Chapter 130: The Silver Haired Maiden

Damian and the mysterious silver-haired woman reappeared nearly a kilometer away from Greenmoss Flats after a ridiculous chain of Fey-path jumps that had turned the surrounding landscape into little more than disconnected flashes of purple-grey mist.

One moment, Damian had been swinging Longtian through a grove of thin trees.

The next, the woman vanished through a Fey pathway he could barely perceive, forcing him to follow by brute-forcing his own <Misty Step> through a more obvious route before intercepting her several hundred meters away.

She disappeared again before Longtian could reach her neck, Damian pursued, and the process repeated until the distant sounds of Varkas’s transformation had faded almost entirely behind them.

The woman finally emerged beside a low rocky hill and stopped.

Her silver-white sword remained raised defensively, but the arrogance she’d displayed moments earlier had been replaced by genuine disbelief.

"Fey Teleportation? But how? You may be Fey-blessed, Human, yet how can you travel the pathways with such fluidity?" she demanded, staring toward Damian as though he had personally offended several natural laws.

Purple-grey mist gathered several meters from her, Damian stepping out of it with Longtian already resting against one shoulder, his expression cold.

Internally, though, he was just as shocked as she was.

’Yeah... this confirms it.’

The first time he saw her hair, heard the title Trueblood and felt the strange quality of her Fey energy, <Arcane Knowledge> had already supplied several uncomfortable possibilities.

Watching her move through pathways even <Fey Touched> barely allowed him to perceive narrowed those possibilities considerably.

Damian lowered Longtian.

"Forget about me. What I want to know is why a Moon Elf is here inside Valoria interfering with my business," he replied.

The woman’s eyes narrowed sharply, her hand shaking for a second.

Damian’s lips almost twitched.

She had not confirmed anything verbally, but that tiny reaction was enough.

For several seconds, the silver-haired woman remained silent.

Then she apparently decided that continuing to hide her appearance after Damian had already identified her race served little purpose.

One pale-purple hand reached upward as she pulled back the hood, allowing silky silver hair to spill free.

Damian’s eyebrows rose.

Well...

Damn.

The woman was beautiful enough that even Damian’s increasingly unreasonable standards needed a moment to recalibrate.

Shen Xueyi remained one of the most naturally beautiful women Damian had ever encountered, possessing almost delicate Asiatic features that could somehow appear cute, elegant and terrifying depending on whether she was smiling or trying to murder someone.

This woman belonged to an entirely different category.

Her features were sharper and more intense, with fine silver brows that framed long phoenix eyes whose pale irises seemed almost luminous beneath the sunlight.

A small nose sat above rosebud lips, while the angular structure of her face gave her beauty a striking quality rather than Shen Xueyi’s softer elegance.

Combined with the silver hair, pale-purple skin, tall frame and the frankly ridiculous figure beneath her leather armor...

She was utterly unforgettable.

Damian appreciated the sight for perhaps a second, then his sword remained exactly where it was.

He had developed some minor immunity to absurdly beautiful women by this point.

Between Mu Qingyao, Shen Xueyi, Ophelia, Selene, Lyla and now the three Valkyries who had apparently decided his peaceful bachelorhood was offensive, pretty faces no longer possessed quite the same capacity to switch off his brain.

The Moon Elf noticed his limited reaction, and her expression became slightly more serious.

"Not bad for a mere Human. Upon gazing upon my superior visage, you show surprisingly little reaction," she admitted.

Damian stared speechlessly.

Seriously?

That was her takeaway?

The Moon Elf glanced away thoughtfully before apparently solving the mystery herself.

"It must be because of that High Elf girl within your harem."

Damian’s face flattened. "Look, I am not here to discuss your vanity and shitty pride."

Her eyes snapped toward him as Damian pointed Longtian forward.

"I promised you retribution for interfering in my business, and you’re going to receive it!"

Then he moved.

BOOM!

Damian crossed the ground with enough force to crack the stone beneath his boot, Longtian already coming around in a brutal horizontal cut.

The Moon Elf reacted immediately, her silver-white sword rising to meet the strike.

CLANG!

The impact nearly tore the weapon from her hand.

Her expression changed as Damian’s current Strength overwhelmed her guard, forcing her arm outward and leaving the centerline exposed.

