Moonlight spilled down, sending a trace of chill through the pedestrians in the street. They all drew their clothes tighter around themselves.

Night Frost didn’t care in the slightest. However, Lurie, who had gone out with her, was dressed much more warmly.

According to Lurie, today was the Elven Harvest Festival.

There hadn’t been a harvest, but it was still an Elven tradition. The festival had to be held regardless. So, she planned to drag Night Frost along with her.

Night Frost hadn’t intended to go at first. The tunnels beneath the fortress had only just been finished. Next, she planned to devote herself entirely to breaking the formation.

But Lurie had invited her with such enthusiasm that Night Frost couldn’t refuse. In the end, she gave in and went with Lurie to the Elves’ exclusive Harvest Festival.

The moon was much rounder than usual today.

As Night Frost gazed at it, she couldn’t help remembering the shadows that had crawled out of the moon that day. Those shadows were powerful, and their origins were bizarre. Night Frost had no desire to confront them.

However, after leaving the moon, those shadows had vanished without a trace. Night Frost was merely worrying over nothing.

The Elven Harvest Festival was in full swing.

Perhaps because they had blended with human civilization, the Elves had also adopted some human customs. They had added a touch of warmth and bustle to their festival.

Compared with the somewhat cold and quiet celebrations of previous years, Lurie clearly preferred this year’s festival.

The streets were lined with vegetarian Elven snacks. Most Elves preferred fruits and vegetables, though they occasionally ate meat as well.

In the past, the Elves would hunt during the Harvest Festival. It was one of the few times they got to eat meat.

This year, however, hunting seemed out of the question.

Still, there was meat to be had.

Most of it came from the Monsters they had fought a few nights ago. It had been divided fairly according to everyone’s contributions. The Elves had naturally received quite a lot, enough to handle this year’s festival.

The meat, fruits, and vegetables obtained by the Elves were evenly distributed among every household. Each family could process the ingredients however it wished.

The rulers of the Elven race received the largest share, of course. But they weren’t hoarding it.

Instead, the rulers prepared delicacies and set them out along the streets for passing Elves to enjoy.

Quite a few Elves stood in the streets on both sides of the wooden huts. They seemed to be waiting for the fire in the middle to roast the Monster meat skewered on forks.

The Elves in the center were in charge of cooking.

Their movements were practiced. They stir-fried vegetables and slices of meat on iron plates. Flames licked at the ingredients, filling the air with an enticing fragrance.

“This is really good. The flavor’s amazing. (Dragon Tongue)”

Li Dogegg had naturally been brought along by Night Frost as her interpreter.

The Eye Orb had already deciphered quite a bit of Dragon Tongue, but Night Frost herself could barely speak it. Dragon Tongue clearly had only one sound—“roar.” How did they make every word mean something different?

Human languages such as Chinese and English at least followed certain patterns. Dragon Tongue, however, gave Night Frost a headache.

“That’s simply how Dragon Tongue works. It has an ancient history and almost no fixed rules. Dragon Tongue Magic Spells do exist, though. Only true dragons can use them.”

“They’re the most powerful Magic Spells in the world. There are no exceptions. (Dragon Tongue)”

Dragon Tongue Magic Spells…

If Night Frost’s guess was correct, they were Magic Spells chanted in the language of dragons. They seemed capable of drawing upon a dragon’s power and increasing the strength of the spell.

But judging from Night Frost’s progress in learning Dragon Tongue, she probably wouldn’t master Dragon Tongue Magic Spells in this lifetime.

While chatting with Lurie, Night Frost reached the front of the line with her.

The Elf in charge of cooking looked at Night Frost and Lurie. He handed each of them a vegetable-wrapped piece of meat, then smiled and asked Night Frost:

“Are you a new Elf? I don’t think I’ve seen you before. (Elven)”

Night Frost clearly couldn’t understand Elven.

Lurie cautiously pinched Night Frost’s lower back, signaling her to nod. Night Frost did as she was told.

“Well, it’s normal to be a little frightened after just arriving here. You don’t have to be afraid of speaking.”

“Everyone here is very welcoming. You should chat with them more. (Elven)”

Night Frost felt a little embarrassed.

She hadn’t understood a word the Elf had said. With Lurie’s prompting, she forced two perfectly standard syllables from her throat.

“Thank you. (Elven)”

The vegetable-wrapped meat in her hand tasted surprisingly delicious.

The Elves seemed to live on plain food in their daily lives. Night Frost hadn’t expected them to be so skilled at preparing meat.

As they ate, Lurie said:

“Actually, I think you have quite a talent for Elven. The Elven you spoke just now was very standard.”

“If you knew the method, we could have simple conversations in Elven. (Dragon Tongue)”

Lurie claimed that she had a talent for Elven.

Night Frost didn’t believe her.

Still, she could give it a try. She had nothing better to do during the day. If something happened one day and Li Dogegg couldn’t interpret for her, Night Frost would have a hard time surviving in this Abyss without a common language.

After all, dealing with Lurie was much better than dealing with those old fogies of the Elven race.

It truly was an Elven celebration.

After Night Frost and Lurie grew tired from walking, they sat on a bench beside the street. They gazed at the brightly lit roads.

For the usually conservative and frugal Elves, this was the most extravagant day of the year.

It was their chance to reward themselves for all their hard work.

After today, the Elves would return to their usual lives and welcome the new year.

Night Frost would do the same.

