Verlith hovered midair, her delicate face glowing with an enchanting radiance as she gazed downward with profound focus.

She wondered what kind of Netherborn Elf would emerge from Lal’s body.

From her understanding of ordinary Elven Sorcerers, they typically bonded Tree Spirits to human hosts—the human’s death meant the Tree Spirit’s end too, unable to survive alone. But Netherborn Elves were different. They turned their hosts into parasites, draining life energy to fuel their own Nether Qi and "Wisdom."

When a species brimming with slaughter and immense power gained intelligence, it became humanity’s greatest threat on the continent.

Why did humans allow Tree Spirits and wild creatures to coexist? Was it because they were friendly and harmless?

Not at all. Tree Spirits possessed natural strength surpassing humans, yet humanity remained unafraid. The true reason was power—humanity controlled them through Sigil Marks and Command Tokens, rendering their threats meaningless.

Netherborn Elves, however, wielded life-draining Nether abilities beyond human mastery. Only exceptionally rare humans could coexist with them. Generally, Netherborn Elves endangered humanity’s very survival.

When humans lost their advantage and grew weak, fear, panic, and dread took root.

They sought solutions. Eliminating stronger species meant eliminating threats.

*Fight because we’re weak. Slaughter because we’re weak. Seize because we’re weak.* Verlith had distilled these truths from centuries of continental history.

Though to her, it carried a cringey chuunibyou vibe—*destroy what’s stronger, and you become the strongest!*

Yet wasn’t life most vibrant during that chuunibyou phase? Verlith recalled her days in the Eastern Pearl Empire’s orphanage: playmates were naive, silly, adorably innocent. Now grown, those memories made her smile—the purest joy of her life.

The power struggles between nations sometimes felt like squabbling children. Even at diplomatic summits, they’d argue over flagpole heights—*whose flag flies highest proves whose nation is strongest!*

Of course, that was just a joke.

Before the century-long ceasefire, the continent endured hundreds of years of on-and-off warfare. The aggressors weren’t the mighty empires, but mid-tier nations crushed under pressure, banding together to ignite wars.

This provoked the great powers, dragging smaller nations into an inescapable vortex. Darkness swallowed the continent for centuries.

Finally, three colossal nations divided Igudora Continent:

—the Eastern Pearl Empire in the east,

—the Volthus Empire in the southwest,

—the Northern Coalition in the north.

Only a few nations remained independent; the rest became vassals.

Post-war, the continent’s strongest rulers formed the Aerial Parliament in the Volthus Empire. They signed the ceasefire, enacting an indefinite "peace through dialogue" policy. All disputes would be settled diplomatically, never by force.

Publicly, they claimed the truce was for continental progress.

Indeed, the land flourished, and lives improved. But Verlith knew the true reason: a century ago, humanity’s civil wars had drained their armies. When Netherborn Elves attacked the Northern Frontier, the Thousand-Mile Corridor in the east, and the Dark Passageway in the west, no troops remained to defend them.

Tragically—or absurdly—it took the Netherborn Elves’ invasion to jolt humanity into ending their infighting. They united against the true enemy.

Yet due to human negligence, hundreds of thousands of Netherborn Elves had already breached the continent’s three gates. The Northern Coalition estimated over a hundred thousand entered through the north alone—the frozen, wide-open Northern Frontier was hardest to guard.

Even counting the other two breaches, their numbers exceeded two hundred thousand.

Though the gates were now stable and nations hunted Netherborn Elves relentlessly, the greatest internal threat remained. They polluted Tree Embryos and Tree Spirits across the land, ensuring their numbers never dwindled. Countless humans became victims.

Dead Lal was one such victim.

Verlith’s thoughts had wandered back a century while waiting.

Still, no Netherborn Elf emerged from Lal’s corpse.

*Huh? What’s going on?*

Curious, Verlith fluttered her wings closer.

Sword raised, she approached Lal’s body. At twenty meters—suddenly, thick purple-black mist erupted from the lower half. The legless corpse lurched upright!

The next instant—

A torrential flood gushed from *between its legs*.

*Pfft— What the hell?! Don’t use that pose! And definitely not that body part for attacks!*

Verlith recoiled midair, eyes wide.

A monstrous black wave crashed toward her like a bursting dam!

*Clang!*

Her casually swung sword was ripped away by the water’s crushing force.

Then—she was swallowed by the deluge.

Breaking the surface, Verlith gasped air. She bent her knees, kicked hard underwater, and launched herself skyward.

Wings flared—she shot upward!

A snarling water column surged after her.

Verlith glanced at its origin point and nearly plummeted. Lal’s lower half stood wide-legged, pelvis thrust forward, blasting a colossal water geyser from between its thighs.