Damian immediately transitioned into another Turn of the Seven-Turn Sword Art, Longtian reversing without wasting any of the first strike’s momentum.

The second slash should have opened her torso, but instead, the Moon Elf folded.

Her entire upper body bent backward at an angle that made Damian’s spine hurt sympathetically as Longtian passed barely above her face.

She continued the motion downward, one palm touching the grass before her legs twisted around and carried her past Damian’s side like her skeleton had briefly decided bones were optional.

Damian’s eyes widened.

’What the fuck?’

She came upright behind him and Damian spun instantly, Longtian stabbing backward.

The woman had already moved, though, his Divine Sense tracking her presence sliding several meters sideways while his physical eyes only caught a silver blur.

Fast!

Extremely fast!

Damian’s thoughts raced as both separated.

His own current Attributes were already completely ridiculous for someone whose actual Main Class remained Mage.

[STR: 40.3.]

[DEX: 46.7.]

[AGI: 38.8.]

[CON: 46.0.]

[INT: 16.0.]

[WIS: 18.6.]

[SPI: 19.5.]

[PER: 10.0.]

[CHA: 21.6.]

[LCK: 4.4.]

Those numbers belonged on some lunatic multiclassed frontline build, not a fellow whose registered profession involved robes and throwing fire at people.

Yet this woman had just outmaneuvered him cleanly.

For her to possess that much visible superiority in raw movement...

’AGI at or above fifty?’

Very possibly.

Damian was undoubtedly stronger, that much had become obvious the moment their weapons collided.

He was likely sturdier too, judging from the way her arms reacted to direct force.

But in terms of speed, flexibility, and evasion?

The woman moved like a slippery fucking loach somebody had coated in oil and taught assassination!

At minimum, she possessed the equivalent of a Master-level Rogue build specialized heavily toward speed and stealth.

Damian stepped forward again as Longtian flashed outward.

The sword should have struck, but the Moon Elf disappeared as purple-grey mist replaced her body.

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

There it was again!

His eyes and his Fey senses were giving him completely different information.

<Fey Touched> had granted Damian more than the ability to cast <Misty Step>.

It gave him familiarity with the strange network of Fey pathways layered across reality itself.

Ordinary people watching <Misty Step> simply saw teleportation, that someone disappeared in violet mist and reappeared elsewhere.

Damian understood that the process was not quite so simple.

For an almost immeasurably short interval, the user entered one of those pathways, traveled through it and emerged at the destination.

The problem was access.

Damian was Fey-Touched, not actual Fey.

His access to those pathways was roughly comparable to being allowed onto the public roads of an unfamiliar country.

He knew the basic entrances, the obvious routes, and the safe paths accessible through the blessing attached to his Feat.

Ravelhorn had been different.

As an actual Fey, the Satyr possessed access to better routes Damian could sense but not naturally use as efficiently.

During their fight, Damian compensated through brute force because his Grandmaster <Misty Step> could reach an absurd 280 meters at once.

Ravelhorn might take the better road, but Damian simply drove through the fucking field.

Against this Moon Elf, the difference became considerably worse.

She disappeared through pathways <Fey Touched> could not sense at all!

They were akin to private roads, hidden tunnels, and secret routes buried beneath the public transportation network.

Whatever analogy Damian wanted to use, the result remained the same.

If he relied exclusively upon his Fey blessing, he would lose her instantly.

Fortunately...

Damian possessed other powers!

With <Truesight> and <Divine Sense>, his Fey awareness may fail to recognize the hidden route the Moon Elf had entered, but they did not.

For the briefest instant, Damian’s enhanced vision caught the distortion hidden beneath the purple-grey mist, revealing a path his ordinary Fey perception insisted was not there.

His Divine Sense then tracked the movement of her presence through the surrounding area once she approached reality again.

Damian turned as purple mist erupted beside his shoulder.

The Moon Elf emerged with her sword already stabbing toward his neck.

CLANG!

Longtian intercepted the blow, causing her eyes to widen.

Damian grinned without humor.

"Hello again."

He counterattacked rapidly, but she bent sideways beneath the return slash, twisted around another thrust and planted one hand against the ground as her legs carried her completely around Damian’s flank.

Damian naturally rotated with her, launching another cut, but in response, she made another impossible dodge.