But it was unclear whether the heavens had deliberately chosen to oppose the Elves.

Just as the Elves were preparing to enjoy the night’s festival, the Halfbeasts stationed on the city walls sounded the alarm.

They had detected Monsters.

A massive number of Monsters—jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards among them—were charging toward the fortress in a mighty tide. The festival’s passionate atmosphere was swept away by the sudden Monster army.

Some of the more hot-tempered Elves had already begun stamping their feet. They cursed as they set down their wooden wine cups, returned home, retrieved their weapons, and strapped them onto their backs.

“Damn this lot! (Elven)”

The Elves without combat ability, as well as those who were too weak to fight, fled back into their homes.

The combat-capable Elves returned to their formations. They prepared to deal with the Monsters outside the fortress alongside the other races.

Tonight, the Elves were burning with anger.

Those damned Monsters had interrupted the only large-scale celebration they had all year.

They had already been lamenting the lack of a hunting ceremony at this year’s Harvest Festival.

Now their prey had delivered itself right to their door.

The Elves planned to end the battle quickly and put the freshest meat on their tables.

Lurie was one of the combat-capable Elves.

Night Frost had seen her participate in the fortress’s defense before, so she would definitely go.

As for Night Frost, she wasn’t an Elf. She wasn’t even from this world. Naturally, she had no reason to join the battle.

Although Night Frost didn’t want to fight, she still followed Lurie.

Lurie had helped her many times, and their relationship had deepened through their daily lives. Night Frost didn’t want the friendship they had only just formed to be cut short because Lurie died to the Monsters.

Besides, facing Lurie was far better than facing those old Elven rulers.

Outside the city gates, Monsters pressed against Monsters. The plain had been completely overrun.

Looking into the distance, Night Frost saw only a dark, endless mass.

There really were quite a lot of Monsters tonight.

Could they have heard that the Elves were holding a Harvest Festival and wanted to force their way onto the dinner table?

That was, of course, a joke made by a Halfbeast.

Although he was joking, his expression was grim.

These Monsters weren’t weak, and there were far too many of them. Even if they advanced slowly at this pace, they would reach the fortress before long.

With so many Monsters, no one knew how long the fortress’s supplies could last.

Ever since the three suns had appeared in the sky, the fortress had been suffering from a constant shortage of resources.

They had lost the means to trade for food with the outside world. Other crops couldn’t grow because the weather was too hot.

Only the rice brought by the Elves, along with tropical fruits and vegetables suited to the climate, could be planted. These had become the fortress’s primary food sources.

Because of the heat, rice could theoretically be harvested four times a year.

In practice, however, the appearance of the three suns had created enormous differences between day and night temperatures. Rice and tropical plants often struggled to survive.

If even half of what they planted lived, it counted as a bumper harvest.

Only with the additional supply of fruits and vegetables could the fortress barely provide three meals a day.

This year’s rice hadn’t yet been harvested four times. The fortress didn’t have much food left.

If so many Monsters surrounded them and adopted a siege strategy, the fortress probably wouldn’t last long.

And if things went even worse—if some extremely powerful Monsters arrived—could the city gates hold?

Eating Monster meat was indeed one way to relieve the food shortage.

But the meat had to be carried back from the battlefield. Afterward, it had to be processed, and the procedure was extremely troublesome.

Manpower would also become a problem.

The Halfbeast shook his head.

He wasn’t very clever. All he needed to do was kill enemies and come back alive.

The gate at the city-wall entrance was raised halfway.

The lower sections of the walls on both sides began to sink. Corrosive liquid poured into the empty space.

Within only a few minutes, it formed a relatively wide moat.

The moat was filled with corrosive liquid. It could eliminate some of the weaker Monsters and ease the pressure on the front line.

Before the battle, the leaders of the three races rallied their troops.

The Elven leader was a female Elf carrying a slender sword.

The Halfbeast leader was a giant three times Night Frost’s height.

The human leader was a knight riding a horse.

Each race had its own distinctive style.

Once morale had been raised, the Halfbeasts and humans advanced together at the front. The Elves followed closely behind.

The archers of all three races brought up the rear.

The three races seemed to have practiced this formation in advance. Perhaps someone among their upper ranks had predicted what would happen today.

Lurie crossed the moat with the army.

She carried a staff on her back and several scrolls at her waist. Those were all the equipment she had.

Night Frost quietly followed behind the army.

If Lurie was in danger, she would intervene at any moment. But judging from the scale of the opposing Monster army, she probably wouldn’t escape the need to fight.

When the Monster army saw the dark mass of figures emerging from the black fortress, the Monsters at the front halted.

The Monsters behind them tensed their limbs and lowered their bodies, ready to fight at any moment.

The humans did the same.

Once they had reached the archers’ ideal attack range, the Elven archers took a step back. In perfect unison, they spread their wings and drew their bows to full length.

They aimed down from the air at the Monsters surging forward like a tide.

The humans raised their light crossbows and short bows toward the smaller Monsters.

The Halfbeasts drew their heavy crossbows and greatbows, taking aim at the larger creatures within the Monster horde.

The air grew tense and oppressive.

Both sides rubbed their fists and readied their weapons.

War was about to erupt.

At the front of the formation, the leaders of the three races raised their weapons. Together, they shouted in the languages of their respective races:

“Kill!”

At the same time, roars and howls erupted from behind the Monsters.

The Monster army shrieked as it lunged toward the alliance of the three races.