Chapter 55: Battle against the invading foreign forces is imminent.

This was a pirate ship from Blyde Hackley Island. Its crew consisted of fugitives wanted by countries across the continent, villains who had willingly embraced depravity, infamous necromancers, and cunning thieves.

Tempted by enormous profits, they risked everything to raid passing merchant ships and secretly ventured onto Mermaid Island and Dragon Island to poach their inhabitants. Afterward, they disguised themselves as merchants and docked at ports throughout the continent, colluding with underground dealers to sell the various goods they had plundered.

Once the underground dealers had laundered the stolen goods, they passed them on to auction houses across the continent and made tremendous fortunes. Every few years, mermaid cubs and dragon cubs would even appear at underground auctions, providing fresh novelties for powerful nobles with exotic tastes.

Ever since the Faerie Forest had been sealed off, no Fairy or Elf cubs had appeared at underground auctions.

Therefore, the powerful nobles had settled for the next best thing and turned their attention toward the Dark Elves, who shared a common ancestry with the White Elves.

Ten thousand years ago, the current Dark Elven King had betrayed the Elven Kingdom. He took part of the mother tree with him and transplanted it to the land now inhabited by the Dark Elves.

That land had been corrupted by dark power. Nothing grew there, and its barren wastes stretched without end. After the mother tree’s offshoot was planted, it came close to withering away. The Dark Elven King poured even more dark power into it and successfully revived it.

Once the mother tree’s offshoot took root, it quickly produced its first crop of fruit.

Those fruits grew extraordinarily fast and ripened after fifty years. Every Elf cub born from them had grayish-blue skin, silver-white hair, and bloodred eyes. They looked exactly like the Dark Elves who had been corrupted by dark power.

The birth of cubs ensured the continuation of their race.

The Dark Elves soon established a home in this territory bordering the lands of the orcs.

Because the mother tree was so prolific, it produced one generation of cubs after another, placing an even greater burden on the Dark Elves, whose resources were already scarce.

The Dark Elves lacked emotion and possessed violent, indifferent temperaments. They did not treat their cubs with the same tender care as the White Elves. Once the cubs passed early childhood, they were left to fend for themselves.

To survive, the cubs learned from an early age to fight over resources. The slightest disagreement led to violence. They excluded anyone different from them and felt no affection for their companions.

The isolated cubs who found themselves alone became targets for poachers.

Although Dark Elves had grayish-blue skin, their features were exquisite and their bodies tall, slender, and well proportioned. They were rare beauties.

Certain powerful nobles on the continent particularly enjoyed keeping Dark Elves captive.

When cubs disappeared, the Dark Elves did not dispatch warriors and make every effort to retrieve them as the White Elves or Fairies would. They even regarded poached cubs as casualties of natural selection.

Roald was one such Dark Elf, stolen when he was young.

He was luckier than most stolen cubs. At least he had not been purchased by a depraved noble for some vile purpose. A necromancer among the pirates recognized his talent and took him as an apprentice.

A hundred years later, he had reached the rank of Junior Archmage. He boarded the Black Star alongside the necromancer who had trained him and joined the pirates in burning, killing, looting, and committing every manner of evil wherever they went.

He possessed an exceptional talent for navigation and remained undefeated at sea, earning countless achievements for the pirates. Every time the Black Star set sail, they successfully poached mermaid cubs and dragon cubs.

On this voyage, after raiding Mermaid Island and Dragon Island, they did not travel to the continent to sell their stolen goods as usual. Instead, they changed course and sailed into the Saint Bash Sea, heading toward the Faerie Forest.

Poaching mermaids and dragons had become too easy for Roald and no longer offered any challenge. Seeking greater excitement, he persuaded the pirates aboard the Black Star to travel to the Faerie Forest and poach Fairies.

At first, the pirates refused.

Over the past ten thousand years, countless adventurers who shared Roald’s ambitions had entered the Faerie Forest in [N O V E L I G H T] wave after wave. Some died and others were injured, but not one escaped unscathed.

