Game of the World Tree

Although Brein had dismissed Tuck’s speculation with a rhetorical question, inwardly he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

The behavior of the elves on the battlefield was simply too strange.

Unlike Goblins, who are treated as mere cannon fodders, Elves are essentially a race of long-lived beings.

Although they were once hailed for their Silver lineage, one drawback of being a near-immortal existence is their low fertility and reproduction rate.

Yet despite their relatively low population, how could thousands of them suddenly appear just like that?

And what’s more, as a race with low population, one would expect them to value their lives more…Yet, how could they regard their lives so lightly to the extent that most of them ended up dying on the battlefield easily just like that?

If someone else had told Brein this, he would never believed it for a second.

Unfortunately, he himself had personally witnessed the elves act weird to such a degree.

The sheer disregard and calmness these elves exhibit upon facing death left Brein both astonished and deeply confused.

As far as he knew, Devout believers can retain their memories and be sent to their respective Patron Deity’s Divine Kingdom upon death, but apart from these faithful belivers, only crazy fanatics would willingly give up their lives without hesitation.

However, after extensively observing these elves for some time, Brein learned that they seemed to worship a goddess named Evé.

As a chieftain of a major city, he has plenty of experience meeting various people with strong faith, and based on these elves’ actions, Brein was almost certain that most of them weren’t believers nor had any faith in the first place.

Overall, everything about these elves seemed entirely too strange…

Something was definitely amiss!

Alas, despite his senses telling him that something was wrong, Brein couldn’t exactly pinpoint the issue, as if he were missing a crucial piece of a puzzle.

“Hmm, closely monitor the situation if any more of those oddly familiar-looking elves join the battle. Use a Memory Stone to secretly record their appearances.”

Brein instructed Tuck after some thought.

However, immediately after Brein had relayed his new orders, a commotion suddenly erupted from the city walls, interrupting the discussion between the two.

The sound surged like waves, with voices of dark dwarves, gnomes, and elves all cheering in unison.

From where they stood within the city, both Brein and Tuck could see the local defending soldiers and elves standing together atop the thirty-meter-high walls, celebrating with their weapons raised.

Looking more closely, they also realized that there were no longer any undead skeletons visible on the walls.

At the same time, a distinct roar of underground monsters echoed once more in the distance…

Brein, who was familiar with the signals of the Dark Alliance, quickly recognized it as a retreat order.

The Dark Alliance was finally retreating.

Brein’s expression brightened instantly as he shared a glance with his financial advisor, Tuck, recognizing a shared sense of joy reflected within their eyes.

They quickly stood up and whilst being accompanied by their guards, hurried towards the city walls…

By the time Brein reached the walls, he found that the invading skeleton soldiers had been entirely eradicated, and beyond them, the vast undead army was gradually withdrawing, led by death knights, like a receding tide.

Feeling elated, Brein swiftly ascended the wall to gaze upon the scene outside.

“They’re really retreating! The undead army is finally retreating! Praise the Goddess of Death! We’ve won this battle!”

Witnessing the retreating undead army, Tuck, along with his fellow Hermetic Alliance soldiers, also found themselves unable to contain their joy.

Of course, half of the old financial advisor’s elation stemmed from the relief that their city’s treasury could finally catch a break.

Nevertheless, while most people were out and about cheering their lungs out, there were also some dissenting voices expressing feelings of frustration.

“What!? They’re retreating? I just got here! Hell, I haven’t even killed a single monster yet!”

“Goddammit, I was just about to level up, but now they’re retreating?”

These were some of the elves who hadn’t had their fill of the battle.

Whilst standing on the wall, they waved their swords or staffs, looking at the retreating undead army with regret and dissatisfaction.

Naturally, their outburst received strange looks from the Hermetic Alliance soldiers…

These elves…aren’t they too keen on fighting?

However, these vocally dissatisfied individuals were actually the minority amongst them, as Brein had seen the majority of the elves impulsively climbing down the walls using the ladders left behind by the enemy to chase the retreating undead army in the distance.

Quite a lot of them hurriedly climbed down the wall before conversing with their companions and uttering words Brein couldn’t understand.

“So who’s going to be brave enough to poke the enemy’s asses, huh?”

“Come on, go go go! Let’s beat all these drowning dogs!”

“Hahaha, I’m in! I just need a thousand more experience points to level up!”

In the blink of an eye, under the incredulous gaze of local city soldiers, nearly all of the elves hurried out beyond the wall.

They then grouped themselves into small parties consisting of three or five people before chasing and hacking away at the straggling skeletons positioned at the rear of the retreating undead army…

Naturally, these brazen individuals were soon noticed by the Death Knights commanding the undead army.

While the Dark Alliance was indeed retreating, it didn’t mean they were entirely defenseless.

Promptly, the Death Knights ordered the undead army to halt their retreat and encircle the elves.

As expected, apart from a few quick elves who managed to escape in the nick of time, most were left surrounded, exclaiming things like—

“Oh shit!”

“Fuck! We messed up!”

“Quick! Help me!”

and even

“Hahahaha!”

“Well that’s it, we’re dead haha.”

—Before being overwhelmed and dying in battle, leaving only bloodstains on the ground.

Meanwhile, the remaining elves on the wall burst into laughter at the sight of their fellow comrades dying in the distance.

No one mourned, nor was anyone sorrowful.

Moreover, the odd thing was that the remaining elves were still festive, almost as though they were watching a comedic scene while witnessing their fellow comrades’ futile attempts to escape, before meeting an inevitable demise one after the other.

Their behavior was so bizarre that Brein wouldn’t be surprised anymore even if these laughing elves pull out some chairs and cooked some nuts to eat to further enjoy such morbid spectacle.

He opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

He felt that the various old impressions of elves in his memory had been completely overturned and needed to be updated after this whole battle.

Clearly, these were a bunch of battle-crazy maniacs with a mindset that completely defied the norm.

Of course, not all elves who went down the wall chased after the retreating undead army.

Most of them ran around the battlefield frantically, picking up the used-up arrows and equipment strewn on the ground.

Once the first few elves started scavenging, a chain reaction followed not long after:

“Hey! I think we can collect loots outside the walls!”

“Fuck, why didn’t I think of that?”

“Hurry up! It’ll all be gone soon!”

Hence, amidst the dumbfounded gaze of the local dark dwarves and gnomes, the elves quickly climbed down the ladders as each of them began frantically looting the battlefield, picking up dropped arrows and equipment left by the undead and goblins.

For a while, the battlefield that was emptied after the undead army retreated was swarmed by the scavenging elves.

They were so focused on picking loot that they didn’t even seem to care if the undead army would turn around and kill some of them.

Observing them as they went about their scavenging business, Brein got the impression that this task seemed more important to these elves than their very lives.

Wherever they went, not a single arrow nor piece of armor was left behind, and even the scattered skeleton bones were collected by these crazy elves…

Brein: “…”

He no longer knew how to react to such bizarre behavior.

“…Have they finally retreated?”

At this moment, an elderly voice spoke up behind him.

Turning around, Brein saw that the speaker was their former chief, Firebeard, an elderly dark dwarf blessed by the Goddess of Death as one of her Godwardens.

Brein observed as this illustrious Golden-rank expert, after having just finished controlling the city’s defensive barrier, slowly ascended to the top of the city wall and stood beside him.

However, he also noticed that unlike the rest of them, Lord Firebeard’s expression was far from relieved as the old dwarf silently watched the retreating undead army in the distance with a look of apprehension.

— 363 —

【 SCAVENGING THE BATTLEFIELD IS AN ELVEN TRADITION 】

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