Volume 3 Journey Chapter 53 Trap

  On the continent of Aethoria, many ethnic groups lived, and the Elves were one of them. In Aethoria's long history, the Elven tribe once flourished, and the worship of the Moon Goddess was also widely spread across the continent.

  However, the elves venerate nature and love art. They cannot tolerate any shortcomings in other races that they consider incompatible with them. They abhor human cunning, despise dwarf filth, are disgusted by gnomish greed, and beastman stupidity. In the eyes of some radical elves, there should be no other races on the continent of Aethoria except for elves, nor is there a need for any other races. Thus, conflicts between the elven race and other races inevitably arose, and when these conflicts became irreconcilable, wars broke out between various races and the elven race.

  Humans united with other races and launched a large-scale war against the Elves. In the end, the Elves were unable to resist the massive coalition forces, and all of them retreated back into the forest. After driving the Elves back to their birthplace, the Moonlit Forest, various tribes divided up their respective spheres of influence, and many nations emerged on the continent. The Beastmen occupied the desolate grasslands and established the Tris Empire, while the Dwarves defended the Lianyun Mountains and founded the Kingdom of Fent. Humans were the most numerous, establishing large and small countries across the vast Fenrei Plains, even on islands. Meanwhile, due to their limited numbers, the Earth Elves only managed to establish a magnificent commercial city, Telicos, at the border between the Dwarves' and humans' territories in the Lianyun Mountains.

  The defeated elven tribe lost most of its people and retreated back to the forest, where they split into two factions due to disagreements. The gentle faction, which focused on art and various crafts, established the Elven Kingdom of Dalsuth, which later restored relations with humans and other tribes, earning them the name Moonlight Elves. Another group of elves, however, could not forget their hatred for the destruction of their nation and vowed to reclaim their lost glory, establishing the kingdom of Morthil, which was often at odds with the mainland tribes due to its hatred towards humans, earning them the name Dark Elves. The two elven factions occupied opposite sides of the Moonlit Forest, never interacting with each other, while the Dark Elves constantly plotted to conquer Dalsuth and unify the elven tribe before defeating the mainland tribes to restore their former glory. However, the Moonlight Elves had the support of the other mainland tribes, successfully thwarting the Dark Elves' schemes every time, resulting in constant strife within the Moonlit Forest, with the two elven factions harboring great animosity towards each other.

  We were headed to the kingdom of Mortel, a land of dark elves. In fact, it was hardly a kingdom at all - the elven population had dwindled drastically, and the only settlements within the kingdom were small villages. The sole city was the elven capital, Tesindal. After Evan and I entered the forest, we traveled only at night, hiding in hollow tree trunks during the day to rest. Evan seemed to have scouted out the route beforehand, leading me with ease around one elven village after another. Every time we needed to rest, he would find a suitable tree trunk for us to hide and rest in, complete with dried rations and water. Everything went smoothly, and within a month, we reached the outskirts of Tesindal.

  "Alyric, just ahead is Tysondale. Set up some traps around here and get ready. I'll be taking action tonight. Wait for me here until dawn, if I haven't returned by then, head back the way we came and never set foot in this place again. If I do return before dawn with pursuers behind me, I need you to trigger the traps and hold them off for a bit. Just delay them for ten minutes, and those spirits with noses as keen as dogs and eyes as sharp as eagles will lose my trail, and I'll be able to escape. After that, we'll meet up again at yesterday's hiding spot, where I'll wait for you." He handed me a map from his pocket, instructing me: "This is the route we took into the forest. Be careful yourself; my danger lies in the city, while yours lies in holding off the pursuers. May fortune smile upon us both."

  I nodded and took the map, didn't even glance at it, and put it in my bosom. The places we passed by I had marked, and drew a map all the way. This map was just a supplement. I stood up and said to Evan: "I hope my hard work won't be in vain, I'll go set traps now, hoping that after all this is over, I can get what's mine, remember to keep your promise."

  Evan listened to my words, smiled and said: "Don't worry, even if you can't find me at the meeting point, I'll put your share there. You can get it naturally when you arrive, on the condition that you're still alive then." After finishing speaking, he looked at me again and said: "Do you have any last words to entrust? Maybe I can help you pass a message to someone?"

  I knew he was joking, trying to liven up the atmosphere, but after some thought, I said cautiously: "Forget about my family, just in case I really die, you'll help me pass on a message to Sulina, uh, you must know who I'm talking about. Tell her the news of my death and take good care of my child, I'll be grateful to her."

  Ivan's mouth opened into an O shape as he exclaimed in surprise, "Although I've been paying attention to you and knew about your fake husband act, I really didn't know that the two of you actually got together! You're really a down-to-earth person, having kids and all!"

  I smiled at Evan with a sly grin: "Don't say it's you, I also found out just before leaving, if you want to know then the ghost is out!"

  After finishing speaking, I ignored him and walked out towards the outside.

  I set up a manually triggered bow and arrow trap at the edge of the forest, closest to the elven city. As soon as someone enters its range, two waves of dozens of arrows will be shot out from the thicket, with each wave separated by thirty seconds, making it seem like there are many people hiding in the woods. This is enough to make the sensitive and suspicious elves waste a lot of time discovering that it's just an unmanned trap. This one trap cost me nearly half of the materials I stored in my ring and fifteen strong bows I bought on the way.

  Then, about two hundred steps behind this trap, I dug a row of pitfalls. These pitfalls were filled with sharp branches, and anyone who fell into them would have their lower body pierced by these sharpened stakes. The length was nearly one hundred steps, and the width was about seven steps. This was an automatic trigger, and as soon as someone stepped on it, it would collapse. Beforehand, I had instructed Evin that if he saw a withered branch standing upright on the ground, he should remember to walk in the direction of the branch, and there would be one every now and then, so he wouldn't fall into the trap. If the elves weren't stopped by the traps and were instead pierced by the stakes, it would be hilarious.

  Then I set up some mechanisms to deal with a single person on the tree and in the air. After finishing all this, I still didn't feel at ease, I had to leave a way out for myself. I thought about it and dug a hole that could only hold one person in the last position, then covered it with a wooden board and carefully concealed it with branches, hoping that this place would allow me to escape.

  By dusk, I had finished all my tasks and returned to the tree hole where I was staying. Evan was nowhere to be found. He must have already snuck into the Moon Goddess Temple. Would he be able to escape safely from that heavily guarded temple? My gaze drifted towards the distant city of the spirits, where lights were twinkling...