Certain opportunists had attempted to infiltrate by sea, but they had also failed.

The waters surrounding the Elven Kingdom and the Faerie Forest were shrouded in dense fog year-round. Once a ship entered the fog, all its navigational equipment ceased functioning.

Crew members who inhaled too much of the mist would lose consciousness at best and die at worst.

In addition to the mist, vast numbers of terrifying sea monsters lay in wait.

Of the ships that lost their way, only a handful escaped. Most sank to the bottom of the sea, their crews becoming food for the monsters’ feast.

Roald rejected every objection and insisted on traveling to the Faerie Forest.

He was supremely confident in his navigational abilities and magic. Even surrounded by mist, he could still determine the correct direction.

With him guiding them, the Black Star had always sailed unhindered across the vast ocean.

While the pirates remained hesitant, the necromancer intervened and settled the matter decisively.

Thus, the Black Star cut through the wind and waves and plunged headfirst into the endless white fog, where it instantly lost its way.

The captain panicked and began shouting frantically. Roald stood motionless at the bow, calmly directing him.

The Black Star pitched and rolled throughout the journey, miraculously avoiding countless hidden reefs. It was about to break through the mist.

Beneath the moonlight, the Fairies were laboriously gathering star spirit grass, completely unaware that a pirate ship was stealthily approaching the Faerie Forest across the sea.

The three adult Fairies assumed their larger forms and crouched on the grass, gathering the herbs with ease. The five young Fairies had a much harder time and needed several minutes of rest after every short period of work.

Kumandi was somewhat more efficient than the four children.

His movements were practiced. He thrust his shovel into the soil and stepped down on it, uprooting an entire stalk of star spirit grass in one motion.

Shu Li wanted to dig up one stalk with every thrust as well, but his ambition far exceeded his strength.

He simply was not strong enough.

He thrust the shovel into the soil and pushed against it with his little foot, but no matter how hard he tried, it would not move. He had to grip the handle with both hands and hang his entire body from it, pressing downward and using leverage to pry the star spirit grass free.

The other three Little Fairies each demonstrated their own techniques, pulling, tugging, and pushing. From time to time, they grunted encouragement to themselves—“Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”—and finally managed to dig up a stalk.

Before they knew it, the moon had crossed from the eastern sky to the west. The night had grown late, and the Little Fairies were utterly exhausted. They nearly fell asleep as they worked.

At one point, Shu Li dozed off while hanging from his shovel’s handle. When Kumandi passed by and saw him dangling there without moving, he thought something had happened and hurriedly patted him on the back. Shu Li opened his eyes blearily and stared at Kumandi in confusion.

“Go and rest,” Kumandi told the four sleepy children. “It’s late. You should be asleep.”

“But...” Shu Li hesitated. “I’ve only dug up twenty stalks!”

Disio said, “I dug up nineteen.”

Angel said, “I dug up eighteen.”

Budeno said, “I... I dug up thirteen.”

The difference was rather large, and the chubby cub flushed with embarrassment.

“That’s enough,” Kumandi said. “You must always work within your abilities. Too much can be as harmful as too little.”

When the quiet top student adopted a stern expression, the four Little Fairies obediently listened. They put away their small shovels and dragged their exhausted bodies into the tent, swaying unsteadily through the air.

Shu Li was too tired even to wash his face. He flopped facedown onto the blanket and fell asleep instantly.

His three companions were much the same. The quality of their sleep was enough to inspire envy.

Anna peered into the small tent, her gaze softening. She picked up a little blanket and gently covered them with it so they would not catch a chill and fall ill during the night.

Seeing that Kumandi was still diligently digging, Sill told him, “You should go to sleep too.”

“No need.” The adolescent Fairy thrust his shovel into the soil and replied without the slightest shortness of breath, “I know my limits.”

Completing missions was one way to temper the will.

