Queen’s personal guard.
“Features:
“One leader in a shredded black-and-red coat, about 1.8 meters tall, broad and hulking, his arms corded with force.
“One man wearing a black-red tiger mask with bared sharp teeth—Tooth Tiger—gripping a spiked mace covered in jagged teeth.
“One in a Yellow Tiger mask, scored with straight slashes, as if raked by a beast’s claws. His fingernails are sword-sharp, three centimeters long, black, marked with strange patterns.
“One in a White Tiger mask radiates crushing pressure, wielding a 75-centimeter black war hammer. The hammer head bears the same strange patterns.
“One in a Red Tiger mask swings a meteor hammer.
“Yellow Tiger’s weapon can fire several white slashes. Estimated strength: A and above, further unknown.
“White Tiger’s hammer, if it lands square, only a Holy Elf could take it.
“Red Tiger’s meteor hammer looks like a battlefield weapon. It alters terrain over a wide area; single-point damage unknown.
“Tooth Tiger, the black-red mask, hasn’t acted. We can’t judge his strength.
“The Mountain Bandit leader’s battle power is likely above the sum of the four.”
“Current total bandit strength: one leader, four captains, ten sub-captains, and over nine thousand five hundred grunts. With their gear, weapons, and blood-wet experience, in a head-on fight they rank above two thousand battle-hardened B-rank sprites.
“The above is Captain Medith’s intel summary.”
“What?! Are you serious? Above two thousand B-rank sprites?!” the nobles blurted, near in unison, their voices like a shaken hive.
