Chapter 409 Killing Some Elves In A Temple

The blood from beasts was not ideal for Arthur, but he did not complain and returned to the cabin before sunrise.

When he returned, the three elves were still sleeping and looked fine, which was good.

Arthur now knew it was not the beast who killed the elven prisoners but the elves themselves, trying to use their lives to practice black magic.

"I should take them with me through that portal the beast talked about; after that, they can do whatever they want."

So, he went to his improvised bed and tried his best to sleep again, although it was almost impossible for him to do so.

Morning came, and before Arthur woke up naturally, the three elves were already poking him.

"What is this plate armor and cool mantle? Where did you get this?"

They did not have anything, as their belongings were stripped away from them, and the only thing they had was the clothing on their bodies, which was now all ragged after the constant fights with the beasts.

So it was common for them to strange Arthur, who also had ordinary clothing the other day, and now looked like an army general. Also, one of his eyes had a strange symbol, and Arthur remembered only after the elves talked about it.

"Right, I have to get myself an eye patch."

There was no way around it, so Arthur told them as much as he could about what happened and said that the items were his before he went there, and the beast somehow got them back to him.

Sure enough, Arthur did not share important information and told them only enough for the three elves to believe in him and follow him out of that place.

"What? Are the elves the ones doing it? Well, it makes sense why they were acting weird and sending prisoners here out of a sudden."

The girls believed in him and were willing to follow Arthur to find that portal out of there, which was good. So they packed everything, ate something, and then left the tree house.

"We will finally leave this place, but I will miss our little cabin."

"Agreed. This place is a living hell, but I feel safe up there."

They were all energetic, while all Arthur wanted was a bed. His night had been poor, and Arthur was used to sleeping during the afternoon, so he felt like shit.

"How far are we anyway?"

"I am not sure," Arthur answered.

The beast had told him the general location, but Arthur did not know how far it was or if there were too many dangers.

​ When the beasts saw the three lovely elves, for a brief second, they wanted to pounce and eat them alive, but then, they saw Arthur, and their bodies shook, and they ran away.

After showing his power the other night, not a single beast wanted to test their luck by fighting against Arthur, and his presence there made the journey much safer.

But that did not mean there wouldn't be any dangers. So after they had walked for almost the entire day, and the moon was up in the sky, they reached their destination: a temple.

"An abandoned temple?" one of the elves said as she walked toward it, but Arthur pulled her by her arm before she could do anything.

Arthur made a sign with his finger, "shh!"

At first, the girls did not understand, but when they looked toward the temple again, someone came out, patrolling around like a loyal dog.

"Elves! What are they doing here?" one of the girls said.

They knew the elves had something to do with killing prisoners to perform black magic — Arthur shared that with them — but they did not know these people would be inside the Dark Forest.

Arthur and the girls hid behind the trees, looking at the temple from afar, analyzing the power of those people.

"Rank one mage patrolling, and inside presumably rank two mages," thought Arthur.

He did not believe they would have a rank three mage inside a remote place like that. Also, the elves weren't mighty anymore, having their numbers significantly reduced. Still, the elven race had a rank four mage acting as their ancestor and protector, and the elves were more powerful than almost all races, and that was what made them relevant and survived until that day.

"What should we do?" thought Arthur.

The elves with him had the power of a rank one mage, and that was not enough to go against those elves inside the temple, meaning they would be in danger while fighting.

Surely they could take on the ones outside who had similar power, but once inside? Arthur was unsure about what was inside, to begin with, so he did not want to risk it by going inside with them.

So, the best thing to do was for him to go and deal with them alone.

Arthur went closer to the girls and said, "I am sure there will be rank two mages inside, so that it will be dangerous for you. I will go first to ensure everything is alright, and then I will return to get you, okay?"

"Are you sure you can take all of them alone? We might be of some help."

"Don't worry about me. Let's hide you first."

~~~~

With his memories, Arthur managed to create some magical formations to keep the girls hidden, although the formation was not that good as he did not have any materials to create a better one, and time was short.

After ensuring everything was okay, Arthur approached the temple, flying using his red mantle!

Arthur knew that the red cape moved independently and could make him fly faster than all the spells he knew while not using any mana.

He was sure there were more things to learn about it, but that would not happen from day to night.

An elf wearing a long robe was patrolling around the temple, looking to see if something strange was near it. It was looking out for beasts, as they did not believe any of the prisoners they put there would find that place anyway.

But one of the prisoners did! Arthur approached the elf from behind, using the Silent Footsteps of the Monarch, making so that his movements did not make any noise!

A perfect spell for assassination, and before the elf had any time to react, a crimson-red spear pierced through his neck, killing the elf instantly.

Arthur picked up that elf's body and hid it inside a bush. As for the blood, well, it went toward the spear, making it stronger!

"Now it makes sense why the beast said this weapon could be used up to rank seven. It is an evolving-type weapon!"

The first elf was dead, and then Arthur went inside the temple, his red cape made him fly, and his spells made him invisible while not making any noise.

That was enough to pass through the rank-one mages unnoticed, analyzing the perimeter inside the temple so that he would not be disadvantaged while fighting.

Though it did not last, as when he arrived at the temple's main room where the statue of a horned creature was, the rank-two mages inside noticed something was amiss.

Not because they found Arthur but because one of their mages vanished while patrolling.

"There's no reason to keep me hidden. I will have to fight eventually, so why not pick one of them with a sneak attack?"

Arthur made up his mind, tossing his crimson-red spear toward one of the rank-two mages. Due to his spells, it had blood around it, increasing its mighty!

The elf could not react as the spear pierced his torso, making him fly toward the wall and attaching him to it.