Chapter 165: Chapter 26 – The Laufgraan War 1

Wanting to show off her new powers in front of Matthew, Mia took the initiative and conjured thousands of small balls of green light that looked like fireflies. It was an advanced spell that combined the Materialize Mana skill, from the Mage class, to make them exist out of her body, the Create Light skill, from the Luxomancer class, to change the mana into light and the Familiar skill, from the Wizard class, to give them intelligence.

As small balls of light, they were impervious to any forms of attack and could move on their own to search for enemies.

Mia spread them out into the woods surrounding the cobbled road they were walking on.

Suddenly another arrow flew towards her, but it just bounced on the mana wall she put up before.

Upon looking at the direction the arrow came from, they all saw Mia’s fireflies making a line pointing towards the attacker’s direction.

Matthew didn’t hesitate, he darted with Aym’s dagger on his hand following the path of light Mia created. He was soon face to face with an elf dressed in black leather armed with a bow and surrounded by light balls.

Matthew cut an arrow in midair that the elf shot at him and immediately got near him, cutting his bow in twain and punching him in the face, breaking his nose and a couple of teeth.

Used to hard fights in hell, that seemed more like a child’s play.

The man tried to stab at him with a dagger and Matthew just stood still. The strike didn’t have force to pierce his 60 Vitality. It was so weak that Matthew even thought to himself if that man was an awakener at all.

Matthew disarmed him by holding his hand and twisting it. It broke easily, like a twig. The elf screamed and cried. Matthew then lifted the elf by the straps of his leather armor and brought him back to the road.

There he found the girls still entrenched under Mia’s mana walls.

He dragged the man forward and pushed him onto the wall.

"Where are the others?" Matthew asked.

"There are no others." The elf sniffed, shaking in fear with a deep elven accent that put F sounds where there should be none, as in "fere" instead of "there".

Matthew just sighed and used his Entice skill on him making the elf subservient to all his commands.

"Where are the others?" Matthew asked again.

"They’re around. We were given orders to kill anyone passing through this road." The elf said obediently now. "I can’t say where exactly they are." He added looking around to the forest as if trying to find them.

Matthew used his Lingering Mana skill to make the Entice spell last and let the man go.

"Which side are you on?" Tina asked. "Farzan or Farynn?"

"We’re on Farynn’s side. We were supposed to prevent supplies from reaching Laufgraan Hold." The elf explained.

"How many are you?" Matthew interrogated.

"We’re in 30."

"Why are the others not attacking?" Mia asked.

"I don’t know. They might be regrouping?"

"It seems so." Erin said, pointing up.

Mia’s fireflies were now all hovering over a patch of forest a bit faraway from them.

"It seems they found them." Mia smiled, looking at Matthew and waiting for a compliment.

"Great job." Matthew smiled back at her. "Are they all as strong as you?" He then asked the elf.

"Yes. We’re all new recruits. Only the commander is really strong." The elf explained.

Matthew used his Identify skill on the elf, he was only level 5. Matthew then healed his arm and nose the best he could.

"Thank you, master." The elf said. His hand was still useless and his teeth were still missing, but at least the pain was gone.

"Do we attack them?" Erin asked.

"There’s no way they didn’t see the fireflies. I bet they are reinforcing their position waiting for us." Tina analysed.

"Do we turn around?" Helen asked, checking her shield and spear that Tina had in her Inventory and gave to her earlier.

"They are the enemy. Shouldn’t we just destroy them?" Matthew asked.

All of them looked at Tina waiting for a decision.

Tina was the weakest of them all. Her build was a worker build, a Gemcutter, a class specialized in working and creating magical crystals. Once she got the skill Gemcutter Experience, which allowed her to gain XP by working with gems instead of killing monsters, she almost stopped going into dungeons, only diving occasionally with her friends when they needed some help.

Despite that, everyone looked at her for guidance. Tina was cold and calculating. The others naturally trusted her decisions because of that.

Tina sighed.

"Ok. We don’t know the strength of their forces. Attacking them is risky. But again, we can’t go forward and let them ambush the next people who pass through or attack us from behind." She pondered. "I think we’re powerful enough to engage them." She looked at Matthew. "At least he is."

"What do we do with him?" Mia pointed at the enticed elf.

"Send him up front. Ask them to surrender." Helen gave her opinion.

"Yes. Once they realize they can’t win, I’m sure the commander will surrender." The elf agreed.

"Then go. Ask your friends to surrender, else we’ll kill you all." Matthew ordered.

The elf ran towards the forest where the fireflies gathered over the treetops.

"Think it will work?" Erin asked hopefully.

"No way." Tina gave her a sad smile. "We should get ready."

Mia cast an Invisibility spell on all of them, the same spell it was used to kidnap her 2 years ago. They then followed the elf into the woods and positioned themselves to assault their position.

The elven troops were all gathered in one place. They were using chopped wood to create barriers around a camp while a well armored elf screamed order in the middle.

"The enemy will be here soon! Do not let your guard down just because they’re few. Their power is high!" He shouted while his men worked.

The one Matthew enticed arrived at the camp slowly under the strict vigilance of a pair of guards. He asked for the leader to surrender and was soon put under arrest when they realized he was under a spell. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The commander bit his nails. If the enemy was powerful enough to entice one of his men, perhaps he should surrender?

Matthew and the others arrived just a bit after. Hidden by the Invisibility spell, they could approach the encampment unnoticed, but stayed far enough to not be heard.

Matthew used his Identify skill to check the levels of the soldiers. Most were around level 5, few were level 10 or above. The commander held the highest level, 18.

Even though they didn’t use the System, Matthew’s Identify skill was able to estimate their levels based on their mana since Matthew raised it to D tier.

"They have no chance." Matthew whispered to the others. "Their highest level is 18." His voice was a bit sad.

"We should give them another chance to surrender." Erin pleaded.

"I agree. Perhaps we can scare them into surrendering?" Helen asked.

"Let me try." Matthew said, getting up as Mia dispelled the Invisibility she put on him.

When he approached camp, orders were shouted, soldiers moved to their positions, arrows were put on bows. Matthew raised his hands and shouted:

"I’m here to talk!"

"There is no talk!" The commander shouted back.

"I don’t want to kill you all." Matthew kept shouting.

That took laughter from the men, but the commander who was now sweating. The ones who didn’t speak English translated for the others.

Silencing the laughter, Matthew released miasma around him coating himself in unholy mana. He took out Aym’s dagger that shined bright red as if it was just out of a furnace. He took out Belial’s sword that was darker than the shadows around him. The black mist kept spreading out of him.

"Put your weapons down." He shouted menacingly.

Before the commander could say anything, one of the soldiers shot at Matthew who just cut the arrow midair.

"Alu faranar!" The commander ordered loudly for his soldiers to hold fire and hurried forward.

Matthew put his swords down as the commander approached him with his blade sheathed.

"Who are you, human?" The commander asked.

"I’m Matthew Lordstone. Faralynn’s boyfriend." Matthew said.

"The lady’s boyfriend?" He asked. "But I thought you were dead."

"I was in hell. But not dead. And now I’m back." Matthew was succinct.

"You came to aid the lady?" The commander asked, already defeated.

"Yes. Please surrender. Even if I face all of you alone, you’d not win. I’ve faced demon kings in hell, you are not strong enough." Matthew pleaded.

"I believe you." The commander said, putting his hand over his mouth as the wind blew the miasma over to him.

"Put your weapons down." Matthew ordered.

The commander turned to his men and ordered them to put down their weapons in Elven. Some protested, but he was emphatic. He then gave his own sword to Matthew, removed his helmet and said:

"We surrender to you."