The geyser twisted into a dragon, piercing the air as it chased her.

As the water dragon closed in, Verlith’s silver hair streamed behind her. She smirked.

Midair, her supple body spun. Hair whipped as she sidestepped the dragon, right fist swinging lightly.

*Boom!*

Her fist smashed into the dragon’s midsection, shattering it.

But it wasn’t over.

Lal’s lower half blasted *two more* water dragons skyward!

Verlith felt no fear—but being targeted midair by a crotch-mounted water cannon? *Seriously?!*

*This is so unfair!*

*Enough already!*

Her wings trembled faintly. She shifted minutely, dodging the assault with dancer’s grace.

Then—instantly—Verlith vanished from the sky!

She reappeared above Lal.

Fists raised, she flipped headfirst. Wings flared, whipping a gale as she plunged toward the leg-half.

The leg-half froze—then stumbled backward.

The next moment—

Verlith watched, torn between laughter and disbelief, as it executed three perfect backflips.

Then it shamelessly turned and fled.

Honestly, before today, Verlith never imagined what it’d be like to see a pair of legs sprinting wildly through a forest.

Yet here it was.

Utterly absurd.

Two thick legs bounded through the trees, swaying left and right like a champion sprinter.

*Hey! We’re mid-battle! Running away?! Don’t Netherborn Elves have pride? Stop hiding in Lal’s reproductive organs—wait, too crude. Be elegant. Stop lurking in Lal’s generative parts! ...Still crude. Ugh. Just—stop sprinting around with only legs! Kids will have nightmares!*

Verlith halted midair, palm pressed to her forehead. *I can’t even look.*

Her snow-white wings beat fiercely as she gave chase. The leg-half ran faster than a cheetah, vanishing into the woods. Verlith pursued relentlessly.

...

Deep in the forest, a crude campsite.

Aosufu—the unlucky commander—rested here with his battered troops.

Once-proud Imperial knights now huddled in the undergrowth, shaken by the earlier ambush. It wasn’t the ambushers’ strength that terrified Aosufu—it was the Silverhaired Maiden. *How had she found them?* They’d disguised themselves as merchants! How had she seen through it so easily?

*Does she have her own intelligence network?*

*Why hasn’t my lieutenant returned? Why no word from the Imperial Assassins?*

*Has she infiltrated the Empire’s highest ranks?!*

Aosufu gnawed raw beast meat, pondering the maiden’s identity. Cut off from news, he didn’t know his lieutenant had already been killed by Ansal.

*What faction is she from? Powerful enough to sway the Royal Council?*

*Are there spies in our own Knight Corps?!*

*Who is she aligned with? How did she mobilize so many to ambush us?!*

He muttered his fears aloud. Anxiety gnawed at him—he dared not light a fire. His knights tore into raw game, skin and all. Days of this savage existence pushed them to the brink.

Nearby knights exchanged glances. One mustered courage and stepped forward.

"Captain... maybe—maybe we should retreat? Send Intelligence to uncover her secrets first?"

"Retreat? No. This mission is critical. Failure is unacceptable."

Aosufu’s face turned glacial. He roared his refusal.

"But—"

"Silence! One more word undermining morale, and you’ll never return!"

"Y-yes, sir..."

The knight retreated, grumbling with his comrades.

"The captain won’t listen. We have to push on."

"Seriously? Facing *her*? We’re walking to our deaths!"

"Right? He’s met his match this time. If we keep going, we’ll end up like *that* guy—half-dead!"

"Half-dead? What guy? What’s wrong?"

Their chatter died abruptly. All stared where the knight pointed.

A pair of legless feet sprinted wildly through the clearing.

Its strides were Olympic-level.

A thicket loomed ahead—it leaped like a hurdler. Sunlight haloed its silhouette as if cheering it on!

It cleared three thickets, landed with a *thud*, then *thump-thump-thump*—raced onward without pause.

—*gulp gulp gulp*

Knights swallowed hard. Ellipsis marks seemed to float above their heads as they blinked, dumbfounded, at the sweat-slicked leg-half sprinting in the sun.

"Wait—no! It’s heading straight for us!"

"What?! Captain, trouble!"

"Shut your mouth! Can’t you see I’m stressed?!"

Aosufu furrowed his brow deeply, shouting in annoyance.

"No, Captain, it's serious! Two legs without a body are sprinting toward us!"

"What legs? Speak plainly!"

"I am speaking plainly, Captain. It's the lower half without the upper half... Ah, I can't explain it. Just see for yourself."

"Damn, words won't even— Holy shit, what is that!!!"

Aosufu had just been scolding his subordinate, but after turning around, he gaped wide-eyed at the legged half-body, utterly speechless for a long moment...