For the next minute, the fight became unbelievably irritating for both sides.

Damian attacked constantly, the Seven-Turn Sword Art flowing from one motion into another, each miss feeding the next strike without allowing his momentum to die.

The Moon Elf evaded everything, sometimes moving through sheer speed and sometimes with her body bent, twisted or folded around Longtian with such obscene flexibility that Damian genuinely wondered whether Moon Elves evolved without several important joints.

And whenever the pressure became too intense, she vanished into the Fey pathways.

The problem was that Damian followed her every time, again and again.

She would emerge twenty meters away, but Damian would appear beside her already swinging.

She would jump eighty meters through some hidden route, but Damian’s Grandmaster <Misty Step> simply ate the inefficient path and dumped him close enough to continue attacking.

She would vanish behind him, but Divine Sense warned him before the sword reached his back.

She would attempt another flank, but Truesight revealed the exit.

Naturally, the Moon Elf’s irritation steadily increased.

’What the hell is wrong with this human?!’

She had never experienced such an infuriating opponent!

Speed usually solved everything.

If something was stronger than her, she avoided its attacks.

If something was tougher than her, she attacked from an angle it could not defend.

If something possessed dangerous perception, she entered Fey pathways normal senses could not follow.

Yet Damian Baines behaved like some cursed dog-skin plaster!

She teleported, he appeared.

She dodged, he was still swinging.

She attempted to enter his blind spot and somehow discovered that the bastard apparently did not possess blind spots!

Even worse, his physical power was disgusting!

Every direct collision reminded her that blocking was a terrible idea.

Her silver-white blade had already gained one tiny nick from their first exchange, forcing her to redirect Damian’s attacks rather than receive them honestly.

How was an Adept Human this physically powerful?!

Damian was experiencing the opposite frustration.

’Would you stay still for one fucking second?!’

The woman was too fast to easily pin down, and her hidden Fey routes meant Damian could no longer proactively camp her exit like he occasionally managed against Ravelhorn.

With the Satyr, Damian sensed the route itself, so he knew where Ravelhorn was traveling and could use his superior range to arrive ahead of him.

Here, Damian mostly saw the pathway once she used it and tracked the destination through Truesight and Divine Sense.

He could indeed follow, react, and intercept, but he was no longer controlling the spatial exchange.

The dynamic had reversed from proactive pursuit into reactive harassment!

Fortunately, reactive harassment was still extremely fucking annoying.

Another collision sent the Moon Elf sliding backward.

She looked at Damian, then Longtian, then the distant direction of Greenmoss Flats.

Regret finally appeared on her face, which, while small and bitter, was definitely there.

She had miscalculated... badly!

The reconstructed battlefield suggested Damian possessed extremely powerful teleportation for his Level, but she had assumed the Satyr simply lacked the spatial proficiency necessary to exploit that weakness.

Her own range and pathway access eclipsed Ravelhorn’s completely.

She had expected to dance around Damian.

Instead, his ridiculous Grandmaster <Misty Step>, Truesight and whatever monstrous spiritual perception he possessed had turned the fight into a stifling mess where she could neither escape comfortably nor create enough separation to attack from advantage.

Fine then, there was no reason to continue at this point!

The Moon Elf abruptly retreated several dozen meters and raised one hand.

"Hmph!"

Damian stopped.

She glared toward him as Spatial energy gathered around her.

"You are fortunate, Human. Today you possess the advantage, but do not mistake this for victory. Soon enough, you will bow before the Wild Court!"

Damian recognized the change immediately.

This was not <Misty Step>, but something larger and deeper.

A movement between planes rather than locations.

<Plane Hop>!

Damian relaxed, the tension disappearing from his shoulders, then smiled.

"Oh, so you’re from the Wild Court?"

The Moon Elf hesitated as Damian’s smile became meaningful.

Her brow immediately furrowed.

She should have left already.

Some instinct warned her to leave immediately, or she may be trapped here forever.

Instead, annoyance won.

"Human, what do you mean by that?" she demanded with pursed lips.

Damian rested Longtian against his shoulder.

"I mean that if you escape right now, I’ll assume the attack on me and my people was orchestrated by the Wild Court."

The Moon Elf froze.

Damian continued casually.