He knew where his limits lay. Once he was truly tired, he would go and rest without needing Sill to remind him.

Sill knew Kumandi’s personality well. Having offered the reminder, he said no more.

Half an hour later, the moon disappeared behind the clouds, and the star spirit grass began showing signs of withering. The Fairies brought their gathering to an end.

Their harvest had been good. The three adult Fairies were extremely satisfied. They packed their belongings and urged Kumandi to hurry off to sleep.

“Boom—”

Suddenly, a tremendous crash shattered the tranquility of the night.

It sounded as though something enormous had suffered a violent collision and burst apart. The Fairies’ pointed ears sprang upright as they immediately went on alert.

“What was that?” Anna asked.

They had come here to gather herbs hundreds of times, but they had never heard such a strange crash.

Ivy looked toward the sea and frowned. “Could it have been a sea monster?”

Many high-ranking sea monsters inhabited the Saint Bash Sea. They frequently fought one another over territory, and it was entirely possible for a battle that began beneath the water to continue all the way onto the beach.

Sill’s expression turned grave. “I’ll investigate.”

Whether it was a sea monster or something else, the situation was highly unusual. They had to determine what had happened.

Mist shrouded the waters surrounding the Faerie Forest, keeping countless foreign invaders at bay. However, it could not stop every exceptionally gifted individual. Some tried every conceivable method to break through the blockade, pass through the mist, and reach the shore.

That was why Elves and Fairies took turns patrolling the area at regular intervals and driving outsiders away.

“Be careful,” Ivy warned him.

Sill nodded. With a beat of his wings, he shot toward the coast like a bolt of lightning.

“Kumandi,” Anna said to the adolescent Fairy beside her, “go guard the children.”

“Yes.” Kumandi flew into the tent and sat by the entrance. He entered a meditative state, restoring his strength as quickly as possible.

The four little fellows remained deeply asleep, completely undisturbed by the tremendous crash.

When Sill reached the coast, he concealed the glowing wings on his back. With a light tap of his toes, he landed gracefully on a tree branch and silently surveyed his surroundings.

Half of the moon’s face emerged from behind the clouds, casting down a wash of silver light that illuminated the beach.

Sill looked closely and discovered an enormous ship run aground.

The ship had suffered a collision. Its bow was mangled beyond recognition, its mast had snapped, and its canvas sails hung at an angle. Half the vessel remained submerged in the sea.

This was not the first large ship to enter the mist over the water.

Ships had run aground on the beach before, but most had been reduced to wreckage. Their crews had ended up in the bellies of fish, leaving no bodies behind.

The vessel before him, however, remained largely intact. With some repairs, it could undoubtedly sail again.

Sill suppressed his presence and lowered his aura until he had nearly merged with the tree itself.

He waited patiently for a moment. Sure enough, movement soon came from the ship.

Dozens of shadowy figures nimbly leaped down from the vessel. They carried curved blades and shields and assembled into an orderly formation with well-trained precision.

Two more figures jumped from the ship and walked to the front of the group. After exchanging a few quiet words in the Continental Common Language, they rapidly advanced toward the forest.

Sill’s gaze sharpened, and his expression turned icy.

The two figures in the lead wore gray robes and held magic staffs.

They were unmistakably infamous necromancers!

Invaders!

Invaders had broken through the Elven King’s mist formation, landed without suffering so much as a scratch, and were now attempting to enter the Faerie Forest.

He would not allow them to advance a single step farther.

Sill plucked a leaf and softly recited an incantation. Light enveloped the leaf, and it shot toward the amethyst tree like a meteor.

The magical fluctuation caught the necromancers’ attention.

The leading mage stopped, raised his magic staff, and pointed it toward the tree where Sill was hiding.

Sill frowned. He had not expected the other party to discover his hiding place so quickly.

He took a bow from his storage pouch, condensed an arrow from magical power, aimed at the leading necromancer, and released it without hesitation.