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Chapter 73

"……Is that troll blood?"

"Melden told me to collect it."

Aish. I, moving a wounded elf to the rear, turned my cooled black eyes toward Delro. Elija narrowed his eyes at him, and Delro pouted and grumbled.

"You know how valuable troll blood is!"

Troll blood is a rare material used in potions. Naturally, it's extremely expensive.

Melden's translucent, smirking face floated in the sky above. Even in this situation, he's thinking of selling troll blood—what terrifying vitality.

"It's great that there's plenty of it here."

Eu-ssha. Delro stood up, opened the magic pouch at his waist, and carefully placed the glass bottle filled with blood inside.

Is this why he brought a magic pouch? Are you really a noble?

I looked at Delro with narrowed eyes. No matter how you look at it, being a mercenary is his true calling.

Our brief peace didn't last. As the battlefield was slowly being cleared, a dying scream pierced everyone's ears.

"Kwaaaak!"

Soon, urgent elven voices cried out.

"Wyverns! Wyverns!"

Black shadows fell under the moonlight. Rapidly, the shadows above our heads filled the sky, circling.

"Wyverns are attacking the rear!"

Aria immediately pierced a wyvern with an arrow and assessed the situation.

"This area was originally the wyverns' territory."

As mutant trolls emerged and the stronger troll pack encroached on the wyverns' territory, territorial disputes arose—that was the gist of it.

"The wyverns must have had the same idea as us, targeting the trolls."

What, so the wyverns came to wreck the trolls and we just happened to be caught in the crossfire? The bear dances, but someone else pockets the money!

"Of all times……."

The elves, caught in a territorial dispute, looked dismayed.

Kyaaak!

"Miel!"

A wyvern snatched an elf archer from a tree and carried them into the air. The other archers, who had been firing continuously, faltered.

"Lady Nérien……."

"I can't use freezing magic in this situation."

Nérien let out a small sigh.

"Gruyfin isn't the type to adjust coldness precisely. Targeting the wyverns might cause the cold to spread and cover the elves."

Wyverns darting overhead at high speed were a serious annoyance. Strong and tough, they're famous among flying monsters.

Who could have predicted a wyvern attack? The elves scrambled, aiming their bows at the sky. Aria's faint brows twitched with irritation.

"There are still trolls left. Even if it's a small number, it's hard to handle both sides at once."

If the ranged units focus on the sky, the swordsmen engaging the trolls up front would be in danger. But if they don't deal with the wyverns, the support units in the rear will keep getting snatched.

Aria was summoning spirits to catch the falling elves, but those who had been caught by the wyverns' sharp claws were in no condition to return to battle. The wounded elves groaned, their skin deeply gashed and bleeding.

Elija gripped my body firmly and set me down.

"Echo, I'm counting on you to rescue the elves."

Elija's hardened golden eyes shone white in the moonlight.

Elija severed the ankle of a troll charging from the front in one stroke and moved beside Irmarel. His voice reached Irmarel softly.

"Let's split the swordsmen in half."

Irmarel's deep, bronze-colored eyes lingered on Elija's face for a moment.

"Unit 1 will focus on the trolls at the front, and Unit 2 will fall back and watch the sky. It would be good to rotate Unit 1 and Unit 2 whenever they get tired."

Irmarel, frowning, raised his sword and slashed the arm of the troll he was fighting.

"Impertinent."

Irmarel's sword glowed blue. The next moment, the wrist of a troll reaching for Elija's ankle, even as it lay fallen, was severed.

"You all heard that human. We'll follow that plan."

They had only spoken at normal volume, yet all the elves who heard it nodded.

"All swordsmen of the southern unit, designate yourselves as Unit 1. The rest of you, protect the elves behind."

Elija's golden eyes brightened. The corner of his mouth drew a small smile before he quickly composed himself and sealed his lips. As they repositioned, not a few elves fell, coughing blood and collapsing due to the rampaging trolls.

"If you can't sever the neck right away, everyone, target their ankles!"

At Elija's shout, the elves whose sword aura wasn't strong enough to sever a neck in one blow sharpened their eyes. The trolls' insane regeneration made the fight feel endless, but targeting the same spot clearly slowed their regeneration and movement. Hope reignited in the tired elves' eyes.

Elija wiped the troll blood from his face and raised his voice.

"Lady Nérien! Instead of something as powerful as before, could you use spirits just strong enough to hold the trolls' feet?"

Behind him, where Elija couldn't see, Nérien, tightly clutching her robe and protecting the elves, glanced in his direction. And thump. With a single staff movement, the spirit mages, who had been preoccupied with the wyverns, all reached out to the front.

Keu-wo-wo…….

The ground beneath the trolls approaching beyond the frozen floor turned to mud. As their legs sank like they were in a swamp, the trolls' speed slowed dramatically.

"All units, fire!"

At Irmarel's command, ranged attacks rained down again.

"What a sight."

Kwang!

Delro, laughing heartily, sent a troll's leg flying as it tried to pull itself from the ground.

"This is it!"

Every time Delro swung his massive sword, the destructive force was like an explosion. Even the surrounding swordsmen's eyes lit up at the sight of his ferocious sword aura.

"For a human, you can handle a sword."

"Crude swordsmanship, but effective against trolls."

Whether Delro had grown immune to the subtly irritating elven remarks, or whether swinging his sword had relieved his stress, he laughed heartily.

"You elves are pretty good with swords too! I thought you just shot arrows from behind!"

"What did you say?"

Sparks flew from the elven swordsmen's eyes, now fierce. A sharp sword aura rose from their elegant rapiers.

Pa-ba-bak.

With invisible speed, the elven swordsmen severed the trolls' tendons and muscles piece by piece.

"Ha! Elf swordsmanship is far more precise."

"Whoa! You guys are no joke!"

Delro beamed. His brown eyes, round and bright like a child's, curved deeply.

"Insanely fast and precise! Thin swords look fun too!"

With a loud shout, Delro raised his greatsword again. No way he'd lose.

Kwaang. Kwang.

Inspired by Delro's performance, the elves' strikes grew sharper.

"Die!"

"With those slow bodies, how dare you elves!"

"Hmph, practical muscle is the best."

……Seems like Delro is rubbing off on them. Is that okay?

Meanwhile, the rear was still chaos.

"Someone, do something about those wyverns!"

An elf, desperately firing arrows, made a sad face.

"We can't let the wyverns ruin this!"

The elves were using spirit magic to block the wyverns, but their fast flight and tough bodies made it impossible to stop all of them. Even though Aria's spirit had taken down dozens, the sky remained black. Expert marksmen aimed for the wyverns' wing joints to bring them down, but elves kept getting snatched into the air while attacking the fallen ones.

"Muang, be careful!"

Helping the elves in the rear, I watched them being pulled away like radishes and paled.

'What to do, what should I do…….'

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