"After that, all I need to do is return to civilization, explain that the Wild Court sent a powerful Trueblood Fey into Human territory to attack a noble, interfere with a Guild operation and nearly kill several of my people..."

He shrugged.

"Then gather an army, march into the Deep Moon and eradicate the Wild Court!"

The woman’s face changed completely.

"Human!! You dare?!"

Damian raised an eyebrow. "Of course I dare."

"You came into my business, transformed a dying prisoner into a monster and endangered my friends. Why exactly wouldn’t I use my status, connections and fellow humans to retaliate?" Damian replied with disdain.

The Moon Elf stared at him in disbelief, her cheeks flushed with fury.

"So... so shameless! How can a proud warrior resort to such a thing?!"

Damian yawned loudly. "I’m a warrior."

He scratched his cheek. "Never said I was a proud one, though."

The Moon Elf’s mouth opened in flabbergasted shock.

Damian continued before she recovered.

"You brought this upon yourself. If you flee, I’ll tell everyone the Wild Court attacked first, and when the Humans eventually burn your home to the ground, history will remember one important detail."

His grin became wicked.

"That you were the one who caused it!"

The Moon Elf paled.

Damian leaned slightly closer.

"Imagine that. The ancient Wild Court, destroyed because one overconfident Moon Elf couldn’t control herself."

Her gathered <Plane Hop> energy flickered.

"You..."

Damian smiled pleasantly.

"You’ll become famous."

"You...!"

"Perhaps they’ll build a monument."

"Stop talking!"

Damian almost laughed.

The Moon Elf’s entire momentum had collapsed.

She had arrived here fully convinced she was the superior being, a Trueblood ancient Fey, a Moon Elf whose authority, bloodline and power placed ordinary mortals beneath consideration.

Now some Human bastard had taken her political affiliation and turned it into a hostage!

Her teeth ground together.

Finally...

"What do you want?" she asked with a mixture of defeat and indignation.

Damian’s eyes lit up as he lowered Longtian.

There it was!

"As penance for assaulting me and my people..."

The Moon Elf watched him suspiciously.

Damian smiled wickedly.

"You will return to civilization with me and become my wife!"

Silence.

The Moon Elf’s brain stopped, her eyes widening as color surged across her pale-purple face.

"...What?"

"My wife."

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

Her voice exploded across the field.

"I WILL NEVER MARRY A LOWLY, INFERIOR HUMAN! I AM A TRUEBLOOD FEY OF THE WILD COURT!"

Damian sighed dramatically, then looked toward the sky with profound sadness.

"Well then..."

The Moon Elf’s fury paused.

Damian shook his head.

"I suppose the Wild Court will have to be destroyed by Humanity."

Her expression became horrified.

"Sigh..." Damian continued mournfully.

"Such a tragic end for such a noble and ancient organization. Entire generations lost, ancestral lands burned, history erased..."

He glanced toward her.

"All because one woman refused to make a small sacrifice."

The Moon Elf pointed at him with a trembling finger.

"You... you..."

Damian waited, but nothing came.

"You...!"

Still nothing.

Her brain had simply overloaded.

How the hell had this happened?!

She had been sent to investigate the death of Ravelhorn, a Fey the Wild Court had monitored for a long time despite his estrangement from them.

She had reconstructed the battlefield, discovered an unknown Human possessing bizarre foreign abilities, and followed his trail.

Then, after witnessing enough strange power to confirm he required interrogation, she had simply decided to apprehend him personally.

Simple and reasonable!

At worst, she expected some resistance before dragging the Human before the Wild Court.

Instead...

Ravelhorn’s killer had chased her through Fey pathways like an enraged hunting beast, threatened to start an international war if she escaped and somehow converted the negotiation into—

Marriage?!

She would have to return with him, to... to Human civilization!

She would have to live among mortals, and become his... his wife!

The Moon Elf’s face became even redder.

Wife?!

That meant... sharing a household, sharing a room, and even... sharing a bed?!

Then...

Her thoughts crossed the inevitable next line.

Children...

She would have to have...

Children?!

With this Human?!

The Moon Elf’s phoenix eyes widened almost impossibly, her entire face turning scarlet beneath the pale-purple complexion.

Damian stared in mild surprise and amusement.

Was that...

Steam?

The dignified Trueblood Moon Elf looked as though smoke was about to start pouring from her ears?!