Chapter 101: I give you Mercy

"Arrows…How typical of elves"

The leaves and bushes rustled as a dozen elves came out of the surrounding woods. All of them had their weapons unsheathed and their arrows pointing.

"When is the wind show starting?", Sofia scoffed as she glanced at the elves with full hostility.

As soon as she said that, the trees danced and the leaves fluttered violently in the air, the dust howled as they threatened to get in one's eye.

"Ho. There we go"

Soon, the gale stopped. Another elf showed herself, this one armed only by the arrogant look she had in her eyes.

"Tch. I quite liked that human", the newly arrived elf said as she glanced at the bleeding fat man still squirming on the ground, "Well, no matter. You humans have greed all around you, won't be hard to find another worm to lure the fishes"

"As always, folks. Aim for their heads!", the female elf hollered, "We don't want to damage the goods too much!"

The female elf waved her hand and the strings of the bows followed soon. The arrows released by the elves were resolute on their destination- Sofia's head.

Sofia, however, did not even move a single strand of her hair. Instead, once again, a violent gale howled in the air around her, completely stopping the arrows that threatened to pierce her head. But even so, even with all the wind surrounding her, not even a single strand of her hair was moving. She remained still.

"Oh? A human mage using wind against us? How stup-", before the female elf could finish her words, she felt the wind graze her skin. "W-what…"

And soon, the trees they were previously hiding in started to sway, and the leaves that were fluttering around became arrows in their own right.

"What…!?", the female elf slightly backed away. Such display of magic, the human in front of her could only be, "C-could you be a gold rank!? Damn it, I told him to only get new ones!", she bit her lips in frustration.

"What are you folks waiting for!?", the female elf shouted, "Use your blades! Attack!"

With her orders, the surrounding elves quickly dropped their bows and unsheathed their blades. And all at the same time, they rushed towards Sofia, their formation and movements precise.

The female elf who ordered the advance, however, sneakily backed away. If the human in front of them was actually a gold rank adventurer, then there was no way they could survive a fight against her. And so for that matter, she really did not order her men to attack, she ordered them to die so she could escape.

But unfortunately for her, she had not even moved 3 steps away before she felt a tingling pain on her feet. She quickly looked down, only to see purple vines crawling around her legs, making her unable to move.

And it would seem that the men she ordered to attack were in the same situation, with vines binding their legs. Unable to move as the gale of wind grazed their skin.

The elves tried to cut the vines, but their blades could only bounce on the surface. As if the vines were made of steel. The elves started to panic as the gale grew even more violently, already starting to draw blood from their flesh.

The female elf was starting to get desperate. She looked left and right for a way to escape. But she did not even need to look for a second before her eyes settled on the human mage's companion.

Her masked companion who was still heavily sleeping on the cart even with all the noise.

"Iradel! Kill the sleeping one now!"

As she shouted that, the cloaked coachman, who was quietly watching the whole situation unfold, swiftly moved towards Viel and grabbed him by the neck.

"Hahaha!", the coachman laughed as his cloak came undone, revealing his long and sharp ears, "Release my brethren now before I kill this- GAH!"

He could not even finish his words before purple vines erupted from his legs and quickly wrapped his whole body, dropping Viel back to the cart.

��Hm!? Wha!?", Viel quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Are we there yet?", he asked weakly.

Hearing cries in front of him, his blurry adjusting eyes quickly went to take a look.

"Please… I… I don't want to die…"

"Brother… I'm scared…"

"No...no… please"

Suddenly, Wei Song's words echoed in his mind. Repeating over and over again. The images of Wei Song's struggling wails covered his vision.

Repeating over and over again.

Viel let out a weak moan as he covered his ears. Whimpering away in the darkness as he curled his body, drowning in the sweat that started to fill him.

Seeing this, Sofia squinted her eyes, "Viel, what-", she was about to ask Viel what was happening to him, but a loud shout coming for the female elf interrupted her.

"What are you!?", the female elf shouted as she watched her final chance to escape be wrapped in vines.

"Me?", Sofia slowly turned her head towards the female elf, "Just a human"

"Just a human!?", the female elf waved her hands, as that was the only thing she was able to do, "You… are you a gold rank adventurer!?", the female elf repeated her earlier question.

"Oh no, I just started yesterday", Sofia chuckled as the gale of wind surrounding the elves abruptly stopped.

The only thing that was left were the vines that wrapped around the elves' legs.

"What do you want!?", the female elf bellowed.

"I'm afraid it is my turn to ask questions", Sofia's seemingly normal words pierced through the female elf's ears, "You said we were...goods. What did you mean by that?", added Sofia as she slowly walked towards the female elf.

"W-why would I even tell you that!?", roared the female elf.

"GAH!"

Suddenly, one of her men cried in pain as the vines wrapping around his leg started to pierce deep.

"I wonder why?", Sofia chuckled as she fixed her spectacles.

"Yo-!?"

"AGH!", The female elf could not even finish a word before another one of her men let out a wail.

"Stop! Just kill us!", the female elf bellowed.

But Sofia ignored her cries as she continued her slow approach. With each of her steps feeling like death to the female elf's long ears.

"Did you know…", Sofia spoke softly, "...with the hundreds of elves I have opened up, I have come to realize something..."

Humans, elves. There really is not that much difference between the two races. They way they bleed, the color of their blood.

Even their organs were the same. One would argue that their affinity in magic was different, but no. The way they use their mana is the same, it was just a manner of growing up in a different environment.

But most importantly, "...the way we feel pain is the same"

As soon as Sofia was finished with her forbidding speech, the female elf's men all shouted at the same time. Their screams were loud enough to shatter the last of the female elf's hope.

She looked at her man, only to see the vines piercing and wiggling through their fingertips.

"This is it…", Sofia's face was filled with exhilaration, "The excruciating sting as the sharp vines go in between the tip of your fingers, the feeling of your fingernails slowly separating from your skin", Sofia's sweet and excited voice was like honey as her whispers reached the female elf's ear. A honey to a drowning ant.

"One will not even be able to move their hands because it'll only add to the pain", Sofia said as she looked at her trembling hands, "I tested it on myself a thousand times, but the pain… the pain remains the same"

"Y-you're a monster!", any pretenses that the female elf held were totally gone. Her snot and tears filled her face.

"Oh?", hummed Sofia, "What took you so long to figure out?"

"HYAA!"

A high pitched scream reverberated in the air as a single vine pierced the female elf's finger.

"Wait! Wait!", cried the female elf, "It's the queen's advisor! We provide humans for her as-"

But before the female elf could finish her words, blood spurted from her neck.

"!!!", Sofia quickly put up her guard. She did not even feel a hint of mana flow through the air as the female elf's head bounced to the ground.

She quickly looked around her as she covered herself in a thick armor of ice. Once again, to her surprise, the other elves' heads were now rolling on the ground.

Seeing this, Sofia gathered even more mana around her neck, waiting for the eventual attack that was eager to meet her.

But even after a few seconds, it did not come.

Instead, there was lament.

A weak voice, "...Mercy", it said.

Sofia quickly looked at the source of the solemn voice.

There, he saw Viel standing while looking at his hands. His expression, unwavering and filled with calm. The near him were the same as other's, missing its head.

"...I give you mercy", Viel said as the shower of blood that spurted from the elf's neck rained down on him.